I find great bikes in dumpsters.
My latest are a Bianchi and a triple butted Ishiwata frame....
I do agree though that 99% of finds are crap.

I do agree though that 99% of finds are crap.

Therein lies the thrill... that 1 %.

I have a good number of one percenters hanging in the shop.

I have built (yeah, had access to the machine shop) four eccentric hubs using disc 20mm fronts - they work superbly and can be used in the front, exchanging just adapters (no tools needed). One hub survived, without even loosing the chain tension, the crash that broke the frame at the seat cluster. The fun part is that I can use any of thus build wheels with any of my frames spaced 120, 126, 130 and 135.

Of course, you can buy real ENO eccentric hub, but to I guess I paid less for four of mine.

I have the eno, built a wheel around it, NOT looking for that solution. I am sorry for using bad wording perhaps, I want an eccentric BB without actually having an eccentric BB shell. Anyway, check Rev.Chuck's post to understand what the issue is.

Why do some of you "vets" think noobs are total freakin' dumbasses?

Just because we haven't been tattoing our freakin bodies with Campy Chainrings since '84 deosn't mean we don't know how to do a modicum of research on the net. This is the Internet generation. C'mon now?

I qualify as a noob since I converted a road frame and have been riding now for only 6 months (albeit every day). But I looked up stuff. I read my Sheldon (R.I.P). It took very LITTLE effort to LEARN ALL ABOUT frames, tubing, parts etc. Some vets act like they are the gaurdians of all esoteric bike knowledge that noone can find, that takes decades to learn. Yea right. Get over yourselves.

Newbies are not ********, they're newbies.

btw: you'd probobaly hate my mid 80s Nishiki Prestige (Kuwahara factory frame) but it's a killa bike for me.

N00b vs vet wars didn't just spawn. Just because you're confident you get it, it doesn't mean there's not a line of *******s behind you with the same questions over and over. No one guards their knowledge, they're just tired of regurgitating it. This thread started because someone was trying to share their knowledge.

Why dig up a 6 month old thread? Nobody setting you up for your rant amongst the current threads?

edit: Aargh, got me troll. I bit.

pics of you riding everyday, nao!

TROLLING.

(and if you weren't, you're an idiot)

I'd think the noobs who hear the wisdom and then go with it and learn are worthy of respect.
Just saying.

Okay, so the original concept here is to stereotype trash AND treasures someone else ejects? Shame, shame. I pray for a decent home for every bike.

Go to the classic/vintage forum and see what people have pulled out of the dump. Your opinion sucks. :)

Opinions are like *******s, every dumb ass with a mouth or keyboard is allowed to have one. :rolleyes:

I agree, but disagree.

My 85 dollar 80's bianchi frame: add 100 bucks for the rear wheel, and 10 bucks for the front wheel and I was in the go. worked great for a year. upgraded the BB after a while..
when I had some dough, I bought a rear wheel with a better hub...

I say dumpster frames, well chosen ones, are good for building blocks if you want to slap something together quick and slowly upgrade, especially if it is transportation. You get a sense of what works and what is a fad when builing a second bike and the take off parts are good for friends/back up parts.

I was riding home the other night and it was trash night on a street not too far from my house and there were three bikes along the street that were being thrown out. I stupidly went home and dropped off my bike and walked back to get the bikes but they were all gone, darn. I should have pulled over and walked my bike and one of the others back, I am still kicking myself. I did find a frame with everything on it but the wheels so I took that. My neighbourhood is crazy....who throws away bicycles?

I did find this in the garbage two weeks ago and gave it to my friend, it fit her perfectly.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...hEz/Mar035.jpg

Economically, he is right. And, economically, we shouldn't buy solar, or pay more for a Prius (it is much more expensive than a Corolla and you can't make it up in gas). You also shouldn't have your broken vacuum fixed, or pay a tailor to mend a pair of pants. Frankly, with McDonald's $1 menu, shut your kitchen down. You can't compete.

In almost every case, you can buy something new these days that functions fine and is cheap to buy. So he is right.

But it is soul-less.

