This has been a crazy week. I should probably open a bike shop or something. These came from having my wife ask at a yard sale whether they had any bikes....a Novara Pondarosa with a nice touring Deore DX groupset (including hubs, but not including brakes), a nice Terry seat and a nice Blackburn rack....will probably be stripped of Deore and sold super-cheap with workable cheaper MTB components. Frame is a semi-lugged Tange MTB. The other bike is a sure sign I am crazy...a $3 girls Magna that i thought would be good to harvest various parts for building up some some of the cruiser & muscle bikes I got earlier this week. I have to say it's the first one of these POS bikes that i've ever seen that does not look like it ever spent the night outside or in the rain...guess it came from a good home :)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...0MTAtMTczM.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...0MTAtMTczM.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...0MTAtMTY0M.jpg

Lotus Classique
 

I pulled this 58cm Lotus out of the metal recycling pile at the town transfer station today. Everything is straight but looks like it was outside for a bit. I am curious about the "B" on the fork crown. What info I have been able to find makes me think I should find the Lotus flower emblem there instead. Maybe the fork was changed?

Edit: I figured out that the fork is Bianchi. Also the wheels have Wolber "Super Champion Gentleman GTA" rims, which I doubt originally came on a Tsunoda made bike.

When I was a kid and visiting family in France, those bikes with little motors over the front wheels where everywhere....all ages...everyone rode one...well, no not everyone, but they were all over the place...usually looking a lot older & oilier than that one.

There's no tank or engine intruding on your "floorboard". Can't have been driven,,beat on very much. The 2-stroke would label you a gross polluter,,ect these days Mos. Chris

Great find! I have a Lotus Unique that I cleaned up and have been enjoying quite a bit this year. I believe this Classique is even higher on their lineup. Mine does have the flower on the fork, but I don't know if that is to be found on all Lotus bikes.

I haven't gotten it running yet. It was partially apart and in a box when I picked it up this morning. It's mostly there but I have to check the wiring and a couple nuts and bolts are missing.

I suppose, but figuring how few of them must be left, and how much cleaner everything else being made these days is, I don't think I'll feel bad running it every now and then.

Must be my weekend for '86 Schwinns. After picking up an '86 World Sport at a garage sale yesterday, I followed it up with this Passage from Goodwill today. It seems to be in great shape with the exception of a snapped shifter cable, and it even came with a Cateye Astrale all for the low price of $19.99.



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You better watch out! Al Gore might fly to your home town in his private jet and come to your house in a stretch Hummer to scold you about the Inconvenient Truth that your little motorized bike is causing the Earth to melt.

That's a great score, congrats! I've never found a Passage in my area, but I'd be willing to spend 10x what you paid!

Thanks Chris. This is the second one I've found in less than a year. The other a 24" and is still in the basement waiting for some TLC.

[QUOTE=Gthoro;10652684]Must be my weekend for '86 Schwinns. After picking up an '86 World Sport at a garage sale yesterday, I followed it up with this Passage from Goodwill today. It seems to be in great shape with the exception of a snapped shifter cable, and it even came with a Cateye Astrale all for the low price of $19.99.

Shifter cable will set you back about $1 the next time you put in an online parts order. You found an all original '86 Schwinn Passage full-blown touring bike. It has double butted Columbus Tenax frame tubing. The forks are hi-ten. The Voyageur had the chromo forks. It also has a triple chain wheel (15-speed ... 3 x 5), cantilever brakes, 3 water bottle cage mounts, pump peg, 40-spoke rear wheel, and quite a few other nice features. Looks like you even have a Jim Blackburne rear rack (that's easily worth the $19.99 alone). Looks in great shape, probably not used much. Super small size frame, which is something many women who tour and commute would need. Most likely built at Schwinn's Mississippi plant, and carried an M.S.R.P. back then of about $310 (what I've read) ... doesn't that sound quaint? Comparable touring bike new today is well over $1,000. These used are selling for the $300+, depending on condition and market. Full-blown touring bikes are also more difficult to find, since there were relatively few made. Major score!

