CO-Tandem-Dawg

Just thought this was interesting and worth a look. Enjoy

Abandoned Bicycles of New York

CAAD5AL

Fun link - there ARE sooo many bikes like that around the city, as well as single wheels still locked to poles. I used to walk around and wonder what the stories were behind all of them . . .

powers2b

If you took all those bikes into a small shop and started combining parts I wonder how many complete bikes you could come up with.
A project like that would be fun, encourage recycling, and probably get the attention of the city leaders.

CO-Tandem-Dawg

Now Recycling those parts is a great idea. Walking/Riding around Denver, I see a few abandoned bikes, but no where that amount.

CAAD5AL

When I lived in N Jersey there was an old guy down the hill from me who did just that - he had a yard FULL of bikes he built out of salvaged parts and would sell them for like $25. Not sure if he ever sold any, but boy did he build 'em!

Rev.Chuck

I see fixed potential everwhere in those pictures. Problem is somebody has damaged or stolen most of the wheels. I can see a beat up bike being abandoned but I would think they would at least get the lock back.

slvoid

There's one I see all the time, lone wheel locked to a subway entrance on 14th and 8th avenue.

H23

I have done this before in the 90's. I even tried to be very select about it and was totally selfish about the parts I got. During my morning commute, whenever I saw a crushed bicycle U-locked to a lamp post, I often came back a few days later with WD-40, a freewheel remover, wrenches, and sometimes crank-extractor and spanner.

This was a great way to get nice suntour parts.

I still have a wheel with a suntour winner freewheel on it from those days, a variety of friction mode derailleurs and shifters, a half-decent quill stem and miscellaneous parts.

My best score was some very kick-ass shiny Galli brake calipers.

EnigManiac

Over the past few years I have noticed hundreds and hundreds of abandoned bicycles here in Toronto as well. I even wrote a song about it last year, wondering what the story behind each one was: where did the owners go; why would they simply leave their bike locked up and never return? It's a fascinating mystery.

lotek 

that is a really sad site.