Narhay

Past iterations

2014: C&V Clunker 100 Challenge
2016: C&V Clunker Challenge 100
2017: C&V Clunker Challenge 100 #3
2018: C&V Clunker Challenge 100 #4
2019: Clunker Challenge #5

You have 100 days starting today, August 11, 2020 to complete the following:

- In the spirit of public health all clunking must be done with physical distancing and safety measures. We want to see your piece of crap next year too.

- $100USD (or local equivalent) firm budget to purchase a C&V bicycle and get it back on the road. This $100 includes initial bicycle purchase and all consumables/parts to make it go again. You may have to cut corners but this is all part of the fun. That wal-mart saddle just might have to be your hatchet if you spent all your money on new tires. Your time, tools, cleaning supplies, gas/transit to go get it and grease are free. Count them if you'd like. If you are buying new or used, record that price. If you are using something you already have and know what you paid, use that price. If you can't remember, use the fair market value of the item. If in doubt, ask. Shipping is a cost to be factored in. While anyone who wishes to participate is encouraged to follow the spirit of the game and go out and get a new bicycle, an untouched project waiting in the shed is ok, too.

- Swapping one part out for another does not cancel out the value added to the bicycle. As found = purchase price. adding items costs money.

- If you sell a part you remove from the bike, you may add the sale price to your budget. You actually have to find a real buyer for your ****e to gain a few sheckles.

- Keep a detailed list and updated before, during and after pictures in this thread on your purchases and progress. We fiend for this sort of thing.

- A minimum of 100km ridden on your new bike. Take photos of the rebuild and of the bicycle in the places you go and post them here. Perhaps you'll have a newfound admiration for stem shifters and solid axles. Or maybe you'll hate everyone after five minutes on the bike and keep using Photobucket to share photos.

- Arbitrary style and value points. You'll get style points for both the nicest finds/builds AND the bikes that make us say "That thing actually survived 100km?". Going as cheap and crummy as possible is a badge of honour. Bonus points for using a real POS in as-found condition (flipped bars, rusted cables, saddle at a 45 degree angle, etc.) and preserving the integrity of the previous owner's ingenuity and mechanical skills.

Judging: Bribery and flattery is acceptable and encouraged. If anyone actually has too much free time and bribes me I will post contents of bike related packages for others to covet and oggle.

https://www.strava.com/clubs/candv
Join the C&V strava club and track your rides. Post here too for those that don't use strava.

Classtime 

Everyone gets a trophy.

Narhay

At least one. Possibly several.

natloz

Free bike that my 6 year old boy and I are going to transform on the cheap!

Narhay

Looks showroom. Not sure what you need to do

natloz

LOL, we drafted a plan:
New/used white-wall tires - found some yesterday that are brand new - but were stored in a garage for years for $20.
New white grips (3/4") - ordered on Amazon this week for $6 shipping included.
De-grease but leave natural patina and age
Polish de-rust all chrome
Lubricate all bearings/re-pack with fresh grease
Attach new white pedals (in a bag that came with the bike - I like free)
Re-upholster seat - got to figure this one out...never attempted this before.

Then cruise the neighborhood and show this unique bike to all the kids riding modern day crap from Walmart.

bikemig 

Yeah Covid has pushed up the price of even the lowliest clunkers out there.

scarlson 

It'd look so good with some plaid vinyl or fabric on there!
Looks like similar construction to a motorcycle seat (metal seat pan with a couple layers of foam of different density) but I can't quite see it. There are tutorials out there for redoing those DIY-style.

Narhay

The deals will appear if you keep looking. I've bought and sold more bikes this year than any other but I also spend a lot of time trawling online ads.

noobinsf 

I think people with old bikes sitting around are more likely to purge them because we're all spending so much time at home. The flip side of that is when you have 25 people responding within 5 minutes, it's harder to be the first one in line.

rustystrings61 

I'm in! In the race to gather up all the stuff for the Raleigh Competition project just completed, last August I wound up making a deal for perhaps the saddest Raleigh Gran Sport out there. You may recall this Raleigh that was eventually identified not as a Super Course nor as a Grand Prix, but a Gran(d) Sport(s). After some back and forth, Schreck83 acquired it for its parts; he then graciously sold the frame, fork, headset and seat post binder bolt to me for $50 shipped. There goes half my budget. I masked off where the chrome should be and applied some paint stripper and this was the result -




- and then the poor dear was put on the back of the workbench, where it sat for months. Until Sunday, when I pulled it down and wiped it off and put it on the stand and started cleaning. The old Meguiar's polish with strips of cloth run shoe-shine style made it look a little less sad, and some Quick-Glo did wonders for the fork tips and stays, though they are still very tired. I also scraped the blue paint off the head badge and swiped it a little with some Brasso, and I know at some point I will want to come back around with a little touch-up paint to make the badge respectable again.

