We live in a diverse Denver neighborhood and we sometimes get transients who dumpster dive in the alley.

The other day I saw a sweet (bright orange w/ full chrome forks) early 70's Hi-Ten Centurion that was loaded to the max... Suntour V GT LUXE group, perfectly adjusted saddle/bar height for this big guy, Normandy high flange's...and leaning up against a dumpster.

I approached the man who was diving in the dumpster, gave him a few bucks for a meal and complimented his savvy use of paniers.... He was very knowledgable about the California bicycle scene of the 60's and 70's....VERY cool


He told me that he uses this bike to gather up discarded items and then once he gets a full load he takes them back to Boulder (not an easy ride)

He told me that "I got this bike from the derailer bike collective".... (I later found out from a friend at the Denver Rescue Mission that these kids have put many quality vintage rides under the homeless population with a strong emphasis on women and children)

I did some checking and found the group. These kids are off to a great start and I hope it turns into a smashing success for them. Kudo's to these kids for doing something good

I have decided that the Bridgestone MB-6, 60's Firestone 3 speed, and Schwinn "Lil Chick" muscle bike are going there this Thurs. These kids will put them to better use than I ever could have.

If I see any sweet old goodies there, I'll snap a few photo's for you good folks.

These kids have their hearts in the right places:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNo-P7BNp0

Sounds much better than the one I saw a few years ago: guy had a shiny new set of Wally World 26" mountain bike wheels with knobby tires on a bike boom ten speed & since the brakepads wouldn't matchup, the pads were removed so just the calipers could clamp onto the sidewalls of the tires. I stopped & talked with him a bit & he was proud of the bike he built, said it still stopped "OK" so long as he kept the speed down.

Cool video, cool group.

UPDATE:

I wanted to give you folks a final photo summary of some great old steel:

I went to the Derailer Bicycle Collective to drop off 5 complete bikes today and EVERYBODY there was so great.

The general consensus (Especially among the cute girls who volunteer there ) was that the 70's Schwinn Lil Chick w/ banana seat was by far the coolest kid's donation of the day

Anyways, I snapped as many photos as I could. I wanted to get some of the shop and wonderful staff members (especially this 20 year old volunteer who was a master at truing wheels I kid you not), but they had their hands very full with nearly 1 dozen people who needed bikes.

I saw at least 8 makes/models that pop up on our forum on a daily basis (Man did I ever want this sweeeeet Follis I saw):

You gotta love any entrance w/ wheels

https://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2/bikes123.jpg


https://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2/bikes127.jpg

https://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2/bikes126.jpg

https://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2/bikes125.jpg


Bonus points to anybody who can distinguish/identify the matching copper colored pair in the middle of this pile:
https://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l4...2/bikes124.jpg



Doing this felt good for the soul......

They even have some Tallbikes! Way cool...

East Hill