The purge begins.
 

I'm in N - X mode. Stripped 2 bikes and put the frames on the curb, put 4 others on Craigslist and will get at least one more ready to list in the next couple days. Had a guy stop and grab the frames, he wanted the World Sport to build and I convinced him he needed "Moby Grape" too. These 2 are officially gone except for a box of parts........ BTW, is there anyway to make the pictures smaller when uploading from my PC?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5184a3a147.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a956eec281.jpg


These are on Craigslist..... and there are still several that need to go and more that "should" go but I can't quite bring myself to let them go just yet. This is a HUGE step for me though.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2f6b39043b.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2bc60e05d2.jpg

Yep, Big Bird......
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b4f681a793.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c090420264.jpg

Don't have regrets - think of it as pairing out the bikes that keep you from having a few really nice ones around. Shoot for bikes at or above the Fuji Royale II, and you'll be good.

IMHO, almost all claw-hanger dropout bikes (with rare exceptions) can be "future not-so-keepers" and that's perfectly OK. Makes it easier to let them go when the time comes.

-Kurt

It feels good once you've gotten rid of a few, believe me.

Well keep the saddle on the royale II!

That's got to be the best looking Free Spirit I've ever seen

More importantly - please show pics of what stays.
Keep this thread on the positive side.
Or at least, the glass is 'half full' - of keepers.

You should definitely sell those. :innocent:

Good for you! I have a couple on CL myself.

With one exception I'm only keeping road and mountain bikes with CroMo frames and forged rear dropouts and even some of those will get the axe. The Belt saddle on the Royale II is in pretty tough shape otherwise I'd keep it. Yes, the Free Spirit is in amazing condition, unfortunately it is a Free Spirit. Built it for the wife to ride to work to save her good bikes. She rode it once. As you can see when I first got back into bikes I wasn't as discriminating. The purple BCA was purchased specifically for the Clunker Challenge but didn't hold up. Otherwise if it was my size or even close I'd grab it. Since then I've raised the bar a few notches. I have some decent riders and enough more worthy projects to satisfy my need to tinker for awhile. Still not to the level as many here and never will be but much better than I started with. One thing in my favor is that there is nothing similar on my local CL or FB right now.

Just recently did the N-all but one, (sold my 1968 Geoffrey Butler frame set, 1969 Atala Professional, 1970 all chrome Torpado, 1970 Freddie Grubb, another all chrome Torpado, 1973 Peugeot PX10, 199? Quintanna Roo, 2000 Cyclops and most of my vintage component stash) leaving me with this 1968 Legnano...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fb7aa4ed56.jpg

and this 1958 Rabeneick to be painted in the next week, or so...
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7653806c6f.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...981a2d5bcf.jpg

and, I suppose, this Rocky Mountain "Cardiac" (soon to be fitted with drop bars and indexed Barcons)...
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...72642663c9.jpg

We can’t all have the same idea.

@Murry Missile purging feels good and gives you room to find new treasures. In the last month I have sold a; Bianchi Ibex (2018 clunker Challenge) Schwinn LeTour and just sold a mid 80s Novara Randonee last night. I have the 92 Allez torn down to refub and sell on (too small) and if there is time this summer I have a 80s Trek 420 that needs TLC and then a new home.

Or rediscover "buried" treasure....... this has been languishing behind the less worthy occupants of my garage since 2017. It's coming out to play in just a few minutes. Sad isn't it?

198? Focus SG-300 I bought from the 2nd owner who bought it when he was just out of high school. He kept it in really great condition, not much info on these. PO thought it was an '85.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3e2ee756e9.jpg

^^^^^ Nice looking. Keep the thread going in the right direction with a couple more keepers. You're already feeling better.....

Didn't I see this brand mentioned in C&V recently.

Don't get me wrong I feel great about getting rid of some of these and even when they're gone I'll still have "too many" bikes LOL.

If there has been a post on Focus bikes in the past 12 months I've missed it, I'll have to do a search. I aired up the tires, hosed the dust off it and took it for a short ride, it's a sweetheart for sure.

This one has been parked right next to the Focus for almost as long. 1985 Schwinn Voyageur in even better condition than the Focus, they had it priced way too low I practically stole it. I can't believe no one beat me to it!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0d5d44cba5.jpg

BIG BIRD looks great. Chrome fenders are sharp. I sold off 10 or so bikes this spring ( kept 3 continentals ) Had better sales off fb than Craig’s. It does feel good to reset the cave.

