mrv 

Rare raleigh 3 speed
- is this more in the spirit of the thread? maybe ask the guy to give me $10 to haul it away?

CannedPakes

Here's my entry, a late 70's/early 80's Whyte's Department Store "Performer" that I saved from the dump. It was free, but I had to spend $30 for tires and tubes. I'll probably order some brake pads, which is an extra $5.

I'm really surprised at how nice it is actually. Shifts perfectly and stops pretty well for a bike with the original brake pads attached to paper thin caliper brakes. The stem shifters are sort of scary though. I'm used to hopping off over the top tube when I stop, but with this one I've found myself very close to getting stabbed by the shifters doing that.

Chr0m0ly 

Turns out want looked like a tube under a rotting tire was a black foam insert. Some kind of never-flat sponge thing. So bizarre and a huge pain. Imaging trying to remove a tire that's rotting away from the bead with a "fully inflated tube" in there. 🙄

Primitive Don

My entry is going to be a Trek 830 I picked up recently. Rather than buying new canti brake pads and diddling around with the adjustments, I decided to install a set of used linear pull brakes from an older Fuji hybrid, since they already had decent pads and are easier to install. The only problem is, I was missing a noodle assembly and boot. After spending at least a half hour looking in the basement, I gave up and ended up ordering a pair of noodles and boots on eBay on Saturday (cheaper than a single noodle/boot), and miraculously they showed up in the mail today.

Of course, as soon as they arrived, I immediately found the noodle and boot I'd been looking for in the basement Figures. And while riding bikes with our sons this evening, we happened upon a boy's bike with a free sign, and it followed us home. So now, I have another pair of noodles (and boots), for a total of FIVE noodles and FIVE boots in an 8-hour period.

Bradleykd

I guess I don't see what is holding you back. The thought of not winning because someone got a great deal on a great frame? I'm doing the this challenge in the way I pictured it: Start looking for a bike the first day of the challenge and buying for the soul purpose of the challenge of making something that was pretty terrible into something useful for less than $100 all in.

Also, it seems to me that our only judge really likes the biggest hunks of crap in this thread more so than the nicest bikes acquired for cheap.

Bradleykd

Speaking of hunks of crap, I pulled my bottom bracket out tonight...






I guess that is why it felt so rough!

On a related note, what do you all appraise this old used shimano Italian threaded bottom bracket at?

Primitive Don

The Raleigh would carry more of a clunker factor, and the Trek is a nice bike. So I'd think the Trek would be more of a keeper and the Raleigh would be more in the spirit of the C&V Clunker Challenge, IMO.

uncle uncle

I dunno, those fenders have some serious vintage street cred mojo vibe... I see at least 10 clams in those alone; beauty and the eye of the beholder and all that.

uncle uncle

Sometimes, it's all about the engine. I like the cut of your syrup there Pancake man.

jetboy 

yeah, its probably 90% about the story and how terrible it starts and 10% about the actual finished bike.

uncle uncle

I don't know if qualifies or not... but it's either 1) brilliant, 2) stupid, or 3) stupid in a brilliant way. I'm placing my money on the third one, and give you high kahuna marks for even attempting the feat on a bmx bike.

jetboy 

the key is get a friend to drive you up a big hill, then ride down and repeat N+1

uncle uncle

I think this falls under #3 on my original list...

CannedPakes

Took my clunker out for it's first ride today...right after a storm on a dirt/gravel trail. I had to be very strategic to make it though.

Andy_K 

Very nice!

Normally I'd object that you can't count miles where you carried the bike, but with that bike you should probably be allowed to count those double.

Wordwreckin

Haha, yeah for sure. I'm going to hop into this challenge.

Bradleykd

I do enjoy that you didn't waste any money on a bottle cage when you have that perfectly good spring rack.

Narhay

i like a good before&after comeback story but I'm also partial to $5 colnago supers.

Narhay

A good "as found" story certainly helps but I'm also giving points to those that put in the elbow grease and the cunning part hunting to really make a gem out of a turd. Or a turd out of a turd.

mrv 

for the rare Raleigh, I emailed the guy posting the bike: Rare raleigh 3 speed
i offered him $10, asked if he had a shifter, seat, and does the IGH work:
his reply: " Its a complete bike. Firm on $40."
~ uh. ok. no seat. no shifter. no tubes. no tires. needs cables.
i'm getting this TREK for $80 ~ ~ if it's not ride-able after i spend $10 on gasoline to meet the guy, i may have blown through the ceiling on the spending limit. and it's not really a clunker, i think..... long term i'd like to turn the TREK into a nice Mustache-bar Rivendell "homage"
(hmmm.... 650b conversion? BB drops a bit low.... hmmmm....)

Andy_K 

I was starting to dream of being able to reuse almost all of the original components on my clunker and spend most of the budget on nice tires. Then I opened up the rear hub and found this:



I guess that's what happens when you only have a locknut on one side of the hub.

I suppose I could ride the bike 100k with a hub like this, but I really had hopes that someone would still be riding it after the challenge is over.

Bicycle Addict

That is what I like to call an indexed rear hub!?

Andy_K 

Yes!

RandolphCarter

Good point. Wish I thought of that. At least I have a few months to (not) get my distance in

Mix of 2 and 3?

Same here. No idea how many miles I racked up on my Team Murray between 1980 and 1983.

I have a few other BMX bikes, all original parts, if anyone else wants in on this.

Bicycle Addict

So, I got a bit done on my entry today.
I have found the original wheel set off the bike and got those on with some cheap 2nd hand tyres waiting to go on, need to decide between skin wall or black walls? (Help me choose?)
I have some grips coming . . . . and as you will see they broke the budget completely,


I really dont don't know how I will recover from such an expensive purchase.

Budget so far,
Cost of bike $30
Cost of tyres. $10
Cost of grips $5
Total to date $45 NZ = just under $32 USD

I would like to replace the BB with a sealed unit, the original is stuffed, and it will cost more to replace the cup and axle set up it is running.
I would also like to replace the brake pads @$10 for the 4.
I may need to replace the chain and that will be around the $20 mark.
Depending on how much I have left I may purchase some Pasellas off a guy here.