If you wanted transportation, you would probably be in the commuting thread. But for some reason you decided that SS or fixie mattered to you. I don't care the reason - if you are here, you are attuned to something that is not really "normal". I think it is the context, the narrative, the story. It is more fun to live a life where there are stories and twists than it is to enter your credit card on a website and get a perfectly functional bike.

I would likely rank as borderline idiot by Carleton. I have a Peugeot PX10 fixed gear. It has been a royal b***h to do. French thread BB, 26.6 seatpost, 22.0 stem. But it is done, and I love riding it. What is better about it than a Mercier or IRO?

1. I picked up the stem at the Rivendell office in Walnut Creek, and spent 4 hours talking to Grant and the team about bikes and bikers.
2. I got the cranks (Campy Daytona) from a small bike shop in Bolinas that I noticed on my way out to surf. The guy had the old set in his front case, and I got it for next to nothing. Best choice - hell no - non-standard BCD, non-standard BB.
3. I got the seatpost online from yellowjersey.org. They deserve anyone's business, if only because they care and keep bicycling old bikes a reasonable passion.
4. I got the stem from Ben's bikes - a nitto dirt drop. I had it lathed down from 22.2 to 22 for about $10 at a local machine shop. Turns out the guy builds transmissions for vintage Formula One cars that still race. He has an unbelievable shop and an incredible story. There are so few machine shops around, that I was thrilled to add a ten-spot to hear about his Dad and how they built the biz.
5. I got the wheels (Campy track hubs) from a guy that I was visiting. $150 for two complete wheels. They are beautiful, and work great. I saw them lying in his garage as he was telling me about his passion for restoring PX-10s.
6. The bottom bracket - phil wood. Yup, the French thread BB is a huge hassle. But $140 later it is solved. Just reading the Web threads from Sheldon and others since the late nineties was a lesson in itself.
7. Frame came from Craig's List. Wasn't looking for a frame, but I paid $150 for it, and it is in perfect condition. Reminded me of the bikes that were hanging in my friend's garages in the 1970s - great imported bike from an era when gas was going away and everyone bought a bike. They couldn't import enough of them to satisfy demand.

All in, the bike was probably around $800-900 to build. Twice or more what it would cost to get a perfectly good track bike. And it is not "Track" (or "Tarck"). It is an old, light racing frame with tons of flex.

But I couldn't be happier every time I hop on back. Because I am fast. Because I can climb anything in it. Because it almost threw me four or five times while I learned what not having a freewheel meant. Because it is as silent as a ghost when I ride.

And because of the stories.

Maybe next time I will buy an IRO? Love the site, and I rode a friend's recently and had a lode of fun. But that is a different story for a different day.

I <3 free ****

wat

personally, i have found taking garbage bikes apart, finding out how they work, and trying to put them back together extremely valuable for a number of reasons. first and foremost, getting your hands dirty and riding something you put together yourself makes people happy, even if there's a wobble in the bottom bracket or the gear selector on the three speed hub sticks. this is how people leave the "noob" stage and become a little more reliable with small repairs, adjustments, and parting in/out. it also teaches first time mechanics how little they know and how many cycle specific tools are used. it might inspire someone to go buy some tools and a good book, or it might make one feel a little better paying for labor that they aren't confident to do on their own.

instead of avoiding dumpster diving, try going with someone that has lost their noob status. they can easily spot things that are better left in the trash or parts groups that should be set free on a rolling bike.

and college town moving days (may 15, aug 15) are goldmines. even if you don't find a gem, you'll probably pick up enough bikes to outfit all your friends for a few weekend pub crawls.

Haha, I know what you mean but at least yours is made of reynolds 531. I dealt with all that stuff on a gas pipe peugeot and don't regret it one bit.

$30 Old Norco off CL
$25 new brake levers
remove shifters from 10 spd
+time reading bike forums, cleaning,experimenting, and borrowing a chain breaker to make a ss
bike was under 25pounds doesnt seem like a bad deal to me
later i added a wheelset i got for 100

bike probably much closer to 20

Thread necromancy on something over six months old doesn't really help your case. :)

we were all noobs at the beginning

edit: nvm, noobs and newbs are different. We were all newbs at the beginning lol

noobs are good. The word sounds similar to the one that starts with b.

And I like those, very much.

pics plz.

(that actually sounds quite interesting, how did you go about doing it?)