Mechanicjay

I had a neighbor, an older gentleman, avid bike rider. I really enjoyed getting to know him over the last 5 years as we'd chat as he passed the house on his daily walk. Even after multiple back surgeries which left him severely hunched over, he never lost his passion for biking, in fact his hunched posture, he claimed was perfect for continuing to bike, he even did a Senior's Century ride last year! Gives me hope for keeping on two wheels for the next 40 years!

Anyway, over the last month or so, i noticed that there was a LOT of cleanup and cleanout going on at Bill's house (three doors down) and it dawned on me that I hadn't seen Bill around recently. Fearing the worst, I stopped by the other day and met one of his sons who confirmed it for me. Bill had passed recently, at 87 years old, not from old age, but from a biking accident. Terrible to lose the guy, but at least he passed doing what he loved rather than fading away into nothing as I've seen happen to so many of my family members.

As I was talking to Bill's son, he mentioned that Bill lived in the house for over 40 years...and never threw anything away (a familiar tale)! As we were talking and he was showing me around, he offered me the pile of bikes and parts in the garage, practically begged me to take them, "You'll be doing me a favor, one less load to take to the dump. Take them, compliments of Bill." So I took them.

Three bikes, a few wheels, handle bars, accessories, etc. Not sure what I'm going to do with most of it yet. But since we like pictures around here, I offer you pictures of the three bikes. They're kind of a mess with mismatched wheels, scratched and dirty, but otherwise complete and seemingly collision free. I like the Seraph, but it's definitely too small for me. The Bianchi seems mostly original except for the bars, the Lemond is...my size!

friendofpugs

Excellent, and I'm sure you'll think of Bill whenever you ride them.

delbiker1 

I have the same Tourmalet, but it has been stripped, powder coated orange and rebuilt. It now has a combination of Tiagra, Ultegra and Dura Ace, front double and rear 9 speed. I have purchased some new/used components and it will soon be a 10 speed rear. It is a wonderful riding and handling bike, one of my favorites to ride. It was in pretty bad shape when I purchased it, but it cleaned up nicely and had only a bit of surface rust. Inside of the tubes look to be in really good shape. It does have a dent on the seat tube, and one on the NDS chainstay. They hardly show after the powder coating.

Right after finishing the rebuild. I have made some changes since, and am soon to make a couple others.

clubman 

Nice story. Except the dying part of course. But still...

52telecaster

Good way to go if its late enough.

Mechanicjay

I got al three bikes nominally cleaned up: Excess tape and broken accessories removed, missing parts replaced from the spares bin, brakes/derailleurs adjusted and what not. Was able to take all three for a quick for a quick spin in front-of the house, nothing longer without a more thorough going-through. I was also able to get a tape measure on them.

The Mizutani Super Seraph is 53.5 cm -- way too small for me, but a fun little bike. The perfect size for Mrs. Mechanicjay, so that may be in her future Full servicing needed: Repack bearing, true the rear wheel, new cables, bar tape. Regardless, this is the only bike of set with a matched wheelset Equipment on this bike:
27 inch Weinmann RM19 Allow rims on no-name sealed hubs
Life-Cycle center-pull brakes with Cross-bow levers, with the Turkey Levers removed.
Shimano Front DR
Shimano RS Rear DR
Sugino Crankset
Nitto Stem
Unknown bars, look chromed
Suntour stem shifters

The Binachi Riaggio Touring measures 59 cm, so my size, but was pretty uninspiring, not sure if it was the flat bars or what, just felt dead under me. This may end up donating parts to another build, I'll pass the frame on. Turns out, it's not just brown, in direct sunlight it's a metallic bronze, which is really quite pretty. Stuff on this bike:
27 inch no name steel wheel on the front, Araya 700c alloy on the rear on a Sansin hub
Dia Comp center pull brakes
Shimano levers
Suntour Front DR
Suntour Vx Rear DR
Suntour stem shifters
SiStar Crankset

The Lemond Tourmalet measures in at 62 cm, so actually a bit too big for me, so I will unfortunately be finding a new home for this guy as well. Equipment on this bike:
Shimano Tigara Groupset
Matrix Aurora RED 700c on the rear
27inch steel Araya on the front

noglider 

I think of death in a bike accident as a tragedy, even at an old age, but maybe it's good that he died doing what he loved (and what I love). I realize I might die the same way, since I ride a lot.

I'm glad you got the collection. I'm sure Bill would have wanted you to have it.

merziac

Very cool that you will carry on Bill's bike legacy, RIP.

The Mizutani is a Seraph model, they had Super on all the headbadges.

There were 3 models, Seraph, Spree and Super.

I had a Seraph and later a Super that was my first "good" bike, very nice but it was heavy and it got me into cup and cone, hubs, HS and all the rest, still have the Sugino tools that I bought after I let the poorly lubed from the factory BB get washed out and spent 6 mos overhauling every month with auto grease until it "honed" itself back to well and worked just fine for 30 more years until it was stolen with the Raleigh SC it was attached to.

The "Mighty" Sugino Super/Mighty Competition, love them, easily one of if not the toughest, strongest, most beautiful, best in the business there is.

Mizutani was a PNW thing, Life Cycles distributing had 4 or 5 shops in a network that set the stage for Trek and the Bike Gallery to step in and takeover the retail bike shop market.

My Super came from a shop that Mel Renfro had and we bought it from him at a pretty good discount. My Dad was not a cyclist but he helped me get many of my bikes, this one was spendy and my Mom was not happy when he got it for me as they were long since divorced so at odds over most things.