I've often thought it would be fascinating if an old bike could talk. I'd love to hear where it has been and what kind of riding it facilitated. How many times it had changed hands. With my 84 Schwinn Voyageur, I wrote a little note, rolled it up and tied a string to it, and wedged the string between the bar end shifter and the handlebar, so that if anyone ever pulls out the bar end shifter, the string ought to come with it along with the note.

I took 1/8 of a normal letter sized sheet of paper, and wrote how I came to own the bike, some notes about the bike itself, a little bit about myself and how I intend to use it, what I know of the original owner, and why I was building it the way I was doing it. Put my name, city, and date on it.

Message in a bottle.

Many times, I write the date of a rebuild on the fork steerer...

I remember that one of Viscount's (- I think it was his Thanet Silverthan, but I could be wrong, he gets so many great bikes!) came with the log book of it's previous owner filled in daily with rides, distances, etc. Unusual, but what an interesting addition to any classic bike.

I've never left a note inside a bike, but I have read of recommendations to do so in the interest of theft recovery. I also have read old stories of people hiding cash and jewelry inside handlebars and seat tubes, but I haven't found one of those bike yet. I've also read of people on tours hiding some backup cash on a bike in case their wallet got stolen while on tour. About the only things I have found inside handlebars are some old dried up mud wasp nests, a screwdriver and some wire and an air nozzle took care of those "finds".

Cool. Never thought of this. I used to hit p*t inside the tubes though.

I did find a portion of a Coors beer can in the bottom bracket of my 1972 PX10, wrapped around the spindle. Also, a bit off topic but while I was in the Marines I knew a sergeant in Recon who packed parachutes. He would enclose a dime accompanied by a note with his phone number instructing the Marine to call him if the chute failed to open!

I put a business card inside my seatpost.
If my bike gets stolen its gonna be hard for the thief to explain to police why my card is in the bike.

last year i found a business card inside the handlebars of an early 70's UO8. I forget what business it was from though..

I've never done it, but I think I might start.

What an interesting idea, and a practical theft recovery device as well.

I think it is a great idea. Just imagine how you would treasure some voice from the past discovered in your bike?

In a related note, I had to do a quick and dirty plumbing job on my house in California a few years ago. The fix will hold forever, but it was very non-standard to say the least. I wrote a note explaining it in sharpie on the stud next to it before plastering over the hole in the wall. I hope whoever lives in that house in 20 years who has to deal with it will forgive me.

jim

I have done that too, or at least a slip of paper with my name, address, phone number and date. I usually put them in the top of the steer tube, seat tube and occasionally the bottom bracket.

At least you left a note...the clown that did some "unconventional" repairs on the plumbing in my 1920's bungalow only left empty vodka bottles...probably why the "repair" was unconventional...

Aaron

1920's bungalow? Oh crap. I am soooo sorry.

$20 in one bike, 20 Euros in my travelling S&S coupled Lygie.
Found my forgotten business card from 20 years ago this year under an Avocet saddle I put on my son's mountain bike.

When I was a mechanic i would put a business card in the BB of bikes that had an overhaul. This was for two reasons. One, so if someone in the future took it apart they knew who serviced it and two, the business card would catch any crud that dropped down from the seat and down tubes. I would rub a little grease on the card and bend it to fit snug against the top of the BB.

+1, I do the same.
I also put the bill of sale in my wife's bike; it's an ex-rental and we often ride in the same area as the shop that rented it.
Top

I recall a newspaper article that suggested parents should hide a school photo of their kids inside the handlebars for the purpose of theft recovery also. I'm not sure I'd want my kids' photos inside their bikes, though.

Sometimes I write jokes underneath the rimstrip of wheelsets I build. Question on the front, punchline on the rear.

Since I'm the only one who should ever be changing my tires, I usually write the following on my rim-strips: "This bike may be stolen. Call xxx-xxxx for reward information." I figure if the bike is ever stolen, I might get lucky and find it's a thief who doesn't know how to fix his own flats!

Maybe I could stash something there for some future lucky person. Nice idea. If this was the 70's, I put a real stash in there.

Never did it, but when I rebuilt Marshall amps, I always taped a Polaroid inside, so when the tape came loose and the amp had a buzzing noise, the new band would find it.

I sometimes write a message for the next guy when I open a wall or replace windows or doors. I've also read a few. I heard a story once about a carpenter that taped 2 cents inside of his repair job, as in "here's my two cents..."

I have a page of an inventory (?) somewhere around here, that I fetched from a Gios once. It was in Italian...for all I know it may have said "This bike is stolen!".

I just returned a business card to the previous owner of a late 50's Legnano I just got. The card was from his father's law office, and was probably in there since the mid 60's. Thought he'd get a kick out of seeing it. I'll use my own card for the rebuild.

I have the same message under the handlebar tape and in the steering tube.

I've found two discarded bikes with such a payload in the seat tubes. One packed in a baggie inside a cigar tube, and another just in a baggie. The contents were obviously long forgotten and rotten by the time I recovered the bikes. Short term memory loss indeed.