Found a nice Gary Fisher, mostly complete. When I went and saw it in person it was far worse than I'd been lead to believe. Said no thanks, when the guy found the magic words: "make me an offer" So for $20 bucks I got crapp rims, trashed fork, bent front derailleur, stuck seat post and left side crank arm. And the frame has a divot on the top tube. The headset top cap was nice.

Anyone else ever go blind, deaf & dumb in the face of awfulness? And wasn't there a thread real similar to this recently?

Been there, done that. More than once, which is probably why I seem to have so many extra crap derailleurs and wheels hanging around the studio.

Yep, but it was a frame and I flipped it a few days later. Broke even minus gas, was happy to have it gone.

Don't feel bad... you're not alone. I recently paid $40 for an old Caloi Sport mtb with peeling paint and severely downgraded components. It had been left out in the weather for quite a while. What was I thinking?? I have decided to leave it on the back burner for now, but I think eventually the paint will be stripped and it'll have the raw aluminum look paired with the Manitou EFC I have sitting around. Slowly I'll upgrade it from the parts bin.

Went to look at a "late 40s Raleigh" found a mid 70s freespirit in black primer with a busted Brooks saddle. I bought the dumb thing cause I'd sorta been wanting a busted Brooks saddle for an art project. Turns out the wheels were kinda fun. They're on one of my other bikes.

This summer I took on a '71 Raleigh Super Course which can only be described as a "Roach." It's so bad I've never taken a single picture.

just get it out of your life so you can start forgetting about it.

Um, I like ugly Supercourses. Mine was a roach but then it came out of a recycling bin. It still has at least a half a dozen original parts on it, including the 34 cog which is now a granny chainring.

I bought a Trek 950 that was pretty rough, but most of the parts looked good. Headset turned out to be ruined, seat post was stuck, bottom bracket stuck. I was about to give the frame away to a fellow BF member when I decided to investigate the bubbled paint on the chain stays. Pictures tell the story:

You'd ride that if you were real

Heres my albatross Supercourse. Stripped pedal threads, bent wheels and some sort of chisled/beaten chainstay.




If it was my size, I would ride it. But its not. Just don't feel I could sell it like this. Was thinking about trading it for someone elses headache in my size(its 54 or 56, I ride 60 whenever I can)but it not worth the money to ship.

sounds like every Peugeot I have bought or looked at!

Picked up a Centurion Le Mans RS in my size for cheap last May. Headset is toast, wheels were sold off, stem is rusted, brake hoods are gone to my girlfriend's bike, and there's 4" of seat post left down in the frame.

One day maybe it'll be a commuter. Until then it's a waste of many beers worth of money.

use it to make a xtracycle project like the ones being posted earlier today!

I got one a them for ten bucks a couple weeks ago. Paint's pretty chipped up but all the mechanicals were sound, though I had to face the BB; the faces were NOT parallel. Still, ten bucks. Bar bike.

Agreed. When you get one of those bikes that makes you dread working on bikes, just get rid of it however you can.

The problem with mine was that I paid the asking price when the seller wouldn't dicker! Then I got it home and started to really look at it. Boo hoo on me!

Looks like someone tried to pound a cotter pin out with a hammer, but that would only make sense if it were non-drive side.

Man, have I got some bikes to sell you guys

[QUOTELooks like someone tried to pound a cotter pin out with a hammer, but that would only make sense if it were non-drive side.[/QUOTE]

or if the bike had cottered cranks. I have no idea really. It rides strait. To bad there was never a "fixie" crowd around where I am. could unload cheap it on some hipster who wanted a vintage "whip".

My strategy is to hang out on the Alt Cycles board. It's definitely not a resto project. Might make it a single speed. Be a fine art project.

Took a second look at it. How did I screw up so bad? $5.00 would have been too much.

Yeah, don't feel bad, you're not alone. Bought a mid 90s Cannondale M300 LE that wasn't even my size, everything on it was trashed except the seat post. :-P Freehub seized, cassette missing spacers, both derailleurs rusty and wacked, seized front hub, seized BB, and cantilever brake arm, snapped seat post binder lever, torn seat, rusted steel stem and handlebar, cracked Gripshifts, one brake lever snapped in half, and later discovered a big dent in the monostay of the frame, and the steel fork rusted under the bubbling paint. Paid $35 for this heartache. Never shop at night and where there isn't plenty of light present.