Narhay

Not distance necessarily, although that can feed into the provenance, but to what lengths have you gone to resurrect, restore, or find a part? Sometimes those parts can be exceedingly rare and you work with what you've got, other times one has more time and skill than sense. Before and afters appreciated if applicable.

Andrew R Stewart 

Well, my best story starts with the part in hand. Maybe 25 years later I made a bike to fit it.


The part was an alloy shelled SA AW from 1957 that I saved off a repair we did. The bike is self made and still sees round town stuff. Andy.

CliffordK

I'm pretty much car free. So, I can draw a circle around my house... about 50 miles one way, or 100 miles RT (which I've done once).

nesteel 

Bought a Campy Rally from a seller in Canada that wouldn't ship to the US. Had it shipped to a friend of mine in Canada, who brought it across the border and mailed it to me. Worth the cheap Rally RD, IMHO.

obrentharris 

Very interesting looking bike Andy. I'd love to see more pictures. Integrated rack and rear dropouts that I can't quite make out are both intriguing.
Brent

jethin

Awhile back I hand sanded a block steel washer into a radiused washer. It took me about a month of scritching in front of the tube off and on. I’m a fool, but I do a good job of it.

old's'cool

No pics readily at hand... Long story; I'll try to summarize in bullet form:

• Fell in love with new 1978 Motobecane Grand Jubile at LBS in Winnipeg when I was teenager, having outgrown my first above entry level 10-speed
• On test riding, the reach to the handlbars was uncomfortably long...
• On negotiation of the purchase, LBS agreed to substitute a shorter stem
• All was good, until,
• Fast forward 32 years, I noticed a crack in the handlebar clamp area of the stem, (which I not too long afterward deduced was due to the stem being 26mm while the bar was 25.4 mm - or was it 25.4 vs 25.0 )
• So I swapped back to the original 100mm SR stem (OK, probably not original to my bike, but same as the original, nevertheless), but again noticed the uncomfortably long reach,
• Fortunately, I had a buddy that was good at welding aluminum, so
• After I ground out a large V-notch where the crack was, he welded in a fillet, and I filed, sanded and polished it so that it looked like new,
• And I reinstalled the purdy 3ttt stem, with a shim of correct thickness, this time. It's working great. Photos to follow.

Lascauxcaveman 

I once drove nearly 20 miles to pick up a set of wheels built around an Alfine 8 hub.

With the shifter and few other items included, it was darn good deal at $100.

Other than that, I go as far as my computer, or the LBS across the street from where I work. I have had a surprising number of sellers bring bikes and parts to me. "Oh, you work downtown? I'll just drop it off on my lunchbreak." Small town

3alarmer 

.
...never past second base. OK, third base once, but I wouldn't do it again.

bwilli88 

I bought a bike in Cambodia where I live just for the SS 635 ERTO clincher rims for my 73 Super Course build in Lancaster PA.

Andrew R Stewart 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/731955...57594547294593


Highlights are self cut rear drops to fit the SA axle. The brazed on rack. The nails as locating studs for the kickstand. The ultralight craft control pulley. The mix of fillet and lugs with the lugs having a layering up of brass along the shorelines and filing to sort of mimic a fillet. And of course, the hub. Andy

burnfingers

I spent 7 months hunting for a square taper spindle that was a drop-in replacement for a cottered one in a early 60s Mercier once... Ended up finding one in Portugal of all places, imported it and am still ridding on it today

Vintage Raleigh

I once drove 2 hours for a VERY rusty 26" girls 80's Japanese Raleigh, a freebie from a friend who knew I was into Raleigh's. Not one for me but didn't have the heart to say no, so I donated it to the local co-op.

If you want to restore a bike in Australia, the internet is your friend. Because of our relatively small population, parts locally are thin on the ground. So it's a waiting game to find the part you want, in the condition you want, at the price you want to pay. The time differences can work with you too when bidding.

