So a guy down the street from me sold me an everything-but-the-wheels Schwinn Passage touring bike. Japanese, columbus tubing, very nice frameset, a bit on the large side but for $20 I figure it will be perfect for a friend of mine who's been asking for a touring bike...

I've got it on the stand and I can't figure out why the frame and parts-- chain and all-- seem to be covered in a white gritty substance. Almost as if the dirty bike was given a quick spray paint job and then left outside in the weather before the paint dried; left for quite a while...

I'm scratching my chin contemplating this and then I realize that I'm probably wrenching on a ghost bike...

So yeah, time to go back to the basement with some Nag Champa and white sage...

Be careful out there everyone...

Someone went through the effort to clean the white off?

-Kurt

wow.
If it is a ghost bike then I wouldn't know what to do with it. That's just wrong.

Betcha it came through a police auction.

Yeah, I don't know what to do with it either. It seems wrong to throw it away, and wrong to give it away. The only crash damage I see is on the rear derailer.

The fact that I didn't notice the obvious fact that it was a ghost bike when looking at it makes me think that maybe the right thing to do is to get it rolling again...

It did prompt my wife and I did have the discussion that I don't want that to happen to any of my bikes if I were killed cycling, and she said the same for her.

Clean it, bless it, and find someone who wants it; you'll likely feel better. We had a guy here that was dying of AIDS; he maxed his cards on bikes, bike gear, clothes, McIntosh Audio, and other stuff, incl a white Mustang GT convertible. After he passed, there was all this stuff at his sister's never-ending yard sales...I passed on all of it. I probably should have bought the McIntosh stuff.

Hmmm, could it be particluate from the fires that blanketed everything during the summer?

I would ask the seller since he appears to be available. He may not know, but then again he might.

I'm not sure what I would do with a ghost bike. Every good idea seems to have a "Bad Karma" counter argument.

I'd paint it red, call it El Diablo, and ride the hell out of it.

If it is indeed a ghost bike do you think the person who it memorialized would rather have it chained to the spot where they met their end, or would they rather have it being ridden?

Just have a brief moment of silence before you get on it...then ride the hell out of it!

There was a psychologist that did a study...he was giving a lecture in front of a very large audience and held up a sweater and asked if anyone would wear it for twenty bucks please stand up. Everyone stood up. He then said that the sweater was last worn by a convict who was recently executed and if this changed their minds about wearing it they should sit down. Only four people were left standing.

Personally, ghost bike, bike used in a rideby shooting, bike ridden by Patrick Swazey before he killed his career...I don't care. If it fits, ride it!

Your imagination is getting the best of you. It's just an old bike.

pictures, please.

Bingo.

I honestly don't get the whole 'ghost bike' thing; I'm not even sure I've ever seen one (maybe in Brooklyn once). I understand it memorializes a bicyclist who had a fatal accident, right? But is it supposed to be his/her bicycle? I, for one, would not want to be memorialized by either by a junk bike (because junk is junk, after all), or by one of my own bikes (because they are not junk, thank you very much). Nor do I want derelict bicycles to be chained up on public property. So... clean it up and ride it proudly!