Originally Posted by
blilrat
Sorry for derailing the thread, but curiosity has finally gotten the better of me.
Why do all your posts have a link to your website? I assume it must be on purpose because I don't ever see anyone else's posts with links.
I built my website to help other people
not make the same mistakes, that I made when I first started restoring or refurbishing old bikes. Rather than offer a limited, and often times inadequate, short answer here, I simply refer people to my website. Seems like a lot, and I mean a lot, of people like the information and presentation. The site is free, as you might know, and so are all the answers, that I offer each day, to the string of emails that fill up my in box. Again, no charge.
I link to the site on purpose and am pleased to have something to offer others who seek information, entertainment or what ever. As for the stolen bicycle...
The Specialized Junker II was one of 2,500 bicycles seized by police in Toronto a few years ago. The bikes were all stolen, according to the law givers. When the trial was over, and the thief incarcerated, the cops had to figure out what to do with the bikes. 300 of them were sent to Thunder Bay and all were to be given away to people who needed them. Sadly...
Of the three hundred bikes, the people in charge did not want to use the old road bikes or roadsters or antiques for their clients. I and a couple of B4H (Bicycles for Humanity) volunteers offered to help make the bikes road worthy. Out of the three hundred, only fifty or so were salvagable (foolish police sent the bikes with out pedals or saddles or seat posts.
The Specialized and two other old road bikes were given to me for helping out.
There are other people who have websites and links presented here also. I just try to offer question specific answers to anyone who is interested. And that is about 3,000,000 hits per month during part of each year.
Again, the site is free to anyone who wants to use it. I do invite donations but rarely get anything, other than a basket full of email each day.
You might notice that this post does not have a link, but I could add one so that you could see the other old road bicycle that I was given for helping out.
In closing, I do not link to other sites, with a single exception - Bicycles for Humanity - Thunder Bay. But I do teach people how to find the site that they should link to. Sort of a "give a man a fish, feed him for a day" and teach a man to fish and he will feed himself for the rest of his life".