The finishing touches for all my bikes have been from the US, Canada, Continental Europe and the UK.

gugie 

Damn, an Alfine 8 hub is worth more than those wheels!

Phloom

Ignoring all the parts I have gotten from as far away as Germany, I live in Canada, I did get a 1963 Gitane from a small town called Mundare about 50 miles away. It was a very strange purchase.

I discovered the address was a small bakery with a house attached to it. When I knocked on the door, a young lady, scantily clad, answered. I explained that I was here to buy an old bicycle. She had three children in the living room, evidently from different fathers or she was running a day care centre. She led me down to the basement where I met her father, I think. He could barely speak English and my French was not good enough to speak with anyone. But we managed to negotiate a deal.

I carried the 1963 Gitane out of the basement and walking through the living room, the young lady was bent over, tending to a child, displaying most of her ass. Of course, I enjoyed the view but made my way out. She was very pretty but age has informed me this would not be a beneficial situation.

It was the most memorable long distance bicycle acquirement. Not just a part but the whole dam bike.

Lascauxcaveman 

Don't I know it! I was sorta pinching myself while the guy was telling me about the modern 29er MTB he had the wheels built for, going on and on while I'm holding those 5 Jacksons out to him hoping he'd shut up and take my money so I could run out the door with his wheels. In the end, we had a nice conversation about building bikes up from parts, and being maybe a little too obsessed about the creative urge, blah blah blah...

IOW, he was "one of us," but had just decided to jump off the roller coaster. I was in the right place at the right time and I think I did right by his castoffs. Anyway, since this thread needs pics, here's where those wheels ended up:

UKFan4Sure

I've never left right where I'm sitting now....

Gotta love eCommerce.

SJX426 

I was in an accident in 2009, as some of you may recall, and was looking for a replacement bike. My left humorous was broken and floating around while it was trying to make up its mind of when it was going to mend. Different story except that I couldn't ride.

On a whim, I did a search on CL for "Colnago." BOOM!

[IMG]P7070974, on Flickr[/IMG]

I brought a friend with me and drove from Beaverton Ore to Hood River, of all places. Negotiated a price and took it home. This was when I was just learning what many of you knew 30-years ago about bikes. I had thoughts of repaint and restoration. Couldn't do much with a broken bones and a lot of pain so did a lot of BF'n. Decided that it was new only once and didn't do anything but look for parts to replace the "wrong" ones. Most were acquired from CL but the post and pedals were a @Drillium Dude acquisition.

[IMG]1983 Colnago Superissimo, on Flickr[/IMG]

Then there was the Trek 760 fork search....You can see the story here

bradtx

Because the seller offered the bike at what I would have offered it for, I drove to Atlanta and picked it up...and then drove to Ft. Stewart, GA to visit my youngest and her husband...the trip to visit my daughter was already loosely planned.

Brad

PS Time wise it took six to eight years to find a set of white hooded NOS 600 brake levers for my '89 Cannondale.

3speedslow

Quite often, the part I need is right here, on the bike next to the project bike. Then it gets real quiet.

repechage

Bought a bike just to have a factory color to match to.

noglider 

There is someone in this thread who lives in Canada and is within driving distance from his US post office box, which I'm sure allows him to save some money.

Narhay

Thankfully I now work about 15 minutes away from that mailbox which gives me more time to clean out old hubs with Q-tips.

clubman 

Custom! More pics? Love the rack design.

edit, found your flickr pages, cool.
bikesbystewart's photosets on Flickr

gaucho777 

I bought a second Look frame (a well-used up KG66) to get a replacement rear dropout after I snapped the hanger on my KG86. Cut up the KG66, then had a framebuilder epoxy the donor dropout back into the KG86.

For a single part, I was able to salvage these beat up Weyless pedals. I've posted these pics before, so forgive the repetition.


before as found


before side


before top


after some initial sanding


Some reshaping

Then more sanding


Then more reshaping and polishing, and a trip to a local anodizing shop to get to have them refinished.