Man that Voyageur is gorgeous! (and in my size of course) But I feel ya on the purge. I'm moving things around in my head and on various bikes to get to N = 2 + a (hand-built) track bike (I already have it nearly built up). That means selling some really nice bikes, with "my" parts on them even. Guerciotti, Land Shark, Ridley, Davidson, in addition to the Trek 710 and decked-out Cannondale ST, a Novara Strada that needs parts, and a few framesets (some I've been trying to sell). Bunch of components, too. Keep the P15 Paramount and Prologue with their special components (3x10 DA for one, 2x10 Di2 Ultegra for the other) and just call it a day. Those two bikes have proven their worth in action and in aesthetic--not that the other bikes haven't--and are the most special to me. I'd like the bucket load of extra space, and the money (back) as well. Mostly space and backing off the throttle of that buy-strip-restore-build (with parts I like) rat race that I create and participate in.

Thanks, it's the nicest all original bike I own, it looks like they rode around the block a few times then carefully packed it away. I've never even thrown a leg over it yet. There is an 85-ish TenSpeed Design prepped Guerciotti SLX frameset in a box in my garage that I'm slowly collecting Campy components for. No show piece but not a beater either. Sadly the SN tag is gone.

Nice grip tape on the Fuji Royale!

even the Ridley....?

I get it, I am selling stuff to get back to a somewhat sane level for a 2 bdrm apt but to get to 2 would take some painful decisions for me. Currently aiming for N=5 , just sold 3 to get down to 7 and I have the too small Allez down to the frame for refurb so it can go too.

Oh man, don't I know it. I toasted my IT (iliotibial) band on the 4th (that was a fun 15 miles home from the turnaround), much to my frustration. I am nearly done changing my Prologue to Di2 (electronic shifting), just needing a chain, pedals installed, and a tune. But as injury is wont to do, assessment of the situation takes place. The desire to purge is strong, but as so often is the case, the market is too slow to respond, and by then the tide of desire has come in again, and it's back to keeping things or wanting more. I'm trying to rest and stretch the IT band, but it is bumming me out a lot to not be able to ride. It's like the Land Shark is oddly cursed in fitment somehow. I need to measure a bunch of stuff to see where my should-be-dead-on-to-spec measurements give things up.

The Damacles is a fantastic bike--essentially flawless. If you want carbon, but not wimpy-feeling carbon, this thing is strong. Light, but very stout feeling. And it looks good doing it. Carbon absorbs bumps and vibrations very well, and this Classics-made frameset is no different. On the flip side, with hills, steel or springy aluminum help vault one up hills noticeably. With the exact same components, the Prologue "flattens" a hill noticeably better than the Ridley. The Ridley isn't lifeless (very playful out of the saddle), but it doesn't give you that extra that steel does. Steel doesn't quite absorb like carbon, thus one is made to make a decision.

My bottleneck is still only having one box-sectioned, high-polished rim wheelset with which to bless a frameset with. I have the hubs, I just need to get some TB14s and spokes. And then build them. I'll try and build+sell the spares I need/want to sell, and then look at the keepers. The Ridley could be a quick sell for a good chunk of cash (much like my CAAD10), so that's why it's considered. Still need to un-creak the saddle/integrated seat post clamp interface...

And another one joins the list...........

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8d71fcb31d.jpg

Just a thought for your noble venture, one I've been knocking around. I too see bikes leaving the collection, some hopefully to grandchildren as all the kids have theirs by now. It's that moment of watching them get their first real bike that really does it, another life moment or so you hope.

So my thought is that each year there's National Bike to School day. I'm in a local bike club and I watch the membership age and no younger people come in. So my thought is to see if there would be interest in the local school districts (3) if the month before Bike to School day three of my vintage bikes could be on static display rotating between each of their local high schools as part of an essay contest "Why I want to ride this bike and where I would ride it?". The essay winner would get this bike to be picked up at the local bike clubs next meeting with a free years membership. Maybe we'd gain another rider, for sure the bike would go to someone who wanted it, and still I'd get to see them when they got their first real bike.

Just a thought, even the wife/stoker liked the idea.

I took some of the advice I got here and listed them on 3 different FB sales groups yesterday as well as CL and today I got a message on FB from someone in a neighboring town that wants to look at ALL of them this evening. I don't know them personally but I know of them so I know they aren't scammers. The guys wife made the contact and we had quite a conversation. She told me to dig out any other bikes I might want to sell. From the sounds of it even if I don't sell any of them I may have made a new bike "friend".. That would be kind of nice since vintage bicycle are NOT a common hobby here in the rural Midwest and the 2 friends I had that were into them like I am both passed away a few years ago. I have other interests but it would be nice to have somebody to talk bikes with face to face. I think I'm more excited about that than the potential sales.

Well, sold one and made a new friend. The '83 Espree has gone to a loving home and a younger rider has been exposed to vintage bikes, I'm willing to bet it won't be his last. As it turns out we work at the same company LOL.