3speed

Not sure if this is the right place to post this. Mod feel free to delete it if not.

Anyway, I've putzed around with bikes for a couple years now and have collected more stuff than I have room for. I've got my nice bikes built up and no longer wish to mess around with low end crap anymore anyway. I've also got to make room for a pool table and home-brew stuff so I'm giving away the lower end crap I have to a local C&V person if anyone even wants it. I'm talking things like a small pile of lower end derailers (Suntour 7, ARX and a few others), a small pile of pedals(half of which probably don't have mates), a low end Firenze frame, A UO-8(or something like that) Peugeot mixte frame, some crap 27" and 26" steel wheels wheels, totally decent full cromo MTB frame from '94(small Giant frame)aluminum MTB wheels from the 90s(probably have at least a little wobble to the rims) a small stash of MTB hubs(A few Alivio and the like which are actually smooth and re-greased already.) some crappy handlebars and stems, and a couple boxes of random spare parts(brake levers, etc). Most of it is indeed crap. All I ask is that you take all of the free crap and drop whatever you don't want off at the co-op. I know there's one on Park near the belt-line. If you don't have a truck/van this will probably take you a couple trips because of the wheels and frames. Please don't take the free crap if you are going to keep a little of it and toss the rest in the garbage. If no one wants this stuff then I'll just take it to the co-op myself. Not a big deal. Just thought someone here might want to pick it up so that they can pick out what they want and then take it themselves. Oh, and there's also a 2004-ish Specialized Festina frame in the free stuff pile too. 56cm and has a very small crack where the seat pinch bolt hole is. I rode it on a few ~20mi trips as is and didn't have any problem and it rides great, but I make no promises that it won't burst into flames upon a maiden voyage if built up. Oh, and tires. A stack of lower end MTB tires too. All with plenty of tread but they're the generic tread ones that come on cheaper bikes. Probably decent for winter duty or something if you don't have a long commute every day.

Captain Blight

Yigggg.. thanks but no thanks. Give it to the co-op and take the writeoff.

3speed

As I said, I know it's crap. I was thinking more like someone on the other side of town who could use a dozen usable spare parts and a couple frames for the price of dropping some crap off at the co-op on their way home, not someone in Minneapolis.

And can you actually get a write-off for dropping some crap off at the co-op? If so, I never realized that.

Henry III

Give DreamBikes a call because they could probably use them. Ask for Erik as he's the manager.

3speed

Ehhh. I actually volunteered for Dream Bikes very briefly. I stopped because I disagreed with some of their practices. They don't really go through the bikes well. Basically enough to get them working. They'll tune a derailer to get it shifting fine, but won't adjust or repack a tight and/or rough hub. They'll just sell the bike with a poor conditioned hub that would probably be fine if it were cleaned and re-greased. And I think they tend to prefer complete bikes a lot more than parts, vs. the co-op who will help people put together a decent bike out of donated parts. I'm very torn on Dream Bikes. I like the idea and their intentions a lot. In this case I think the co-op is a better fit for these parts. I've got a lugged steel Schwinn that I may take to dream bikes, as I've already done the hubs and headset and it just needs a chain and a couple other small things that Dream Bikes would do to get it sellable.

ThermionicScott 

I'll forward this thread on to my brother in the area.

Skip Tooth

Thanks for the heads-up.


3speed - I don't think I could use any of your parts... but I *DO* know where you could take them!

Over on the east side, if you're driving away from the capital on E. Wash and make a right on Milwaukee St, there is a guy that runs a small time neighborhood bike business out of his garage. He's a few blocks down, on the left (North) side of the street - easy to miss if you're not looking, but the whole yard is FULL of bikes, wheels, frames, and other sorted mountains of low-end bike parts.

I stopped in and talked to him for a while once, and found out that he had been fixing up bikes out of his garage for decades - he pretty much exclusively deals with department store bikes and other mid to low end frames, but he cleans up and fixes them and sells them cheap to the neighborhood kids. Not a get-rich deal at all - we're talking like half a day to fix and clean a bike, then he sells it for $30, ready to ride - that kind of a deal.


I was in pretty much the same boat as you a few months back - had a few parts bikes and a bunch of misc parts, and nobody would take them. Dream Bikes was 100% not interested when I called - too much effort to rebuild, and they didn't seem to want used parts either? If it's too low end, stuff doesn't even move in the "free" section on Craigslist. But I dropped a Subaru-load of parts off at this guy's place on Milwaukee St, and he was thrilled to see them.

I was about ready to haul them to the metal recyclers... but even if they're low end crap parts, it's still good to know that they will get a second life.

Arrowana

I don't have a car, so it would take a ton of effort to haul everything over, but I'd be interested in the Specialized frame for me, and whatever else I can stuff in my trailer to take to the co-op. Or if it isn't too far of a distance, maybe I could deliver everything.

3speed

Arrowana - Do you think you could do sometime tomorrow? If not, that's OK. I was just hoping to get rid of this stuff on my "weekend" which is tomorrow and Friday. I'll hang on to the frame for you if you can assure me you'll come get it if I save it rather than dropping it off with the rest of the stuff. PM me and let me know something (preferably tomorrow by afternoon if you see this by then so I can haul stuff on my day off while I have time) and we can figure out a time soon to get you over here to see what you may want. Otherwise I'll hold on to the Specialized frame for you at least.

Skip Tooth - Hopefully you'll check in on this again. Any idea of an address on this guy you're talking about? At least the cross street he should be near? Or will he definitely have a yard full of bikes? If there are definitely bikes and I'll definitely find him, that's cool and I'll just watch for that. I'd just hate to load up my car and drive across town and not be able to find him. He sounds like the kind of operation I'd be happy to donate some decent parts to, and maybe he can use the crappy parts in some way as well for super cheap beater bikes. The decent parts I have would at least be better than box store bike parts. As you said, at least they can be put to use until their useful life is over, then go to the recycler or whatever.

Skip Tooth

He definitely has a yard full of bikes, but he has a fence with some shrubs that makes it easy to miss.

I couldn't remember the streets, but I found it in Google Maps. Here's the house:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=madis...,20.73,,0,3.95

The bikes aren't out in the Google picture... but the house is right at the corner of Milwaukee St and N. Marquette St. I don't know what days he works or what his hours are, but if he's there, he will be outside by the white garage and he'll have a tiny little sign by his driveway.