Haha! That was MY suggestion.

Um, is it just me or does there seem to be about 9 months of posts missing? All the posts between 2/18/23 to 11/9/23 are missing.

Cyccommute,
It is either sunspots, or somebody doesn't like we folk who hang around co-ops! Smiles, MH

Where? Not on my feed.

It's bike-fix-up time at the Lansing co-op for the annual Christmas give-away.
This edgy stem treatment caught my eye. It appears the bike was ridden this way.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b329e48b08.jpg

In the end, the bike was too corroded to do anything with; the bottom bracket would only turn under protest. The stem and handlebar with brakes and shifters were salvaged.

cheers -mathias

YIKES, is say YIKES to stem treatment. I'm glad it didn't hurt anyone.

I went to the co-op the other day for a few little things and took a look at the cycles they had. A few interesting things. The one I saw that piqued my interest looked like a custom from an American framebuilder - Paisley.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5d80f2acb.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7fcfaafae.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b670f103f.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3fb941e6a.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7523326b7.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fd747a0d7.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ead2c875f.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6b7625d6e.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0dcb647e0.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...af463da85.jpeg


Real cool bike. Shame about the damage to the seat lug tip. Mish-mash of parts. Seems a little pricey to me, and from what I’ve seen they don’t really lower prices - they still have that Colnago from a year+ ago.

Scott has made quite a few nice frames and that one looks pretty nice, but yes the price is a bit high. Maybe they know something we don't. Smiles, MH

Tonight I went to my co-op to drop off a few items from my work bench. And I took my truck (full size 3/4 ton) and the supervisor asked if I would take the scrap steel bin items. So we put all of it in the bed, and I am always a bit surprised by what makes it into the bin. Two wheels that were quite ok were in the batch. First was an LPS18 rim on a Shimano 7 speed hub that was true. The matching front wheel was damaged so I get that. Second was a gel 330 mounted on a campy hub but was likely tossed because it was a tubular rim. Silly stuff for sure. I will look through the items for a maybe keeper, I loaded a Peugeot F&F that looked like a cyclocross model. A little sunlight should provide what to try and save if anything. Smiles, MH

Scott is the real deal, built them, rode them and hammers them, still at the Blue Wheel I believe in Charlottesville.

Just won his second national cyclocross champion last February and was going to the worlds in Germany.

I have a nice road bike he built that was a screamin deal, too small but very cool.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...25b1c6f731.jpg

This one is at least 4X overpriced compared to mine. :twitchy:

Yeah, I felt the same way about the price. It doesn't really matter what bike it is...most of their 'gone through' bikes are about $500 and up. They price them based on the labor hrs given...regardless of the make or tier of bike. They have a very nice Colnago there as well. I think it is either $600 or $700. It sounds like a screaming deal, but it is around 48-50cm, and they can't get rid of it. I mean, they could if they continued to lower the price every month by 10% until it sold, but that thing's been hanging up there for over a year now. I remember seeing it last December.

I was tempted by the Hollands (Maryland) that they had - Reynolds 708, very nice, AND my size. But it was a teeny bit pricey, and then the next time I saw it it was priced even higher! That very bike (the exact one) was posted on these forums, about 10 years ago. Somehow it made its way to Denver. Was in slightly better shape then, with a better (and matching) set of components. Both of these bikes I posted earlier in this threadI believe (EDIT: Yup, post #323). They also had what looked like a late 80s/early 90s Simonetti. There's a shop down in Trinidad, CO that has a very nice Super Record Mike Melton hanging up in the shop as a display. It's fun seeing and learning about these higher end American custom frame builder bikes.

Or maybe its that we know something they don't:D

Its funny with co-ops, if we could get that kind of money for our elbow grease we'd be rich. They give things away all the time but often seem to think any real effort is worth much more.

Good work is good work, millions get minimal for it all day long every day.

And these folks are not doing anything fantastic from what I can see as is often the case.

I do think many are overwhelmed by the sheer volume they see so maybe any good example is expected to make up for too much slogging, unrealistic more often than not IMO.

At Rusty Spoke in Phoenix, due to being overwhel, er, overly blessed with recent donations we've had to be rather ruthless in purging wheels - we're just completely out of space. Last Wednesday we looked at the small mountain of 26" wheels and tossed anything with a broken spoke, bad wobble, notable brake track wear, or otherwise not 100% - ordinarily we might try to fix them, but with so many already-good wheels we have very little room for and limited volunteer staff, we just can't. For example, there's a super-light Zipp 650C tubular front wheel just sitting there - no demand for it here, no bike to put it on or tire to mount on it - its fate looks bleak. I took home a few with nice hubs for later dismantling and salvaging. And this doesn't include the nearly two dozen wheels in my back yard I still need to go through and fix up.

One of the smarter things my local co-op has established is a dumpster dedicated to bikes at the local landfill/transfer station (in my day as a kid, we called it the "dump").

Its a big metal bin near the front with good signage so people know not just to place bikes in the bin, but where the bike will end up.

Best bike found in it…1980 DeRosa size 59
Worst Bike: Lots of washers and dryers for some reason.

We try to check it daily before the scrap metal thieves remove items, although they are welcome to any home appliances.

Went into the co-op today to load up a truckload of bikes that are clogging up the holding area. They were moderately busy and no volunteers, so nothing got loaded. But I did score a Campy Record seat post with the usual problem... missing lower rails. I am wondering now if there is a way to find a supplier who might be able to make those lower rails. Smiles, MH

^^^^^^ I believe the proper term is "Tandemoneum".

is it ok to post a pic of a co-op bike that others might be interested in here?

I do not want to ruffle feathers.

Any interested parties would be directed to contact the co-op for purchase over the phone.

That's what I do. I see it as a win/win. Co-op gets some free marketing, we get to see neat old bikes, and someone out there may end up finding their dream bike. It's usually done in the spirit of 'no affiliation', but nonetheless interesting bikes are interesting.

Seems like that was pretty common on this thread at one time, similar to the "anybody looking for one of these" thread, but I'm as mystified by the policies here as you are.

Started going through this donated Schwinn World Sport at the Co-op yesterday.
Didn't look like it had been ridden much.
Occasionally we see bikes with original receipts and this one had one for a resident in Tampico, IL.
Tampico, IL is the birthplace of President Ronald Reagan.
Bike shop is Larson's in Sterling, IL about a 20 min. drive or 15 miles.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...20521308c7.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...32085ab82f.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...adb2c18efd.jpg

Very cool. Bloomington? Same co-op that [MENTION=498403]Mad Honk[/MENTION] knows of?

AdventureManCO

Mad Honk 's Co-op is Bloomington Indiana

This is Bloomington, Illinois

Co-op here had a pretty nice Nishiki Cresta GT a couple weeks ago. It was a just a slight bit tattered but looked like a nice rider for $200. Bikes like that sit for a long time here. A few years ago, I rescued an 82 Miyata 1000 that was too big for me. I couldn’t stand to watch it getting scratched up from the shop moving it around. That one even had the original owners manual.

Thanks!

Illinois…Indiana…same same, right??