dddd

With the cooler, darker evenings these days, I decided to hoof-it 2-1/2 miles to the shopping center across town where Goodwill resides.

A nice 28 minute jog, and greeted by some newly-arrived bikes at the store. I selected a $49 Nishiki Colorado mtb having little use and from the era (1991?) of the older-style (push + push) Rapidfire levers. Good enough to have a cassette hub, DB CrMo F/F and alloy Deore 500LX chainrings, so a pretty good deal.

I then waked past the forbidden hallway that leads to the stock room, and peeked through the door window (that in itself nearly enough to get questioned at this store). I spotted a road bike in my size ~57cm with missing saddle and post and appearing to have a Phil front hub!

I inquired about it and found out that had been tagged @ $25, probably because of the missing bits. I got them to roll it out and was pleased to see it was a Nishiki Pro with very-mixed componentry: CLB brakeset, Phil/MA40 wheels and early 600 SIS shifters and rear derailer, plus Cinelli bars/stem and Mighty Tour Triple.

So I ran both bikes home after paying the sixty-something dollars after the senior discount. I took the long route back, further from traffic, 3 miles including one stretch of completely dark dirt road with many deep potholes followed by a very steep paved descent. I did this run in about 45 minutes with one bike's stem in each hand!

So after measuring up the bike and finding it was a perfect fit with preferred 74-degree race geometry and 10cm stem, I added a 27.0mm Record seatpost and one of my old saddles for a test ride including the gravel trail along the tracks.
I later measured the inflated tires on the MA40 rims. The Specialized Touring 28mm measured only 23.0mm wide and the CyclePro 25mm tire measured only 21.5mm wide.
New tires, cables and tape to follow in the near term (the bearings were all smooth and felt well-lubricated).

The mixed componentry I discovered is no accident, since these were only sold as framesets, so I dated it to 1978 by the "782" serial number prefix.

Sorry my camera can't take decent photos at night, or with direct sunlight nearby, apparently!

Like Deja Vu all over again, I found my 1977 Pro-Tour with similar Mity Tour crankset last November, also missing saddle and post! Only it was left at the bike shop's dumpster.








Oh, and that Pro-Tour from last November:

3speedslow

That was some workout!

noobinsf 

Wow, what a find with that ONP!

unworthy1

Crazy that any Goodwill in SF Bay Area is (A) Open, and (B) selling bikes even with missing parts that cheap. The prices in SF proper (The City as we are supposed to say) are much higher and Salvation Army is just a joke, they think ANYthing with 2 wheels is worth $300!
I once had a (white) Nishiki ONP frameset that I sold, got back and sold again...funny story...nice frames and congrats!

repechage

The prices the Salvation army tags them for in greater Los Angeles is absurd.
The Goodwill... I think they forward all of them to a central location in Orange County.

orcas island 

That was a big score!
A few years back I discovered an Ed Litton in a pile of stuff at the local Goodwill, headed for the metal recycler. It’s problem: it was missing the front wheel. A quick conversation with the manager and a 20 spot later and it was mine
Sometimes you just get lucky! Really liking what you did with your Pro-Tour

dddd

Thanks all, I guess that it would be more difficult for the store (not bay area btw) to figure out that any Nishiki was something special, especially the ONP because it was just an obscure frameset.

Test ride went well, sporty ride. Needs wider bars and perhaps change the 5s freewheel to 6s. The CLB brakes seem to work well even with the old cables.

fleslider 

I know with the Goodwill in my area (Northern Colorado) its a matter of luck, They usually want 100-200$ for any halfway decent bike. but a few months ago i found a 2000'ish Titanium Mongoose MTB there for $30.

dddd

You know, that's the attraction of Goodwill for a lot of folks, it's the mental stimulation of entering a gambling establishment I guess!

Yep, some of the best bikes end up with the lowest prices there.
It's not necessarily a bad thing for the store's profits, since the "winner" always comes back a hundred times looking for another fix, and ends up buying stuff and telling their friends about their "scores", bringing in new customers.

noobinsf 

I think my brother lives near you, and I will be visiting your Goodwill next time I visit him!

unworthy1

I did assume you were in the (greater) bayarea because I think I bumped into you at a swap meet in Marin. Maybe over a year ago. You know what they say about when we assume...hew-haw!

So now I'm wondering where big-name thrift stores are still selling stuff (like bikes) at actual "thrift store prices"....? I may need to get out of town more!

dddd

I used to live in Silly Valley (Sunnyvale), but now I'm two hours away from Marin, up in the foothills past Sac'to.

There were good swaps in Fairfax and I think San Rafael (Sporting goods store), I met a couple of forumites at these swaps.

noobinsf 

Oh, for some reason I thought you were closer to the central valley, like by Fresno, which is where my brother is. Ah well, more local hunting, then...

dddd

Adding a new photo after rehabbing the bike yesterday and today.

Wider, deeper-drop Cinelli 66 bars replaced the 38cm Model 64.

Full frame scrub, headset rebuild, new cables, and the 5s Winner freewheel got full (every tooth) grinding modification mimicking Uniglide's twist.

Bike-Ribbon cork tape was barely long enough for this Merckx-bend bar in a 42cm width. Conti 4000 rear and GP front in 25/24mm widths mounted on the narrow MA40 rims.

I'd always heard that these CLB sidepulls were weak, but with the new cabling and the old Dia Compe pads that the previous owner added decades ago, the brakes feel linear, smooth and strong against the anodized rims.

I weighed the bike after everything and got 22.1lbs including pedals and bottle cage! Heading out on an evening ride (back to Goodwill where I found it!) as I write this.

stardognine

Cool bike, congrats! ✌️ I recently scored a goose down anorak, made by Outdoor Research, at a Goodwill for $5. 😎 I was pretty happy ,obviously, but the jackass manager got very upset about his pricers letting it go for that. 🙄