modelmartin

You guys are all braver than I. I run when I see rust!

RandolphCarter

No 'beginning' pics of the 1986 Trek 310 Elance I'm currently doing over - it had:

Mismatched wheels - a 27" steel rim on the back, that was so out of true it made the rear brakes continuously dance back and forth, and a 700c wheel on the front. The front calipers were JUST barely long enough to get part of the pads on the rim, as well as the sidewall. The front tire had peeling threads galore. (Front wheel was from a 70's French bike I'm guessing - Mavic rim with medium/large flange Maillard hub. Gave it to a friend for his Motobecane).

Obligatory stuck seatpost (BONUS! also came with remnants of a Kashimax BMX seat attached to the post).

Right shift lever reassembled with random, too-large/thick washers from hardware store.

Bearings in left pedal totally seized - wouldn't spin at all.

In addition to the usual dirt and old grease, the pulley wheels in the rear derailleur were packed with yarn. Bottom pulley was also worn to the point where the teeth nubs still remaining, were covered by said yarn.

Cranks/chainrings/spindle/bearing cups were in surprisingly good shape and given to a friend.

Since the bike was free, the only thing I've spent on it so far has been my time to take all the parts off.

My original plan was to dig in to my parts bin to put the bike together, but I've decided the frame is nice enough to go totally crazy $$ wise and get new wheels and a new Shimano 105 group.

Chrome Molly 

This Olmo never did anything for me. It lacked any real quality in the finish had poorly applied graphics and lacked either spring or strength when out of the saddle. Turned me off of Italian bikes (for a short time anyway). It wound up nicely on the flats, but that was about it. Mentally, the DA 7400 on the Olmo frame was not a great match. It was not what it should have been, but then again I bought it for a song and broke even selling just the frame. Sold the group as all profit. A happy ending, but would have preferred it to be a stunning rider (which it was not). Sorry for the crap picture.

A close second was a Team Fuji. That just felt like a mildly tuned up Fuji Special. It had an excellent looking Sugino crankset on it, which I should have kept.

Both bikes were just slightly too small for me, and had too narrow bars. I'd like to think that those were the issues instead of the bikes themselves, but either way they were traded off the team.

randyjawa 

This Raleigh Record...



...was terrible but not quite as bad as this CCM Grand Prix...

autoteacher

Left, $10 tires a seat maintenance, good to go, smooth as silk. 1947




Right, same as left bike but same seat, it's my "at work bike" 1950

michael k

SJX426 

A) 1988 Pinarello Tre Cime - Original paint and that is about all!
[IMG]P1000911 by superissimo_83, on Flickr[/IMG]

B) 1973 Bottecchia Giro d'Italia
[IMG]P1020408 by superissimo_83, on Flickr[/IMG]

C) 1984 Trek 760 - Rattle can and no original fork
[IMG]WP_20141102_001 by superissimo_83, on Flickr[/IMG]

D) All of the above

wrk101

Some better pics of the 1973 Voyageur I picked up, got to love the cable repair and the handy pointer and its mount.:

Deal4Fuji

I fell in love with the color but it needs a lot of work !

Jicafold

I paid $75 for this 1982 Trek 311. It didn't have any wheels and seatpost was stuck and butchered by the previous owner in a botched attempt at its removal. I tred to explain to him that PB Blaster does not work on galvonic corrosion between aluminum and steel but he wasn't grasping that concept. Shown here repainted with wheels and a different seatpost.

r0ckh0und 

Words escape me, at the time of purchase..............and still............

PedalTraveler

rowebr

@SJX426, What progress have you made with the Bottecchia? How does it ride? I remember looking at that bike on DC craigslist, and then you posted about it here when you picked it up.

auchencrow

I suppose my worst was this $20 '72 Mercier 100 Rallye Sport. I had delusions of taking it for an OA bath, new paint and decals.



Egregisouly rusted stays,

Unsalvageable bent steerer (not shown) and a (Pivo) death stem.


- Almost a total loss apart from the alloy hoops and brake bits, and the crankset.

SJX426 

@rowebr - I haven't done anything with it yet. Not even cleaned it up. Just added air, lubed it, rode it around the block. The brake pads are so hard that you have to coast to a stop! I may get it read for April 12 ride up in NJ.

commodus192

I'm trying to make an offer on this bike. If that last slice is included, it will all be worth it

wrk101

OK Auchen, I think you got me with this one.

rgver

My Viscount was a "that's ugly, it's cheap though" bike picked up as an tag along at the flea market. It is one of the ugliest complete and then some bikes I have paid for (had worse but they were free). Had no idea that it was actually pretty light and would become my longest lasting bike in the stable so far with no plans of moving it. Now has 700c wheels and 2x7 RSX STI shifting. The tires were free so please don't judge

As bought


latest pic

qclabrat

A Landshark with a ridiculously short headtube

the top tube is 54cm but the headtube is virtually none existent

sold it a few years back, hope the new owner has a 26" inseam.....

rhm

I had a 1940 Schwinn New World. I had heard that they were fillet brazed and had many of the same parts as a Superior, and knew it had a Sturmey Archer hub and interesting old drop bar, so figured how bad could it be. Well, pretty bad. Every component as heavier than you could imagine, including the rims, which were clearly labeled Schwinn Superior. I'm pretty sure the frame was welded gaspipe with a lead fillet to round out the curve. And the fork was bent in some bizarre way I couldn't figure out. Since then, almost every Schwinn New World I've ever seen, most of them on the web, and a bent fork. Fortunately people will buy anything that says "schwinn" on it, so I was able to unload it.

Chombi

The Strida folding bike, originally designed/sold in 1987 (Pictured is a current model with just a few changes to the brakes and wheels from the original 1987 version).
Kewhl folding bike concept, but Dang!, you really need to have the physique of a chimpanzee to ride one comfortably. The bar/seat/pedal relationships are all totally messed up, even if you try to adjust the seat up and down as much as one can. plus it pretty much has the handling of a supermarket shopping cart, at best.
I actually don't own the bike pictured....yet. It's actually my brother's, but I suspect that its just a matter of time till he tires looking at it in front of that fireplace (it hasn't been riden in like two years) and offers it for sale to me, along with his first one (first issue model) he bought in the late 80's, maybe for parts. Despite its "bad excuse for a bike" characteristics, I will most likely still buy it from him anyway as it is an interesting bike anyway.....mostly, to look at.

TimmyT 

I did not like my Motobecane Grand Jubile at all. It was just a bike. I am happy to be rid of it.

I also had a series of cellar-dweller frames that I am happy to be rid of.

OldsCOOL

That is some bizarre geo on that frame. You would need monkey arms to reach the bars.

kroozer 

This is a 1949 Automoto I bought for $50 at my LBS. It's actually in pretty solid condition and has a lot of potential, but will be a big job: refinishing, rechroming, finding period parts. I tried to unscrew one of the nuts on the cotter pins and it wouldn't move, that's as far as I've gotten in 3 years.

Darth Lefty 

As previously documented:

Crank: Sekae SX
FD: Suntour AR
RD: Shimano Acera
Shifters: Shimano stem
Brakes: mismatched. Front is unmarked but is double-pivot at least. Rear is Dia-Compe
Stem and handlebar: no name, appear to be steel. Stem is an inch above min insertion
Brake levers: Leechi?
Pedals: Shimano PD-M505, ok
Wheels: I don't even want to talk about it.

But the guy had it trimmed and was riding it.