Sixty Fiver

You know the one... that bike that you cobbled together from spare parts and cast offs that owes you nothing. The bike that serves when you don't want to use your nicer bikes because it is raining cats and dogs (like it is now) or because you worry about it getting stolen or damaged while you are on a night out on the town.

It's the lock it up and forget it bike because who in their right mind would want to steal it ? But you lock it up well anyway because despite owing you nothing... you'd be pissed of someone stole it.

Because somewhere down the road that pos beater bike puts a big assed smile on your face every time you ride it...

Italuminium

Campy Daytona cranks, Super Record brakes, athena levers and concorde sl frame with internal cable routing, adjustable dropouts and race tag number. Yes, this is the parts bin mutt P1050648 by ctjr, on Flickr

jimmuller 

65'er, I like your choice.

Here's mine, the old standby. It paid off its debt long ago.

wahoonc

Lightly modified Raleigh Sports Standard, paid $25 for it in 1982, other than replacing the fork and the off side crank arm after a crash in the early 90's and adding some new baskets it is still rolling along.

Aaron

noglider 

That's outstanding, Aaron.

noglider 

This is it, as of now, though I haven't ridden it in months. I lost it for months, thinking it was stolen. Then I discovered it at the train station. I had forgotten that I locked it there. Duh.

KonAaron Snake 

I hope she survived the crash...



Pre-Rack:



I love this bike...some folks on BF talked me into keeping it as a frame, and I turned it into a utility build. I found some Paul motos VERY cheap that I was planning on adding and it was getting this head badge:

noglider 

What kind of pedals are/were those, Aaron?

How are you feeling?

KonAaron Snake 

They were some SPDs I had laying around...chunky ones. I think they may have been Ritcheys, but I don't remember for sure. I have a good 10 pairs of SPDs floating around - I always buy them when I see a decent set cheap.

The same...irritable and looking forward to healing up. The leg is very stiff.

This photo of them is a little better:

krobinson103

Have a new beater in the works today. My old one was this one...



She started life as a lose weight bike, rode 3000km one summer, changed roles to a baby carrier when my oldest was born, Sat in the shed for a year or 2 when I got distracted by R/C helicopters and motorcycles, got reborn briefly in this current push for maximum fitness and then, the crack appeared. In the bb mounting threads. It got bigger and bigger and as of yesterday I classified it as dangerous.

Sadly she has to go to beater heaven and all her good components are being transferred to new and shiny (and equally cheap) sibling

auchencrow

The only bike that I truly beat is my winter rider. 3rd season, 3rd BB, 2nd crankset, 2nd set of brakes.
Runs as single speed most of the time.

that_guy_zach

This guy here, My 650B Rock Combo. Got the frame for free and went from there with parts I had. Goes with me out of town whenever possible.

lostarchitect 

My beater is a early 80's Soma, spraybombed blue (not by me) and pretty rusty. It has a replacement straight blade chrome fork (I assume due to rust and not damage, because the frame is straight). I've got it set up as a single speed and it is actually a very nice ride.

Here's a bad pic:



I should add that Noglider and ColonelJLloyd kindly supplied some free parts for this build and as such it cost me very little to get it rolling.

The story is actually similar to noglider's above. The guy I bought the frame, fork, headset, BB & crankset from locked it up and forgot where it was. It sat out all winter getting rusty. When he finally found it, it has been stripped--and that's how I bought it, for $25.

Ex Pres 

Now that story's a keeper. New signature perhaps?

Doohickie

I've got two city beaters- my Whip


I cobbled it together from a bike I pulled out of a dumpster then crashed, with parts from CL & swap meets

...and my fixie


I got it new for Christmas a few years ago but I've made it mine. With all the stickers, it's distinctive/ugly enough that no one else wants it.

bikemig 

Great thread and great bikes. Mine is pretty ugly but the bike rides and works great. It's a Trek 720 frame that I rode across the US and then lent to my Dad who promptly scratched it all up (gee thanks Dad). When I got it back, I touched it up with this really ugly blue paint and the bar has black and white tape. I figured I'd uglify it some before using it as a lock up bike. It has a Dura Ace crank with a Sugino 75 chain ring, Lyotard rat trap pedals, surly hubs laced onto campy omega rims, SR stem and bars, Avocet II saddle, modolo cantis and Suntour cyclone levers, and a stronglight headset (still good after many, many years of riding):

auchencrow

+1. Keep those ugly bikes coming!

bikemig 

My last ugly beater bike (a Peugeot UO-8 that a friend gave me cuz the paint job was in such bad shape) (and then I added a bunch of really neat old French parts like a stronglight 93 crank, an Ideale saddle, and genuine delrin derailleurs) got ripped off. Go figure. Sigh, maybe I have it wrong and the bike needs to look pretty to deter thieves.

Sixty Fiver

Waitaminute... that ain't no stinking Huffy.

Sixty Fiver

Hell yes.

Sixty Fiver

You forgot you locked a Super Course at that station ?

I know your wife is gorgeous and all and can be a bit of a distraction but damn... just... damn.

Vonruden

You guys have some nice beater.

Sixty Fiver

I swapped a Peugeot Supersport frame and fork for the AO8 frame, fork, and crank and the 27 inch coaster wheels came off my '51 CCM when I set that up as a fixed gear and the only new thing was the bar tape, the Marathons were a little used and I had taken them as payment for some work.

Found a Peugeot rack hiding in my shop so will add that and if I can find the correct Peugeot fenders will be pretty happy... the skirts the bike is wearing were pulled out of a dumpster.

ChrisM2097

I'm still gathering parts for my beater bike. I don't even have a frame yet, but I've got the drive train, wheels, stem, handlebars, fork, & headset sitting around waiting to be installed.

I know, I know, I'm doing it all backwards.

wahoonc

Just found another picture of it...after retrieving it from my brother

It is a good solid bike and as far as I am concerned it will ALWAYS have a home with me. I rode it for several years as my only form of transportation and it never let me down.

Aaron