I'm sure it's an upstanding, earnest individual. :rolleyes:

Dang! I'm not quite 50 yet, and I'm well on the path to fitting the "curmudgeon" profile. Should I resist for a few more years, or go peacefully now?

Might as well go peacefully & get started. Resistance is futile!

Who got it from an even more upstanding, more earnest distributor (if that is possible!) .... ;) :D

Old blue Sears Free Spirit 10 speed that must have been loved by somebody, judging by the replacement Sakae cranks, Dia Compe centerpulls, Shimano Positrons, relatively fresh cables and drop bars, and well worn but fully inflated tires, indicating considerable recent riding.

It also must have been hated by somebody, as the rear derailleur was utterly smashed, and the VERY dirty chain was hanging like entrails. Plus it was heaved onto the sidewalk, on trash day.
Is that any way to treat a fellow free spirit?

This thing may be demoted to lifeboat service on the bike rack of the Volvo, since I could easily do without locking it.

Nothing too special, but the first one I've found in a little while... a 1983 Japanese built Schwinn Le Tour III for $5. Complete, original, and rideable. Just needs a cleaning.

I'll probably pull the drops off, put on some flat bars, and make it into a nice campus bike for some lucky coed.

And you'll knock $10 off if they squeal, right?

That is my policy, yes.... :D

But it has to be a genuine, delightful squeal. ;)

Here is the '80 Trek I pulled off the local buy-sell exchange (the recycling dept of Madison actually asks posters to estimate the weight of the item so they can estimate how much tonnage IS NOT entering the landfill). Cost me $25
I could not pull enough serial# to pin down the model, but we are guessing 412?

all i did was re-wrap the bars, added some custom brake lever hoods (w/leftover bar tape... these Shimano levers are hard to find hoods for... according to Andy M. @ Yellow Jersey), replaced the tires w/IRC high pressure, cleaned/lubed chaing and did adjustments like grease brake cables and added rack

I'm passing it on to my 19-year-old daughter as her first road bike.

First catch of the fall. Shogun Samurai, full Shimano 105, Nitto bar and stem, Araya rims. Frame is double butted and lugged, Tange infinity tubing. Frame is small for me at 58cm, so likely trade bait on this one. May keep the bar and stem. Paint chip on the top tube, some minor wear, needs new tires and bar tape, but appears to have been ridden very little. Nice bike.

Wow. Where'd you find that?! Nice. If you were local, I'd be interested - and even have a line on a 60cm Peugeot... :) Love the Biopace rings and Hellenic stays...

Another in the "not too special" category, but a good solid bike for cheap. A nice Centurion "clic" 10 speed, in excellent shape. Overhauled and made very pretty by our own mswantak.

Note the dreaded stem shifters and suicide levers:

http://home.comcast.net/~dbltap/Centurion_Clic_1.JPG

Well, fishing's been a little slow lately... Managed to snag this Swiss (French?) Haral today though. Actually found in the back of a parked scrap metal bandito's pickup truck, on top of the scrap pile. I knocked on a couple of doors & found the wife of the truck owner... She sold it to me for $27.... A bit much for being "scrap", but she figured if it was interesting enough for someone to ask about it, it must be valuable. I initially offered $20; she wanted $50...

http://www.duane.kennard.com/haral/index.html

What caught my eye first was the funky TT bar extensions, then the Hi-E hubs, Super Record brake calipers, late Jubilee rear derailleur...(I needed this one!) Hey, lookie there; some last generation Super Record cranks too... Sadly, some nitwit broke the seat binder bolt, and put a 3" C-clamp (really...) on the binder ears, crushing them inward... I think I'll get over it though. Not sure yet what to do with this one...maybe cut it up & use it for bait...;)

Now there's a fine catch... gawd, what a great repair. Amazing what duct tape fixes you'll find. The best one I ever saw was on an old UO8 I converted to a fixie... the guy who had it before me had overhauled the bottom bracket by the simple expedient of dumping grease down the seat tube. The tube was filled about 2/3 of the way up with grease, I kid you not. And speaking of duct tape, I once saw rim tape made out of duct tape...

Here are a few snapshots of my late 1950s (?) 3-speed Austrian J.C. Higgins roadster.

Just brought it home last night. It will eventually be functionally cleaned, de-rusted and restored with parts that suit me better... longer stem, nicer saddle etc. The original wheels and tires were in an advanced state of decay, so it inherited the wheels (and 1969 Sturmey-Archer hub) that I swapped off a junker lady's bicycle at the time we acquired this one.

