Ever Lend Out Your Bikes?
#51
No one cares
I lent fender1's Ritchie to some kid for $50 for an indefinite period.
__________________
I prefer emails to private messages - holiday76@gmail.com
Jack Taylor Super Tourer Tandem (FOR SALE), Jack Taylor Tour of Britain, Px-10, Carlton Flyer, Fuji The Finest, Salsa Fargo, Santa Cruz Tallboy, Carver All-Road .
I prefer emails to private messages - holiday76@gmail.com
Jack Taylor Super Tourer Tandem (FOR SALE), Jack Taylor Tour of Britain, Px-10, Carlton Flyer, Fuji The Finest, Salsa Fargo, Santa Cruz Tallboy, Carver All-Road .
#52
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Yukon, Canada
Posts: 8,759
Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 113 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 16 Times
in
14 Posts
I try to have a loaner in the fleet, but right now I do not. Something like my touring bike I will let a friend ride when I am with them. Some friend's asked me if I would loan my mountain bike to someone I don't know who was in town visiting.
"He's a mechanic and really good rider from Vancouver" they said.
Now I was also a mechanic and I know lots of bike mechanics and there are all different kinds. A mountain biker from Vancouver immediately sets off alarm bells of someone pushing my bike past it's limit (a cross country bike) and I am a gentle rider. I most certainly would not lend out my $4000 mountain bike to someone I had never met to go do shuttle runs on the steep technical trail riding area. That they asked was fine, and they had no idea how out of the question it was. Everyone I know around here rides their bikes into the ground, I am most certainly not going to lend me bike out. Same goes for my irreplaceable vintage bikes like the Gazelle or Marinoni or my 2002 Marin Treviso... no way hose. I will lend out a tool to a good friend especially if I am thinking I want to upgrade, if they break it, no sweat, I will get a better version. That said I am not going to loan something like cutting tools. I picked up a nishiki continental this summer in great shape. A real nice bike, a perfect loaner.
"He's a mechanic and really good rider from Vancouver" they said.
Now I was also a mechanic and I know lots of bike mechanics and there are all different kinds. A mountain biker from Vancouver immediately sets off alarm bells of someone pushing my bike past it's limit (a cross country bike) and I am a gentle rider. I most certainly would not lend out my $4000 mountain bike to someone I had never met to go do shuttle runs on the steep technical trail riding area. That they asked was fine, and they had no idea how out of the question it was. Everyone I know around here rides their bikes into the ground, I am most certainly not going to lend me bike out. Same goes for my irreplaceable vintage bikes like the Gazelle or Marinoni or my 2002 Marin Treviso... no way hose. I will lend out a tool to a good friend especially if I am thinking I want to upgrade, if they break it, no sweat, I will get a better version. That said I am not going to loan something like cutting tools. I picked up a nishiki continental this summer in great shape. A real nice bike, a perfect loaner.
__________________
1 Super Record bike, 1 Nuovo Record bike, 1 Pista, 1 Road, 1 Cyclocross/Allrounder, 1 MTB, 1 Touring, 1 Fixed gear
1 Super Record bike, 1 Nuovo Record bike, 1 Pista, 1 Road, 1 Cyclocross/Allrounder, 1 MTB, 1 Touring, 1 Fixed gear
#53
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Hurricane Alley , Florida
Posts: 3,903
Bikes: Treks (USA), Schwinn Paramount, Schwinn letour,Raleigh Team Professional, Gazelle GoldLine Racing, 2 Super Mondias, Carlton Professional.
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 78 Post(s)
Liked 30 Times
in
22 Posts
I have a 1976 Schwinn Varisty as a loaner.
#55
Keener splendor
#56
十人十色
Yeah, I'll lend friends bike, motorbikes, tools… wouldn't occur to me not to. Often give stuff to friends, too. I gave a friend the frame from my BMW race bike a couple of weeks ago. A couple of years ago I gave this to another friend coz it fit him perfectly - it was too small for me:
[IMG] Mercian Superlight frame by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG] Seat lug by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]
The same friend once lent me his highly tuned 1980 R100RS for a week (a sweet machine!) and his Ducati 900ss racer to try out on the track, where I crashed it. We are still good friends and he subsequently made all the signage for my school as a gift when I moved into new premises.
The only problems I've ever had with lending stuff is when the people I've lent to weren't friends. I remember lending a neighbour some tools to repair his car and he brought them back filthier than they had ever been. The idea that you could lose a friend by lending them something says to me that you'd have to be crap at choosing friends.
[IMG] Mercian Superlight frame by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG] Seat lug by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]
The same friend once lent me his highly tuned 1980 R100RS for a week (a sweet machine!) and his Ducati 900ss racer to try out on the track, where I crashed it. We are still good friends and he subsequently made all the signage for my school as a gift when I moved into new premises.
