What to do with this kind of stuff?
 

Stuff I can't seem to throw away, not good enough to use. For example:

1. The Cro-Lux rims that came on my UO8. Still just as bright and shiny as when new. Just as straight too. They've been hanging in my garage for decades. If I ever restore the UO8 to its "former glory" I'll want them. But why would I do that? I ride it as a beater/commuter and it is too good for that to turn back into a bike-boom bike.

2. The high-flange Normandy hubs from those same wheels. They are currently strung with Fiamme Yellow Label clincher rims with Conti Ultra tires. They aren't worthy of the expense of better tires, but they don't deserve the curse of those tires either.

3. Those Fiamme rims and a Weinmann of the same vintage. Decent rims but not hooked bead.

4. The steel Nervar crank w/52T-36T rings from that same UO8. It's not so heavy as to make it unwanted, but for most of its life that bike has sported a Sugino Maxy upgrade with compact double rings. And I don't have good success with cotter pins. :(

5. An ARX RD that came off a bike being thrown away by a neighbor. I rebuilt the bike with upgraded drivetrain.

6. Various turkey-wing brake levers, mostly Weinmann or DiaCompe I think.

7. Various okay-but-not-great French BB cups, and a smattering of English cups too.

8. The original wheels from a Motobecane Nomade I bought for my sweetie a few zillion years ago. (Okay, she was -25 at the time. :)) Solid axle, rims a notch down from the Cro-Lux. But straight.

9. The steel crank from that Nomade, not as nice as the Nervar from the UO8 though.

10. The Unicanitor that came with the Masi. I don't know for certain that it was original. I sure can't ride it, and the bike was trashed when I got it so all my mods (style-correct, BTW) were justified. It is just another mathom to be gifted from one Hobbit house to another.

11-N. I could even throw in a frame or two into that mix. Like the UO8 itself, or the Bertin.

There's lots of this kind of stuff. What to do with it??? What would you do with it?

Yes, mathoms. Some of the more interesting pieces I leave around as display items (i.e. clutter), the less pretty pieces are relegated to dark bins in dark corners. Some I know I will never use, but all are kept for their potential as trades/free to good home/completing a neglected giveaway bike/etc. Some day I might find a co-op to drop a bin off to.

Yeah, I don't know what to do with low end stuff, especially low end steel rims. I'm phasing out all my 27" rims.

Jim,
My wife and I are clearing out our home. We had her college roommate down to visit the weekend before last. The roommate acted as a drill instructor, barking at us to decide, donate, throw out, or give away everything. It was liberating, really.

So, my advice would be to pack it all up and take it to the bike coop or vintage shop and give it all away.

And I know that you really appreciate vintage bike stuff, I've seen your photos...

Phil

I would sell a few select pieces on eBay and donate the remainder to the co-op. I donate a pick up load to the co-op a few times a year, usually donor bikes, steel wheelsets, take off parts, etc. What they don't want is recycled.

If you sell hubs, MAKE SURE cups and cones are good first.

Realize your left over parts, sold on eBay, not only bring you some coin, but help someone else with a rebuild. I sold a 1987 University of Illinois yearbook, had been sitting in a box for at least 25 years, doing me no good. The buyer turned out to have a collection of U of I yearbooks, and this was the one year he was missing. So he was super pleased to get it, and I obviously did not need it. Win/win.

Last UO8 frameset I had went to the co-op.

And FWIW, some of the low end French bikes had Simplex QR levers, which can have good value.

If you want to be charitable, you can always donate cash from selling the items. Realize cash can be used to pay bills. I write checks to my favorite charities every year from proceeds of flips acquired from them. Its one complete circle.

I'm sure Bikes Not Bombs donation center would be glad to take it all.

Yes, bike co-op good karma it reads like most of it to me. The Cinelli saddle... I think those have value, but my undercarriage is tolerant of them.
I have been cleaning up the bike room too. I think the wheel sets breed, lots of them!

The curse of too much bike junk. I keep thinking I need to put a bunch of stuff on e-bay but then I would have a garage full of bike junk to play with!

I take all of that kind of stuff to the local co-op. Even if they can't use it, they can get a few bucks recycling it.

How come Chro-Lux sounds like they weigh a ton and perhaps the reason for being on the wall? :)

Another vote for Bikes not Bombs! I am there every week. All donations help, whether they are going on bikes or simply being recycled and supporting the organization, as [MENTION=46029]fender1[/MENTION] pointed out.

I have so many dork discs/turkey levers/stem shifters/kickstands I could build a fleet of Huffys and Varsitys.

BOC for small stuff.

We have a trade thread going but it is too dynamic for practical use. I wish there was a database we could access that was an inventory of such parts and when we found something we needed, we could contact the owner. Discipline by the owners would be needed to keep the list current.

I am victim of the "I might need that someday" thinking process when it comes to parts that I think have value to someone. My problem is that I often don't know what I have and if I give it away and learn later what I had, I feel like I missed an opportunity.

If you are going to keep stuff, keep it in good condition. It is a tragedy to find a bike that was neglected through exposure to harsh environmental conditions. It is worse than being used with scars to prove it (exception are scratches from truck lids!)

The reason they are on the wall is they are steel and don't brake well in the rain They are also serrated so they sing during braking. Yes, they are heavier than nifty performance alloy rims but they are comfy to ride and very pretty.

Oh yeah, OldsCOOL reminds me. A Huret dork disk, slightly yellowed but otherwise in good condition. That kind of thing.

And yes I know of Bikes Not Bombs. Been there a few times. They are in a location that truly defines "You can't get theah from heah."

That's a neat place, and I would second that idea. When I bid on my 75 Le Champion, I was the only bidder, and drove up to Boston to pick it up. Turned out to be that place and I really enjoyed my visit and some great guys work there. I donated some stuff while I was there. And bought one of their T-shirts.

By the way, aren't the yellow label Fiamme rims kind of in demand? Even though they aren't for tubulars?

Take it to pastorbob's town dump? That way you can get rid of it, he can "find it at the dump", post pics here, people will pine for it and then he will be responsible for packing and shipping the items to like-minded cheapskates (not Bob!) throughout the lower 48?:roflmao2:

Ahhhh, flashbacks to my Motobecane Mirage back in '73. Those Rigida SuperChromix were the same. That is where I learned to strip off the tonnage.

Find a coop that is a non-profit, donate parts to them, get a receipt, take a tax deduction.

I have donated/sold a few items only to realize I needed them a few months/years later.

..decades later, like my tire savers purchased in 1973.

I have the same issue...and I DONATE, DONATE, DONATE to the local bike co-op...tax deduction AND they are appreciative!

Is the Unicantor a 3?

Maybe [MENTION=63590]jyl[/MENTION] would be interested in your Fiamme rims.

The bike co-ops don't want steel rims from the 1970s either, you can do them a favour and save them the time and take that kind of stuff to your local transfer station if they have metal sorting. You could look up metal recyclers in your area too. When I did my big purge years ago I put all the alloy stems, cranks, hub shells, rims, kickstands etc.. in a pile I made sure there was very little or no steel in it (save some rim eyelets)... I got $45 for it as scrape metal. I know the bike co-op has more alloy threadless stems than they know what to do with, same kickstands, and no one needs to save a cracked or otherwise crappy crank. So it got recycled and will be more useful. I know sometimes it can be hard to recycle something that was manufactured and useful but the more metal recycle the less has to come out of the ground destroying our environment so... there is karma in the scarping of metal too...