Great deal!!!!
I had to pay alot more for mine!!! :innocent:

I've seen these on Craig's List for as much as $1,100. Don't know if they sell at that price. I think Puch and Vespa used to make the better mopeds back in the 1970s. Puch mopeds were apparently taken over by Piaggio (Vespa), which put them under one roof. What's the MPG on that? 90? You probably have to mix the oil and gas on that one.

Goodness, I have become such a bike magnet. Yesterday, I got FIVE new bikes for $15 cash, total.

My friend was having a two-family yard sale. He called to tell me. I went over. His neighbor was selling an 80's Shogun. He asked for $15, so I gave him that. It looks bad but is in good shape. It has double butted chromoly tubing and light wheels. It will ride well.

I mentioned that I remember seeing an old Nishiki in the basement, so my friend pulled it out and gave it to me. It has that FEMTO frame tube sticker that mocks a Reynolds sticker. The bike is nothing special, with steel, bolt-on wheels, but it's in good shape. It also looks like heck.

I did some computer work for a friend. It turned out to be an easy job, hardly taking any of my time. I brought it over to her and helped her move her data from her old laptop to her new one. She offered to pay me in bicycles. She gave me two very nice mountain bikes which are surprisingly light. They have toe clips, which I'll probably reap before selling the bikes. Plus she gave me her old bike, a Centurion of the old Terry design. It has a 700c rear wheel and a 650a front wheel. My friend is 4'11", and this bike is good for someone up to about 5'2". I might give it to the 11 year old boy across the street who comes over and helps me. I want to teach him an appreciation for narrow tires and gears. So far, he's only into BMX riding.

From what I've read online up to 218mpg can be had from one of these. Though apparently around 120 is more realistic.

My friend used to have a Puch that he paid $60 for, it was definitely a finer machine than this. I used to have a Columbia moped with a Sachs engine and that was also a pretty smooth ride, I paid $75 for that. A few years ago you could pick up mopeds right and left for $50 or so, but it seems that prices for mopeds have gone up as much as those for old bicycles recently (or at least what people are asking for them).

Does it have the amazing samurai helmet headbadge?

How much would you want for the little tiny road bike(if it does not go to the neighbor kid)? My girlfriend is 4'11" and i'v been trying to find something for her....Any pics?

A polluter, but more forgivable than a gas-powered leaf blower.

FWIW, I saw a Nishiki mixte at the Super Pawn on the corner of Valley View and W Desert Inn Rd. I didn't give it a thorough look, but I think it was relatively original. They also had this nice DB Apex for $100, if I had found earlier than the day before leaving, I would have had to buy it and ship it home...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_TIeBxBH6dXI/S8...00/apex_01.jpg

Where are you located in WI? I am in Kenosha. Shoot me an email 2bikemen@wi.rr.com Nice find by the way. Matt

Not really a great story. Just found it on CL. The seller wanted a Mountain Bike and I happened to have an extra Bridgestone MB-3. I also paid some cash. Not any sort of smoking deal, but it is a nice bike that I am happy to have.

Jared

Awesome find that one is, very jealous. :)

Picked up another outside the norm bike today.
This is a kid size Nirve Clutch Chopper. I am thinking of using the front fork on a rat rod project I have in mind.

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/a.../IMAGE_191.jpg

Pounced on this on craigslist today:
http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...2&d=1271032114
http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...3&d=1271032119

It is a Specialized Sirrus with a full 6 speed shimano 105 group. Nothing looks to be particularly broken on it, just a good overhaul and cleaning is in order. Luckily I live a block from the bike coop now.. Since I have no car, I walked to get it; luckily it was only a mile and a half away. As I attempt to get money from the ATM on my way there, it runs out of cash :notamused:. Anyway, not a $10 garage sale find or a dumpster find, but I paid $60 for it and it should fix up nicely. I plan to try to give it to my mother.

Nice! I have its sister (older?) in red with yellow accents. :)

So anyway I contacted a bike bud and he had alot of bikes he was sending off to be scrapped. I'm not sure how many I helped saved but it was a full cube van? lol heres some of the ones I kept, I gave my other friend most the other ones.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...u/100_2071.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...u/100_2072.jpg
28" bikes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...u/100_2067.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...u/100_2066.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...c_inu/1ccm.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...u/100_2064.jpg

Theres more but no pics