The only problems I've ever had with lending stuff is when the people I've lent to weren't friends. I remember lending a neighbour some tools to repair his car and he brought them back filthier than they had ever been. The idea that you could lose a friend by lending them something says to me that you'd have to be crap at choosing friends.
#57
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Wherever
Posts: 16,748
Mentioned: 92 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 556 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 132 Times
in
78 Posts
That is the operative word, Dawes-man. Friends. A friend knows to take care of a friend's tools or other items. Is respectful and careful with them and returns them without having to be asked. I'd loan one of my bikes to a friend. Thank goodness I don't have any that ride a 60 cm! HA!
#58
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Fredericksburg, Va
Posts: 9,579
Bikes: '65 Frejus TDF, '73 Bottecchia Giro d'Italia, '83 Colnago Superissimo, '84 Trek 610, '84 Trek 760, '88 Pinarello Veneto, '88 De Rosa Pro, '89 Pinarello Montello, '94 Burley Duet, 97 Specialized RockHopper, 2010 Langster, Tern Link D8
Mentioned: 73 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1607 Post(s)
Liked 2,213 Times
in
1,103 Posts
I don't get asked very often and wouldn't care to loan tools or bikes. My rule is that I will loan something if I am willing to lose it. I don't ask for loaners either. Sometimes I get offered a loaner. If I take it, I try to give it back in equal or better condition as a thank you for the loan. Tools, I will buy. If i need it once, it is likely I will need it again. Although I try to practice the "golden rule", I have learned the hard way that most don't. What I value highly others think of as disposable and they are the end of the line.
Being a C&V kind of person, I think nearly anything can be fixed or repaired, which has led to having a ton of small parts stored hear and there. I think that I could find a use for it some day. I am begining to realize the day will not come or it is beyond my days left.
I suppose that would be a good way for my family to deal with all the stuff I have that they don't know how to identify, once I am gone, they could just "loan" it out! Like a safety for a Winchester M54.
Being a C&V kind of person, I think nearly anything can be fixed or repaired, which has led to having a ton of small parts stored hear and there. I think that I could find a use for it some day. I am begining to realize the day will not come or it is beyond my days left.
I suppose that would be a good way for my family to deal with all the stuff I have that they don't know how to identify, once I am gone, they could just "loan" it out! Like a safety for a Winchester M54.
#59
one life on two wheels
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Posts: 2,552
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 18 Times
in
15 Posts
NO. Unless it's a "bike person" and all the bike people I know already own bikes. My "non-bike people" friends & family don't get to borrow my bikes...I've seen how they treat bikes and it's not pretty.
#60
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Wherever
Posts: 16,748
Mentioned: 92 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 556 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 132 Times
in
78 Posts
I don't feel too comfortable borrowing things either. So I don't ask. A member here has offered me the use of a very fine, and quite rare, Italian bike if I ever get down to his neck of the woods. While I greatly appreciate the generosity, I'm not sure I'd feel good about riding it. What if I fug it up?
BTW, if one of my neighbors asks to borrow a tool, I usually just offer to bring it over and do the job for them. It works out well.
BTW, if one of my neighbors asks to borrow a tool, I usually just offer to bring it over and do the job for them. It works out well.
#61
Senior Member
I agree with Dawes-man.
This bike has been on loan to a friend for close to a year. He commutes on it rain or shine and has no car. He had an endo early on and wrecked the rear fender; we repaired it well enough. He's put more miles on it than I have probably. I don't think I'd be much of a friend if I let this bike hang in my basement while my friend waited at the bus stop on the way to work and walked home late at night after bus service has stopped.
Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr
This bike has been on loan to a friend for close to a year. He commutes on it rain or shine and has no car. He had an endo early on and wrecked the rear fender; we repaired it well enough. He's put more miles on it than I have probably. I don't think I'd be much of a friend if I let this bike hang in my basement while my friend waited at the bus stop on the way to work and walked home late at night after bus service has stopped.
Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr
__________________
Bikes on Flickr
I prefer email to private messages. You can contact me at justinhughes@me.com
Bikes on Flickr
I prefer email to private messages. You can contact me at justinhughes@me.com
Last edited by ColonelJLloyd; 09-23-13 at 08:08 AM.
#62
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Posts: 4,466
Bikes: many
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 16 Times
in
13 Posts
I find this to be a very strange and revealing thread. Silly me, I've told my sons that they and their friends can ride anything in the ManCave. What a fool I must be! They are all good people and if something happens, I'm much more concerned about their wellbeing than some silly old bike.
#63
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 285
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 14 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
I have loaned out pretty much every bike I have owned at one point or another, but it has always been to someone I have known for many years. Usually it is a friend who is visiting from out of town and could not bring a bike with them. The only bike I don't load out is the one that is my main ride, or a team bike that is not mine, I just get to use it for the race season.