Last night I tackled the headset.




and after that I unearthed a set of wheels that came from a Gitane I bought a while back for $20 to scavenge its lovely T.A. crankset. I repacked the hub bearings and thought, “I wonder if I could build this bike just with stuff I have on hand? So I grabbed a set of bars and an old stem and the levers from the Competition and a scavenger set of Weinmann centerpulls and started bolting stuff together.



and yes, that IS recycled Tressostar handlebar tape. Doesn’t everyone keep a bin of used bar tape?

So then today Narhay announces my favorite contest, and I'm in. I'll take a three-day penalty for an early start. Seems to me I did the same in #4 when I started assembling a Diamond Back Venture and then the contest started ...

natloz

I will take photos as we go, there are metal tabs that seem to fold over the fabric on the bottom with pointy tips instead of staples.
I was thinking even trying to find a white leather coat at the thrift shop!

nlerner

Boston's CL continues to yield promising candidates, e.g.,

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/bi...175140601.html
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bi...173729568.html

scarlson 

Exactly like '70s Honda motorcycle seats!
Such a good idea

ryansu

I was very lucky to stumble across this 1993 (?) Univega Via Montega for $40 on CL 10 days ago. Got a missing spoke replaced for $23 at the LBS. I do lots of work but don't do much with wheels other than truing and rebuilding hubs, and I've spent $25 to get a new cassette and chain to replace the silly 11-19 corn cob on there currently. So still under $100 and I need to charge myself $5 to replace the saddle with something out of the parts bin. The stock saddle didn't agree with me on a 11 mile shakedown jaunt.


Hybrid clunker

Hmm something is missing

corn cob cassette

Murray Missile 

Hah! I was ready this time, I made 2 scores last Fall and have been sitting on them untouched for just this moment.

1979 Soma Prestige, purchased for $75, except for saddle height and bar adjustment ready to go as is. Needs nothing to be Challenge ready.


And then this buy of the year.......... maybe the decade. A 1982 Nishiki International AND a 1988 Bridgestone RB-3 along with 2 floor pumps for $55. I cleaned up the Bridgestone put $20 worth of used tires on it and sold it a few weeks ago for $140. So I basically have the Nishiki for free plus an extra $65. So, if I have interpreted the rules correctly I can spend $165 on the Nishiki if I choose to enter it.



The Nishiki doesn't need much to ride in the challenge, a rear tire and tube. I have a Kenda blackwall I have about $20 in and several salvaged tubes so I can have it in Challenge ready condition in a few minutes and still have about $140 credit available.

Lascauxcaveman 

Just a suggestion to anyone looking to get into this game: I've picked up quite a few legit free bikes by putting an ad on CL. Wording along the lines of "I want your unwanted bikes, any condition, to fix up and ride/sell/give away to someone else. Will pick up." I did end up giving away most of them, sold a few, a couple I never got around to fixing and dropped off at the co-op.

bwilli88 

A clunker from Japan. It is a Maxwell. It has been a red single speed, a 3x9 gravel bike painted grey with rapid rise rear derailleur. This will be built up as a 1x9. Parts so far, shifter was $22, crank arms (suguino XD2) $32, $5 for cables, need a new bottom bracket and good pedals. Everything else is from my bin and has been used on at least 2 other bikes.

Narhay

Entry granted

Narhay

The saddle alone is worth $165.

rustystrings61 

Because I had so much of my entry's value in a frameset with no parts other than a headset, I was wondering how I would pull this off under $100. I had trawled the online sales sites, and saw a tall Schwinn World Sport that appeared to have nice cranks and decent wheels for $30 that had been for sale for a while, and messaged the seller, hoping to get it for less. No response. So yesterday afternoon I took a little time to hit the local thrift shops looking for a donor. No dice, so I grabbed some trade bait and hit the LBS. No 27.2 seatposts, but I was allowed into the back where the junky stuff is piled up and lo - there was the tall World Sport. Turns out someone had bought it and brought it in, didn't like the estimate for making it roadworthy, and sold it to the shop for a pittance.

I looked it over and saw Sugino VP cranks and bottom bracket. We pulled the seatpost and found it to be a 26.6 - but maybe I can shim it. I looked closely at the tires and realized they were perfectly fine and serviceable, if clunky and heavy and dirty, Bell kevlar lined Streetsters. We finally made a deal and I swapped a set of wheels for the bike and two new brake cables. The wheels were from a Gary Fisher mtb I'd purchased three years ago for $15, parted out and sold most of the the rest of it for around $150 net - so, in essence, I got a free donor bike and brake cables.

When I went to load it into the truck, I got a closer look at the rims and hub centers - Weinmann 27-in rims made in Belgium, Maillard low-flange q/r hubs. Maybe I'll use those, too.

Murray Missile 

😆😆😆 Thankfully that's just a lycra cover. There is a near mint Avocet Touring 1 hiding beneath that "cheesy" rag LOL.

natloz

The tear down by the 6 year old begins! He now knows how to use tire levers!

rustystrings61 

randyjawa Dump Finds...

natloz

Too funny, yet true!