new frame!
 

so...i've been down lately, and today, my girlfriend and i were out running errands (recycling center, getting food for her frog and such), when i ask if we can go to this place in berkeley called "urban ore." this place is amazing. it's a salvage warehouse and they have pretty much anything you could possibly think of, including bikes.

when we first moved here a few months we went there to pick up some stuff for our new apartment and i spotted this old, cruiser-type frame. a monark. i pick it up, and it's a little beat up, the finish has long since dulled, but otherwise it's in great shape. i had been to urban ore a few more times over the intervening months and the bike has always been there. and today was no exception. so, knowing that i've been in a pretty bad mood lately about not having a job or friends here, heather suggests that we find out how much they want for it. we take it up to the front counter, ask, and the kid says "how about five bucks?" i look at heather, totally wide-eyed and she says "how about we'll take it!"

so i have a new project, and a new incentive to get a job (to make money to build this up). YAY!!! and now: pics!

http://images.snapfish.com/338%3C77%...%3B28658ot1lsi
i like this one. the lens got a little foggy, but it looks all dreamy and stuff.

http://images.snapfish.com/338%3C77%...%3B28672ot1lsi
the headbadge. it looks really sweet in person.

it's a 54cm, which is a bit too tall for me (i normally ride a 50), and it takes 27" wheels (or 26" with full fenders, i can't really tell) the dropouts won't take a normal 3/8" axle, which makes me a little sad, and the fork will accept an old-style spaced front hub (like off a 26" cruiser), but not a modern-day BMX hub. all of the labels are painted on, not decals. it appears to have been really well taken care of (except the headset is missing a bearing race, i'll probably replace that anyway).

but YAY!!! i'm so happy and lucky that my girlfriend supports my addiction (i have 7 bikes now, and she has 2)!!!

To heck with the job-- they're over-rated anyway.
Just fix the bike up and ride it around instead. It's much more fun than working.

Where do you get frog food? I once visited Berkley, and there was this cool east bay vivarium place, in which I spent hours.

yeah, east bay vivarium is where we go. it's totally the best place for reptiles and amphibians.

as far as the job, i'm gonna try to get a courier job, so i'll be able to ride bikes AND make money! :) :)

Dropouts to small? hit 'em with a dremel. Or if you don't want to attack the frame, you can "flat" the axles.

yeah...i'm in the process of filing down the old school lawyer tabs on the fork right now. i wish i had a dremel. i think i'll ask for one for xmas.

flatting the axles is an option, and would probably be easier than filing the frame, but the hubs i'm planning to use have pretty nice heavy duty axles on them that i don't really want to mar. and if i do the frame, then i won't have to worry about changing wheels in the long run.

i was going to keep it outside when i finished it, but now, with the painted on logos, i don't think i will...and that sucks...every time i try to find a "beater" bike, something always stands out about it that makes it not so much a beater bike...

so i got the dropouts filed out. i noticed that on the seat tube there's still a sticker from when it was registered with the city of los angeles around 1966. heh. cool. i can't find much info on monark, aside from pages about old baloon tire cruisers. i kinda want to find out about it now. i think it was a 3 speed when it was still complete, mostly because of the single chainring...any more info would be much appreciated.

Sheldonbrown's site has this about Monarch (Crescent?).

Since it had narrow dropouts, I bet it was a three speed. A lot of them used the narrow dropout and a flatted axle to keep it from turning.
Leaving that bike outside won't hurt it so much. Sounds like it has spent 37 years outside already.

OTS, if you have an electric drill, you can do just about anything you can with a dremel. Not as easy, but just about.

i dont' have any power tools. :(

but i got the dropouts all nice and filed down. the next phase of this grand plan is to get a job to finance the building part of this.

chuck, since you think this was a three speed, does that mean that it takes 26" wheels with full fenders? i'm not sure because i put my girlfriend's 26" cruiser wheels in there and they just looked way too small for the frame. 700c wheels fit just fine in there, and i suspect the 27" would too. i think the last person who had it, set it up as a fixie because it only had a front hand brake...of course it could've always just been stripped clean on the sidewalk by some hooligan...