I do have a small rental business where I rent out modern road bikes, and for the first few months I was very nervous every time one of them went out. But after nearly a year in business, I have yet to have any bikes come back in bad condition. Just a little dirt, the typical road nicks are all that has happened to the fleet.
Maybe I have just been lucky, but all of my friends and clients seem to have followed the campground rule.
I do have a small rental business where I rent out modern road bikes, and for the first few months I was very nervous every time one of them went out. But after nearly a year in business, I have yet to have any bikes come back in bad condition. Just a little dirt, the typical road nicks are all that has happened to the fleet.
Maybe I have just been lucky, but all of my friends and clients seem to have followed the campground rule.
#64
Cisalpinist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Holland
Posts: 5,557
Bikes: blue ones.
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 16 Times
in
11 Posts
I've lend a bike to a guy that's the most un-bike person ever. Any form of physical excersize really. But he's the last person in the western world to carry a meticulously ironed handkerchief in his pocket (and does all the the ironing himself). I trust people like that
#65
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Tampa Bay, Florida
Posts: 1,698
Bikes: 87 Bridgestone 550 (Shocking Electric Metallic Pink)
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times
in
3 Posts
Yes....but carefully, let a nephew (teenager) ride one a ways back....who normally rides BSO MTBs....we were out riding, and he took a corner WAY WIDE and went off roading...I was afraid he was going to taco the front wheel or do an endo....fortunately, the ground was firm enough....MUST remind borrowers that road machines stay ON the road, and are NOT good at CURB jumping! :-O
#66
one life on two wheels
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Posts: 2,552
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 18 Times
in
15 Posts
I've lend a bike to a guy that's the most un-bike person ever. Any form of physical excersize really. But he's the last person in the western world to carry a meticulously ironed handkerchief in his pocket (and does all the the ironing himself). I trust people like that
#67
Cat 6
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Mountain Brook, AL
Posts: 7,482
Mentioned: 27 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 500 Post(s)
Liked 183 Times
in
118 Posts
Never really had the opportunity. To almost everyone around here, I'm just the crazy guy that shows up with a different old bike each time. Very few are interested in anything that's not new.
#68
smelling the roses
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Tixkokob, Yucatán, México
Posts: 15,320
Bikes: 79 Trek 930, 80 Trek 414, 84 Schwinn Letour Luxe (coupled), 92 Schwinn Paramount PDG 5
Mentioned: 104 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7081 Post(s)
Liked 901 Times
in
612 Posts
I lend them freely to my next door neighbors, who commute by bike and have only one each. Of course, I don't lend them my road bikes. I lend them my tools as well, both bike-related and power tools. But they're right next door.
editi: My bikes are tools to me. How many people would you lend your chainsaw to? In my case, maybe one or two.
editi: My bikes are tools to me. How many people would you lend your chainsaw to? In my case, maybe one or two.
__________________
Last edited by seedsbelize; 09-24-13 at 02:13 PM.
#69
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Gateway to the West
Posts: 806
Bikes: You mean this week?
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 29 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 25 Times
in
17 Posts
Even if my friends were small enough to ride my bikes, they generally avoid any discussion of riding with me because they think I am some deranged, megamile maniac. Word got out that I would ride more than 20 miles at a time.
#70
Pedalin' Erry Day
Thanks to all the previous posters, this thread is an interesting read.
I've only had one opportunity to loan out a bike (because, naturally enough, the people who I am interested in riding with already have their own bikes), and that was for such a short ride that going through the whole process of switching out pedals, adjusting the saddle position, dealing with the friend's complaint that I run my brakes too soft, and then resetting everything after the ride was such a hassle that I'm less likely to loan a bike in the future. I'd be willing to loan bikes for a whole day, or for multiple days, but it's just silly if you have to spend as much time adjusting the bike for the new rider as it's going to be ridden.
I've only had one opportunity to loan out a bike (because, naturally enough, the people who I am interested in riding with already have their own bikes), and that was for such a short ride that going through the whole process of switching out pedals, adjusting the saddle position, dealing with the friend's complaint that I run my brakes too soft, and then resetting everything after the ride was such a hassle that I'm less likely to loan a bike in the future. I'd be willing to loan bikes for a whole day, or for multiple days, but it's just silly if you have to spend as much time adjusting the bike for the new rider as it's going to be ridden.
#71
十人十色
As lending out tools has been mentioned in the same breath as lending out bikes in this thread I'd like to recount something that happened to me today.
