thook

Hello all,

I'm pretty new to the whole vintage thing.......relatively speaking. And, I hope I'm posting this in the correct place. But, here goes..........

I came across a pile of older bikes on this local guy's property. Completely overcome with curiosity, I crawled under the wire fence to have a close look. In the pile are some low end Nott. Raleighs, one America Raleigh......lugged mixte, a couple of Peugeots.....one of them a mixte, a lugged Giant roady, a welded Giant ATB (mid range components), a bunch of old Chicago Schwinns.......some filet brazed, I believe.....atleast one Japanese, though, a lugged Nishiki woman's, a Lotus Elite, a number of old, old Huffys, some unidentifiable frames, a Belgian road build......can't remember the name at the moment, and a few others I've never heard of and can't remember. I didn't want to linger to long, and.....dang it...I didn't bring any writing material with me. Anyway, amongst all of these are a number of wheelsets.........some steel, some alloy........all 27"......with high flange hubs. Some said Mallaird, and others....again....I forget. Some of the rims were old Weinmann, Ukai (sp?), Araya, Rigida (steel with embossing on the braking surface), and others I care not to mention as they were too rusty. Plus, with all the bikes come brake parts (Schwinn, Weinmann, Mafac, Peugeot, Chang Star, New Star, etc), shifters, and deraillers. Now, a lot of this stuff is in good enough shape to clean up and actually use. I'm pondering the idea (if/when I can talk to the owner about acquiring them.........and actually acquire them) of selling off some of the stuff I wouldn't be interested in so as to take what I am and build. Seems the obvious thing would be to start searching out identical parts and see what they're selling for. But, I wouldn't really be interested in making a lot (if I can even get my hands on this pile).......just enough to do what I'd like. So, I don't know.......what would someone pay for a set of Weinmann alloys with high flanged Mallairds that needed new axle bearings and spokes??? Would checking into this venture really pay off or would it be too much effort save what I'd like for myself??? Any input would be appreciated.

Oh, and if I am so fortunate, I keep the Lotus and Pugs.....

Thanks.

CACycling

Check on eBay to see what comparable stuff is going for. My guess would be that you'll need to spend considerable effort and time to get the stuff ready to sell and sell it. How much you have to pay for the lot as well as what you feel your time is worth will determine whether it is a worthwhile venture.

EjustE

"paying off" is subjective, and you got to define what that means for you. You could potentially triple or quadruple what you put in, if you are in the right market and are ready to sit on those till sprint. As far as parting them out, the market on low end old parts is practically non-existent. So you are looking at frames. Assume $5-10 sale on each and then figure out what you want to spend.

(another post that should probably go to the A&I sub forum)

RobE30

Where are you located?

thook

I'm in Arkansas.

What is the A&I sub forum?

And, yeah.........I realize it's subjective. I just thought maybe some of you guys (for those interested in something like the Mallaird hubs) could throw something out there for me.....a price you'd pay. $5-$10........hmmm. For an "as is" sale, that would add up.

I'll have to look into this. Thanks.

thook

Well, it came to pass. I was out for a ride the other day and made a trip into the woods to take care of some "business" (think toilet paper) off the side of the road at the location of the bicycles. (hey.....there weren't any brambles to trek through). Upon finishing said business, I heard some racket up the hill where I'd parked my ride. Turns out it was the owner......Tim West. Nice, nice older man at 72 years of age. We were both surprised. Me to find him actually there (in the midst of my business) and him to find there was an owner to the Trek 614. He has bikes occasionally dropped off/given to him and was thinking how strange it was someone would drop off such a nice bike.

Anyway, we got to talking about a number of things and the conversation finally got around to possibly acquiring bikes and parts I was interested in. I can have whatever I want........YEAH!!!!! Stipulation is I will be rebuilding his two current rides.....Dawes Galaxies.... that are in DIRE need of repairs. All my idea, mind you. But, he was open to it not being a greedy fellow for money poor as he is (not that I have a lot of money myself), and he's not particularly attached to what I've asked for being that the bikes were either too small for him or in a state of disrepair beyond his skills.........as evidenced by being in a heap. He likes to collect vintage/rare bikes and found it stimulating to run into someone else that was/is too. I found it stimulating to find he has such a dry sense of humor and such a natural, relaxed attitude in general. He said to take my time rebuilding the first one. When that's done, I'll get the other and then rebuild it. I imagine I'll be spending a bit to fix them, but nothing more than cable housings, tires, and tubes. Everything else he has in the pile. I'm thinking I may even surprise him with a patch kit and a couple of portable repair tools inside a saddle bag. Maybe even a pump. Knock his socks off, eh. You might have to know the man's life, lifestyle, and concept of repair/maintenance to get the full implication of the arrangement and what my end of the arrangement will offer. For example, if one tire goes flat on his current wheel....say 27".....let's replace it with a 26" mtn bike wheel and tire. So what if now only the front brake is usable, he can ride.....lol. It's my intention to help him in rectifying that a bit. A more "proper" situation for him, if you will, and having two dependable bicycles.

Once I have his two rides together and set him up for maintaining them, I will start bringing home my treasures and whatever's left from that I may sell off. I don't know. Guess it depends on what's left and who's interested. Whatever I make, though, I'm going to split with him.

YoKev

Nice story!

Bikes have a habit of bringing people from all walks of life together. It truly is a wonderful thing

Good luck with the repairs!

mkeller234

I have to say... that is one odd story. 2 bike nuts brought together while one is making a mess in the wild...

RobE30

I hope you "sanitized" your hands. There might be some interest from me for Al wheel sets, or decent peugot cranks. Good story man.

thook

Hello again,

Thanks for all the encouragement.

I've spent the last several days sorting throught the heap and gleening parts and frames. So far, I've taken the Lotus Elite, the Peugeot mixte, the Raleigh of America mixte, the lugged women's Nishiki, the lugged Giant road bike, the Giant mtn bike, and several sets of alloy rims. There's a Sachs Huret derailleur I need to go back for, but there's a couple of Shimano 400 derailleur sets, a bunch of DiaCompe and a few Weinmann, Schwinn, Alterberger, and a Shimano or two centerpull caliper sets. There's several of the high flange hubs I spoke of that I'll clip from the wheels, keep a couple for myself, and sell the rest. What else.......several of the filet brazed Schwinns.........pretty junky, I guess. But, maybe someone who's into that marque will appreciate them.

I'll be keeping all the alloy wheelsets I've found so far. So far, I've managed to accomodate all of the said bikes and have a couple sets for Mr. West's Dawes builds........which I've started on. He decided he wanted the better of the two built first. Found some chrome fenders off one of the Schwinns that will ice the cake. Interesting, the Dawes takes a longer reach caliper in the rear than the front. Not sure why they'd done that.....hmmm. Anyway, got enough Weinmann's for the brakes and trying to salvage a Simplex FD to go with the rear. Hopefully when I take pics I can get my wife to load them to the 'puter for me and share some eye candy. It's not restored, mind you. Don't have time or money for that. It'll be cleaned up and looking good enough, though.

The men's Peugeot I was hoping for.........that was ALL the way down at the bottom of the pile didn't work out for me. It's way to big. I'll be selling that. The other men's Peugeot...........also at the bottom.....has the left hand bottom stay chopped off. It would work size-wise, but not sure if it's worth the time, money, and effort the replace the tube. Opinions?

Anyway, more later. Thanks for the interest. I'm havin' fun....

lotek 

replacing a tube on a peugeot probably isn't worth it.

As for the 2 different brakes on the dawes, do you perhaps have a 700c and 27 inch wheel on the bike?

Marty