My favorite feature is the little oil cap on the bottom bracket. :D

That's a nice catch. Love the chainring.
Is it slightly unusual to see non-British or Japanese 3-speeds? I've not yet had the good fortune to find a German, Austrian, Dutch, Belgian, French etc. 3-speed, but I'm still looking.

Seems to be Japanese week here in Rivah city (I am not complaining, believe me). 62cm Bridgestone 450 "Racing" series, though the bike is set up more as a tourer. Very nice shape. Sakae triple, Suntour indexing, guessing it's from the mid eighties. Triple butted chro moly, lugged construction. Pre Grant Peterson B-stone.

Not sure what I'll do with this one. Since it's my size, if I can't sell it for what I think is a reasonable amount, I may just keep it. Take it up to C'ville and leave it there so I have a ride when I head up there for the holidays, etc. Make a good beater bike for sure.

Almost had a catch today. A friend of mine called me up and said he found an old Triumph, and dropped it off at my house while I was at work. I was so excited, but when I got home I was bummed, 'cause it was nothing more than a rattling rustbucket. Oh well...

It's so hard for me to refuse any old bike, I always think it can be saved, but this one has me perplexed. If it were in good shape, or had a SA 3spd, I would keep it. But weighing the time/effort/money this bike needs, I think I'm gonna give up on it. I already have enough junkers... but no English junkers, so you see my dilemma ;)

The dilemma as I see it, is do you tell your friend what a heap the Triumph is? If you don't, he may bury you in rusty Huffy mountainbikes. If you do, then you're ungrateful, so the very next bike that falls into his hands, the thoroughbred once-in-a-lifetime classic, won't find its way to you.

I solved the problem by being grateful as hell, and either passing inappropriate bikes along, stripping them for parts, or curbing them.

anybody know anything about this bike i picked up today. it is called a crescent and is made in sweden. it has the bold statment on the TT "VARLDSMASTARCYKELN" with a couple of umlauts over the first and third "A" some details: SN 4316258, reynolds 531 tubing and forks, campy front DR, rear DR with 'vitorio' and EXTRA on it, shifters, and high flange hubs. the rims are AVA aluminum with sew-ups, AVA stem, don't know the handlebars yet, weinmann centre-pull brakes, leather saddle looks like a brooks but says "IDEALE". pedals aluminum or alloy and steel all i can see at this point is "made in france", clips-steel christophe, stronglight cranks. the lugs look very much like the ones on my 1970 super course. also came with 2 extra sew-ups and a rear Plescher rack made in Switzerland. will get a picture up shortly. oh i forgot 5 bucks! check it out here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=137111

Dang terrors. I am overdue for some luck like that.

It's not vintage but its in a way a classic. I picked up from a customer that bought a new bike from us, I had Perry Kramer look at it and he said it is an 88' the first year giant came to the states. Ok it may not be as cool as the others posted but since the shop I work at is a Giant dealer it is cool to me. It is a at740 everything but the seat is original (grips tires everything) barley a hint of rust on the cables, it has been well taken care of. I'm excited and wanted to share, I have been riding it to work the last couple of days and it rides great. Oh ya I paid $15 for it... Biopace and u brake, love it...

62cm?! Your size?! Are you nine feet tall!? :D

I tried a 60cm bike the other day (I'm 6'0") - whoa... scarey big!

It's not the height of the rider so much as how it is distributed and the geometry of the bike. I'm 6'0" and my bikes are between 61cm and 63cm c-t. They all have short top tubes and I have long legs and short torso.

Ex-GF drops off a parts pile last night. Shimano 600 brakeset, calipers and levers w/good condition hoods. Sakae Ringyo Apex crankset, almost unused. Shimano 600 rear derailleur, pre index but post Arabesque, Shimano 60 (?) Front mech, Sakae Ringyo bar and stem. A few odds and ends, crank dustcaps and stuff like that.

One of the dealers at an auction I go to gave me a bag of kkt alloy quil pedals. His customers hate them on the bikes he sells. Also a buch of christophe metal clips.

Expenditure:0$. :D

Japanese week continues unabated here in River City.

I am unsure of my exact height, but it is a touch over 6'. I have a 34" or so inseam, the 62s fit me just right. I get a bit more than a fistfull of seat post. I have a couple of friends far taller than I who ride similar sized bikes; I apparently am long limbed. My bikes range from 59cm to 63cm (except for the Vello Kombi), 62 generally prefered. The 59 is a Peterson designed Bridgestone with a long top tube. I rode a 56 the other day and I felt like a bear at the circus on a tiny bicycle.