I've just today got round to starting work on an H.R. Morris frame that I acquired earlier in the year. I decided to fit a Baylis Wiley bottom bracket but found the fixed cup wouldn't even begin to thread in. So I had a look to see how much a bb tap would set me back. The Park Tool version is $790 and the locally made Hozan a heart-stopping $1000.
There's an LBS that I know but wasn't sure they'd have a BSC size tap so after getting some bread in a nearby shop called in to check before taking the frame in. It's a shop I've been using for around 10 years for control cables and the like and once got a call from them to ask me how to get a cotter pin out, as they know I like old bikes. That was actually on my wedding day. I'm on pretty good terms with them.
I went in and asked if they had the tool and the owner got their Hozan out, saying, 'What, do you want to use it?'. Very surprised indeed I said, 'What? Do you mean I can borrow it?' and he said, 'Yeah, we wouldn't usually but as it's you, that's fine.'
I took it home and tapped the threads (dead easy - it was just paint as the frame hasn't been built up since it was re-enamelled about 10 years ago), then thoroughly cleaned the tool and took it back, together with some beer as a thank you present.
All is well in this small part of the world.
I've just today got round to starting work on an H.R. Morris frame that I acquired earlier in the year. I decided to fit a Baylis Wiley bottom bracket but found the fixed cup wouldn't even begin to thread in. So I had a look to see how much a bb tap would set me back. The Park Tool version is $790 and the locally made Hozan a heart-stopping $1000.
There's an LBS that I know but wasn't sure they'd have a BSC size tap so after getting some bread in a nearby shop called in to check before taking the frame in. It's a shop I've been using for around 10 years for control cables and the like and once got a call from them to ask me how to get a cotter pin out, as they know I like old bikes. That was actually on my wedding day. I'm on pretty good terms with them.
I went in and asked if they had the tool and the owner got their Hozan out, saying, 'What, do you want to use it?'. Very surprised indeed I said, 'What? Do you mean I can borrow it?' and he said, 'Yeah, we wouldn't usually but as it's you, that's fine.'
I took it home and tapped the threads (dead easy - it was just paint as the frame hasn't been built up since it was re-enamelled about 10 years ago), then thoroughly cleaned the tool and took it back, together with some beer as a thank you present.
All is well in this small part of the world.
#72
Banned.
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: PAZ
Posts: 12,294
Mentioned: 255 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2588 Post(s)
Liked 4,823 Times
in
1,709 Posts
I will - no chit. That would take care of it
Even if you can't ride it, perhaps you could find someone who could. It's just gathering dust here...
PM/email me if interested.
DD
Even if you can't ride it, perhaps you could find someone who could. It's just gathering dust here...
PM/email me if interested.
DD
#73
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tampa Bay FLA
Posts: 207
Bikes: 1982 Trek 613, 1983 Trek 500, 2011 Mercier WT5
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
I never lend out any of my Treks. I let my buddy use my Bikesdirect Mercier though on occasion. Im hoping one day he buys it from me.
#74
Banned.
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 27,199
Mentioned: 34 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 378 Post(s)
Liked 1,409 Times
in
909 Posts
I'm with RFC.
Often, while I'm working on someone's bike in my garage, they're looking over my bikes.
I tell them, generally without looking up, to "go ahead, ride whichever one you want."
In a mercenary way, I have their bike captive. In another way, it's just a bike.
One guy was gone an hour, with flipflops and cargo shorts, on a Soma Competition with lugs, Kuwahara tubing, Arabesque, and a B-17. He came back, spied a rear rack along the wall, and an hour later, we got back from another "shakedown" ride and he took it to the Outer Banks, where he spent the summer sleeping on a hammock, working at a snowcone shope, and taking the Soma up and down the Outer Banks. Over time, I've replaced the front wheel, one set of pedals, and I think he still has it. Some "loaners" are meant to be. Last I heard, it was in Asheville, where it fits right in.
Nothing says "welcome to my world" like the nearly unconditional belief that, once they're on a bike, everything will be OK. Infectious.
Often, while I'm working on someone's bike in my garage, they're looking over my bikes.
I tell them, generally without looking up, to "go ahead, ride whichever one you want."
In a mercenary way, I have their bike captive. In another way, it's just a bike.
One guy was gone an hour, with flipflops and cargo shorts, on a Soma Competition with lugs, Kuwahara tubing, Arabesque, and a B-17. He came back, spied a rear rack along the wall, and an hour later, we got back from another "shakedown" ride and he took it to the Outer Banks, where he spent the summer sleeping on a hammock, working at a snowcone shope, and taking the Soma up and down the Outer Banks. Over time, I've replaced the front wheel, one set of pedals, and I think he still has it. Some "loaners" are meant to be. Last I heard, it was in Asheville, where it fits right in.
Nothing says "welcome to my world" like the nearly unconditional belief that, once they're on a bike, everything will be OK. Infectious.