I'm in, I just trash picked a truly appalling Apollo this week. Pics to follow soon

Rules question: what about items which were legitimately received for free? For instance, I bought a pair of wheels from a guy recently, and after I hand over the cash, he says, "Oh hey, do you want these tires? You can just have them." I have a few things like that around.

If you use the wheels then use the price paid for the wheels. If you use the tires without the wheels (but you purchased the wheels and wouldn't have received free stuff otherwise) I would either - fair market value for used tires (what, $5 each?) or - as a portion of the sum paid for the wheels.

The idea isn't to nitpick as to how to extract the most value based on the rules...it is more...what is the best or worst $100 bike I could build if I didn't have 10000 bikes in the backyard and a Chernobyl of parts in the basement that cost me nothing at this point.

I could probably get this Schwinn Voyageur ready to ride for a total investment of <$85

For Cheapo Velo I tried to build a complete bike out of things I had already had on hand that i had found for free or very cheap, and not buy a single thing for the build itself (I ended up having to spend $3 on a new cable).

this time I am thinking the exact opposite- "scavenger hunt build": I'll try to build a bike completely out of items I purchase/find for free starting today and use nothing I have in stock... and still come under $100. so far I have some bars and brifters and I have already used near 17% of my total allotment. its not going to be easy.

I'm in. Velo Cheapo was a good laugh last year.

as I'm in Euroland I will set my budget at €100.

Is that $100 USD or CND? or Australian dollars, or Eurals, or Yen or...

Fair value, as defined by me in Thunder Bay, or Dave in Duluth, or Helen in Troy(just horsing around), or Peter in Perth, or Riccardo in Rome, or Lenard in London or anyone else anywhere else?

The point is we try to do an apples to apples comparison, but we are not all working with apples. Why not allow contestants to just build and present. Then, after a defined amount of time (yup time is apples to apples for everyone) and after allowing others to comment on the builds, report what they actually spent? And...

...how they(we) managed to not spend. That information would be interesting and entertaining as well as valuable, assuming some decent cost savings idea floated to the surface.

Don't penalize contestants for having a supply of stuff on hand. They(we) got that stuff fair and square and, for many of us, can't even begin to guess what the actual cost was then or is today(I don't care who thinks they know what this or that is worth - as often as not, they or we are wrong). Do I add what my time is worth? At close to 70 years old, time, for me, is viewed as extremely valuable. When I was working, there were times I got paid close to three hundred dollars (CND) an hour(not many times but it did happen, now and again). And when I was sixteen, time meant nothing and was not even considered in my value equations.

Anyway, can't sleep and thought I would add my two cents (Canadian cents/sense) to the mix:-)

I'm not saying it would work here, but a lot of local race tracks have a "claiming rule" for low budget race classes. There is a limit on what you can spend on a car or an engine, and if a competitor thinks you are bending the rules, he can buy your car/engine for that price.

This is how I pictured the challenge.

I like this one. It keeps things honest. It eliminates the guy who bought a Pinarello for $25 from someone who was cleaning out Uncle Fred's estate and didn't know what he had.
I suggested it for Velo Cheapo this year but it went nowhere.
Brent

I am not doing another (I the velo cheapo 2016) , but these can be some of the most interesting threads, as long as there is not too much arguing over the rule. It's Narhay's idea, he makes the rules.

Thank you Randy. I am going with $100 usd, so $125-130 cdn would be about right these days.

Fair value is based on location and item...the entire bike is supposedly worth $100 so a couple dollars up or down based on location won't really affect things too much. If you've got a great stash of parts you are well on your way to building a bike but those parts do have inherent value. If you use it, just make a conservative estimate of "I replaced the broken Rd with this one I had lying around and I think it is worth about $8". I don't think anyone will be losing sleep over claimed values.

Time is free. If you're on here posting in this thread then we all have just a bit of extra time lying around.

people take the "rules" too seriously. The whole point is to try to challenge yourself and have fun with it - as such its actually MORE fun to have restrictions than not as it forces one to be resourceful.

I like the Dirtbag Challenge Rules: which has been successful for 13 years-

[h=4]1. One month build time[/h] You can start your bike on the day that we announce the Dirtbag Challenge, one month before the day of the actual show.
[h=4]2. One thousand dollar budget[/h] This includes the price of the donor bike, all parts, and all work. Yes you could cheat but then you’d be a loser.
[h=4]3. One hundred miles[/h] On the morning of the show, meet up with the other Dirtbags and ride with us. We will ride at least one hundred miles over every type of road. There probably won’t be a chase vehicle.
[h=4]4. No Harleys[/h] This is to keep it fair, to give everyone the chance to shine. We like Harleys, we ride Harleys but this is about being different and thinking outside the box.
That’s it, that’s all there is. The rest is up to you, use your brain, we are not your mommy.

Oh man, this is just too good. I did one of the original Velo Cheapo contests back around 2009-10 or so, but having to ride >= 100km is the business. I am half tempted to try to build a gravel bike and try slogging through a metric century of gravel.

The thing that sucks is that I just found two cheap bikes ($25 and $60) just before the beginning of the month, literally the first bikes I have bought in over 5 years, but I've already started stripping them down and working on them. Ah well, they probably don't truly fit the definition of clunker.

To quote [MENTION=174646]The Golden Boy[/MENTION] - "Takara, the antithesis of fun"

Yep! That's the spirit!

Picked up my entry today. $65 cash. It's complete and almost rideable (a couple of broken spokes, many things loose), but that 100km ride on the existing saddle might be the true test of my commitment.

pics!

dang. that thing is sweet! excellent for $65.

I am on the hunt tomorrow, got a lead on a spray painted specialized frame +most of a bike that looks my size and hes got "another frame" that could be anything. anyway, its $30 and any specialized from the 80s was not a terrible bike. of course the picture was from 30 feet away on the non-drive side and it was posted in the "sporting goods" section. could be a diamond in the rough... or could just be a turd in the wind.

i'll give some pics either way by tomorrow afternoon.

Reminds me, there is a Salvation Army store adjacent to an auto parts store near me.
Bought some power steering fluid, and looked at the bikes hanging outside the "army" store.
$149. for a beat to heck, rusty, bottom of the line Specialized mtb, about 15?, maybe more years old.
The rest were Walmart, Toys R Us level bikes in equal shape for $125.
So it goes.

I might be in but I am not going to set my level at 100 riel which is = $.03
I might have to have my bike approved, will get a pic attached when I get it to the house. It is an old 26" BMX/crusier/MTB/Hybrid that was containerized here to Cambodia from the Japanese used market.

Here s mine, the trash picked Apollo Eclipse after a little fussing over, the chain oiled and a quick wipe down. It's not as terrible as I thought it was, yes it's low end, yes it's heavy yes it is ugly but a fully operational bike it is and all I need is some air in the tires, oil on the moving bits and a little elbow grease on the supposed to be shiny bits. The bb has a little play in it that will adjust out and if it doesn't will add to the whole clunkery part of the challenge
Total spent $0

Paint and graphics remind me of a late 80's Specialized.

I find myself in the same position as Primitive Don. I just bought a $35 bike but right before the challenge began. Maybe I could fudge it a little. This could be a thin excuse to buy another bike though. I have my eye on yet another mid 90's mtb.

At least this challenge isn't during the winter, when there aren't any deals on Minnesota CL and the weather sucks for riding.

I am not sure the rules say you can't use anything you bought before the start of the challenge - but it does give one a good excuse to go buy things. that is why I am doing it.