norcalmike

Im curious to see those builds made up entirely of junk you had lying around.
Those mix and match recyled parts coming together to live again.

OldsCOOL

How about a ‘76 Fuji “The Finest”? Traded for the frameset here and started piling on the junk. Cyclone 1st gen, Dura Ace brakes, and out popped this:

onre

You, sir, have way too good stuff in your junk box.

OldsCOOL

To confess, that at the time was the best I had. Funny thing, I did it just for fun. Fuji that year put a touring fork on it and that was a bike I rode maybe 3 times. The frame is now on display in my shop.

Spaghetti Legs 

My wife’s commuter bike. Ross frame was very kindly gifted by rccardr and the rest of the parts sourced out of my parts bin. Notice mismatched brakes and levers. I’ve since added a matching rear fender, a gold accented bottle cage. I splurged and bought a close match fender compatible front brake, but still trying to find a fender that works. Frame is a little big for her so I had to slam the post, but wifey absolutely loves the bike and it rides smooth as buttah.

thumpism

My Cimarron.

NR hubs with holes drilled oversize, $20 from a little advertising newspaper back in the early '80s. Homemade triple from a Fuji-branded Sugino Maxy II, warranty bars from a Schwinn High Sierra that the hanger broke off of, warranty broken Pletscher rack that I made into a seatstay mount, stuff like that.

dweenk 

I remember that bike - er frame. You really turned it into something nice.

norcalmike

So far this is exactly what I was thinking.
nice!

OldsCOOL

Yes! I was going to search my PM list to see if that was you. That was a fun winter. I have put that frame in a very special place in my vintage (1930’s) shop. Thanks again for helping me out!

OldsCOOL

I love the handlebar!

ryansu

Ok this is actual junk I was A) clearing out the parts bin and B) trying to make use of a old Frame I got for $5 at a co-op sale. I built it up as a Campus bike. I had everything on hand except the weird schwinn sized stem which fortunately the co-op had. Once upon a time it was a Schwinn Traveler

JohnDThompson 

My Viscount frankenbike. The only original part is the seat post. Front and rear brakes, the brake levers, tires, and the pedals match each other. Nothing else. I'm particularly proud of the crank and bottom bracket: SR Royal right arm with Sugino ring. Zeus left arm. Mounted on a SunTour track cartridge held in place with Phil mounting rings, and because of the Viscount's unusually narrow shell, a couple Dura-Ace lockrings to cover up where the mounting rings extended past the edge of the shell.

Dfrost 

This build of the ‘79 Miyata 912, back when my spare parts bin was much better stocked, only required those gold cable housings, a 26.8mm seatpost, another bike computer (‘cuz I’m a data junkie), the quite effective Lezyne pump, bell, and eventually a different saddle since replaced by a variety of others (‘cuz of my princess b***). There have been quite a few mods since then, but getting this fun bike (purchased new) back on the road was the gateway drug to multiple bikes. I’m almost ashamed that I let the frame hang in the basement for so long before this build.

francophile 

I've got one in progress. Tweaker house in my neighborhood is getting demolished. We ended up donating about 25 bikes in various states of decay to the local co-op - it was literally a truck full, and a ton of parts, wheels, etc. to go with it. I grabbed one mostly-complete Korean-made Moto, and after this sat around for a few days, I figured someone needed to do it justice. Tons of surface rust (see the rear stay in the medium-sized pic below, especially drive side, under the caliper) and stem was severely stuck, probably the 3rd worst I've ever had to deal with. Took some ultra-fine bronze wool and soap to the tubing to knock off all the rust, then buffed and polished a couple of the worse areas to get some shine back on it. Still needs a little more elbow grease but there's only so much lipstick you can put on an old pig, er, Peug?

I didn't give up on it, and I'm really sad I didn't get "before" pics other than these two crappy ones from behind - the bike was an absolute disaster and it looks respectable now. Here a pic of the buildup in-process. I dug around in the bin, got some CLB racer brakes I was about to sell here for $12 or $15 or something, think I'm retrofitting with a SR Apex crank and either Suntour or Shimano stem shifters and mechs. I'll probably go with the rims/wheels that are on it even though I've got two nice pairs of Rigida steelies in the attic I could toss on it. Have a few Atax stems and steel bars floating around, but may go with alloy bars. See if I can get it under 23lbs when all is said and done, then sell it to a college kid for cheap.

Murray Missile 

I've done several "junk box" builds, here's my latest. This 1986 Bianchi Classica frame has been built up several times with junk parts then torn down again and the parts used elsewhere but this version may stick around for awhile. Everything on it is "junk box" with the exception of the fenders and tires which were bought new 4 or 5 years ago for another project that never panned out. I've tried these fenders are countless bikes and they never worked out for one reason or another, they went on this one like they were made for it.

nlerner

I'm in the camp of those who've picked up frame sets or mostly incomplete bikes free or for cheap and then build them up with whatever you have for quick sale. Perhaps one of my more creative builds was this Phillips Manhattan (which actually came to me via eBay as a very trashed complete bike):

PhillipsManhattanFixie1.jpg

bikemig 

Junk box builds are some of my favorites. This one is a my commuter. I picked up the frame, shifters, and a few other bits for $10. It's a Bridgestone BB1:

2cam16

This '94 Rockhopper was a freebie. It came with a no-name junk suspension fork with no brake bosses. I think the PO just slapped it on there to replace the oem fork. It sat in my stash for a year or so then I decided to make it my Winter beater. I had a Surly fork which was the perfect size to compensate for a sus fork. A cf seatpost which was the perfect size. Threw a bunch of parts on it from the bins and also from the forum's Box of Crap. Still a work in progress as I need a shorter stem.
IMG_1143 by 2cam16, on Flickr
IMG_1148 by 2cam16, on Flickr

Slightspeed

Found this '78 Raleigh Super Course for $20. I found a lightly used Brooks saddle on Ebay, new chain, new bar tape, pretty much everything else came from my spares.

As bought, $20 on local CL.

Turned out to be a nice ride. I had just built new wheels for my Legnano, so these were the old ones, mismatched Campy large flange hubs, unknown rims, 3 year old Gator 28s. Suntour derailleurs and shifters were spares that were laying around, as were the Shimano Exage aero levers, and SR Apex crank (was a triple). Ebay supplied newish B17 and new bar tape, KMC chain, pretty cheap build. Oh yeah, new Ebay cables and housing from Pork Chop BMX, too.

cudak888 

A true dog's dinner. The result after removing its aluminum 650A/EA3 wheels and Sturmey rear hub, along with whatever else could be used on alternate builds.

The bar tape was re-used too; just wrapped it so that the dirty bit would be primarily under the overlap.

curbtender

True junk pile build. What it needs is a Raleigh Sport donor.

norcalmike

Nice! i have a soft spot for that era of 912's
All these builds are Sweet!
Lomg live the frankenbikes

cudak888 

Looks better like that; almost unrecognizable. It'd be a crime to EA3 it again.

-Kurt

canklecat

Mine isn't assembled yet, and the frame won't be C&V. It's a circa 2014 Diamondback Podium carbon fiber frame, but it'll wear a Dura Ace RD, 105 front derailleur, 1980s Nitto drop bar, Shimano 600 brake levers, 105 brakes, Dura Ace bar-end shifters, the original Ultegra crankset, and DT Swiss wheels. Just what I already had in a bin, not that it makes any sense.

If I like the frame well enough after the initial build I might spring for a more cohesive component set and redo it.

dufeau

This is my Puch Pathfinder that I converted to a winter bike with a 3x5 group with a SunTour Cyclone rear derailleur