My wife informed me of her wish that the garage aka my workshop were clean and organized. I have previously deflected such unwelcome thoughts, but as I've just spent too much on a bike whose purchase may not have been completely authorized, I thought it best to be cooperative. Maybe I could find enough room to hide the n+1.

Among her complaints was that my workbench was covered in a layer, trending toward a burial mound, of bike parts. I started excavating delicately like an archaeologist, lest I scratch some precious component, but was soon throwing and sweeping double handfuls of the stuff into a bin. It was all junk. The kind of junk that accumulates because it's not worth bagging, labeling and putting the piece away, but somehow it doesn't seem right to landfill it either.

Pie plates. Spoke reflectors. An Acera rear derailleur. Mafac brake levers with disintegrating hoods. Plastic mounting bits unused from lights and pumps. Half a kickstand. Used brake pads. Tangles of old cable and housing. Plastic pedals. Steel rattrap pedals. Some steel rims in an obsolete French size. A French stem that might or might not be of the death variety. Weimann center pull calipers. Steel drop bars. Some steel seatposts. Well used tires of various sizes. One cork grip. Loose toe clips. Caged balls from a headset. An old chain. Rubber mudflaps, new but just 2" long. A steel cottered crank. A steel cottered crank with 140 mm arms. Two sets of Weimann levers with turkey wings. A broken plastic Simplex front derailleur. A plastic Simplex rear derailleur, filthy but not broken. One heavy quick release. Some plastic Simplex shift levers. Various washers that might have come from those levers. One top tube cable clamp, slightly rusty. A couple sets of crusty Mafac Racer calipers. A Sugino crank. Some stem shifters, on a short stem. And so on.

What to do with this stuff? I have no desire to use any of it on my bikes, save the Racer calipers which I did set aside. In theory, someday I might acquire a bike with a missing steel pedal or a broken Simplex RD, and I'll have just the right part to fix it. But I could get that same part from the co-op's bins for five or so dollars and I'm not a bike flipper anyway. If the zombie apocalypse comes and society collapses, I could piece together a ragtag fleet of bikes for the survivors to ride, Mad Max style, into the desert. Useful , but seems kind of remote.

In the end I threw it all into a 12 gallon bin and shoved that under a table. I kind of feel like I should drop that container off at the co-op. You know the very next day I'll need a left turkey wing and the co-op will only have right ones.

What do you do? Where is your line between landfill, donation, and keeper?

Bike co-op. I keep good stuff and give the rest away. If you need that left turkey wing, it will cost you a buck or two at the co-op which could use the donation.

Btw, if you figure out how to hide that semi-unauthorized N+1 from your wife, let me know how you did it .

i throw alot of garbage into a box then leave it for the scrap metal guys, anything that's kinda alright i put it in a box and drop it off at the co-op, i've got way too many centerpull brakes that gotta go. same thing with pedal cages...jeeezusss..

Take a picture of it all and put it on the Pay it Forward thread. Or take it to the co-op. I try not to keep stuff around that I'm not gonna use. I don't like to throw stuff out, especially if someone somewhere can use it.
What size French rims?

600A aka 540mm ISO - European juvenile bike size. Steel, heavy, only an originality nut restoring a Euro juvenile 10 speed would use them, as they are easily replaced with narrow 26" aka 559 mm ISO alloy rims.

I'm going to box up this stuff and co-op it.

The co-op is a good idea, but some of that stuff even they would pitch or recycle as scrap.

Bike coop. Let them decide what they keep & what goes. You'll feel so much better, plus as you said more space for the n+1.

+10 The CO-OP. And while you are cleaning up, grab a few donor frames, steel handlebars and whatever to donate as well. I typically take 6 to 10 frames at a time, along with misc parts. Realize the bulky stuff, like donor frames, take up a lot more space than adds and ends parts.

I left a box for the LBS. Funny they didn't know what some of it was. Nice folks and they've let me help myself to their large plastic bins in the back nicely organized with the 'junque' parts. No treasures and not free but usually for the price of cup of jo.

It's all downhill from there...her acknowledgement that you have a problem is the 1st step.


Ignore it depending on volume or from where the decree was delivered:

Kitchen-no biggie, I can cook some...

Living Room-no biggie, we have more than one TV...

Bathroom-nothing serious is ever discussed there...

Bedroom-get a box and start moving stuff. Sheep can't cook at all.


If I haven't needed the part in 6 months.


If I haven't needed the part in 3 months.


If I can't remember what the part was for (it'll come to me, then get back into rotation).

You are such a novice.

But Jeff, your wife is a bicyclist too!

when my last relationship ended there were 3 truck loads of parts, wheels and frames that went to the local co-op. I try to only buy high end bikes now and never have more than one flipper. I have three frames in the back yard that I need to drop off at the local "bike-guy's" house. Though I keep thinking I should take this or that off it, I must resist the temptation.

Some days I feel like all I do in my shop anymore is organize bicycle parts. My shop is 12'x24' & I have two storage Sheds sizes 8'x16' & 10'x12' that are full of bicycle, motorcycle & power equipment parts & tools, trying to keep it organized so that I can find everything is a challenge to say the least. I don't have a co op anywhere to donate too & I refuse to throw good working parts out unless they are really super low end or beat completely, so what I do is buy storage tubs in all sizes, tackle boxes from yard sales work good, organizers with plastic draws work good for nuts & bolts & other small hardware, ammo boxes work good for tools that I don't use often but use from time to time, plus you can organize them for jobs like plumbing, electrical & painting. I also had a lot of cardboard parts bins left over from my repair shop that get used, and then just a good old cardboard box works ( I am trying to rid of the CB boxes though ). I really only have one small draw listed misc bike parts & when it gets full I go through it and organize what is in there a couple of time a year.

I have been a power equipment, motorcycle/ATV & bicycle mechanic for 35+ years & I have been collecting parts & tools for just as long and it always bugged me when I needed a part that I know I have but haven't a clue where I put it so now I try my best to label everything no matter what. I know some of you only work on your own bicycles so it really shouldn't be that hard to keep organized, but with me being a mechanic that isn't afraid to work on a DVD player then rebuild a car, truck or small engine on the same bench & keeping everything from mixing together ( because the DVD Player is still apart on said bench ) gets to be harder then one could imagine. I learned at a early age to keep small containers around for parts as you are working on something, things like Won Ton soup & Coolwhip containers work well as do old pill bottles in different sizes. Sorry for the long post but you did ask what I do with it all, here is a collection of photos from my garage from the last five years & many changes have been made & are still being made as time goes on, the life of a mechanical hoarder.Garage Pictures Photos by Glennfordx4 | Photobucket

Glenn

I am lucky that I have my own business with an office/workshop and 4250ft warehouse. So any bike related stuff is there. The wife is a cyclist as well. The kids are 11 and 9 respectively, so their bike sizes are getting close to ours. The N+1 is somewhat of a mystery. Bikes come and go. Anything between say 46-56 is in the family size range.

The family is lucky in that I am not really a collector or a hoarder. It's only bought if it can be ridden by someone in the house.

As did I from 1995 until 2007 when I became disabled and my whole world flipped upside down, having to close my shop & sell off a lot of motorcycles, parts and equipment and moving everything I had left into the buildings I have at home. When you are used to having a ton of room to work in & then moving into a shoebox is a pain in the you know what, but I make do & since I don't work everyday in my small shop it gets cluttered pretty quick & I have learned to work in it.


Glenn

And 5-foot-10, blonde, and has a Master's in Computer Science. Can I pick 'em or what?