jackbombay

Off topic post!

Video game score scores.

So, I had a Space Duel arcade game at my house for a while, it was a successor to asteroids, the arcade by my house as a kid had it, and I was half decent at it. So, I sold it to a guy in Denver, he had a dozen games in his basement, I dropped the game off as I was working there. I told him I was pretty proud of my high score on the machine (this machine remembers high scores even if it gets unplugged), he asked what it was, and was totally dismissive of it and informed me that he'd have it beat in short order, huh, well.... So I texted him 3 months later, nope, he still hadn't beat it. So I texted him another 3 months later, nope, still hadn't beat my score, so I waited another 6 months, and texted him, and he admitted that my score was a right proper high score and he likely wouldn't be able to beat it. So, as of now, that is still *My Machine*, it just happens to be in his basement! He invited me to come play games next time I'm in Denver, but I'm never out that way, especially since I don't live in Idaho anymore, but it would be fin to go rattle off some game on my old machine...

Lascauxcaveman 

My best score is nowadays commonly known as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which that Mozart dude stole from me when he was playing keyboards in the rock band I was fronting in highschool, then he took back to the 18th century in his time machine. I don't know where he got that time machine.

Anyway, I'm still pretty sore about it.

bwilli88 

My Zunow, #298

As found




After fixing
It still needs a top tube replacement

thook

sorry i don't have any photos like you guys, but in terms of bicycles....a '98 bontrager privateer and an '85 schwinn super le tour. both all original and both for $5 each

oh, and two '83 univega gran turismos. acquired years apart of each other, but both also original....and gifted!

aaannd, i guess a '93 mongoose 625 crossway for $15 and yokota grizzly peak for $25 kinda counts

i suppose i've had a number of "best scores". doesn't include the several free vehicles..lol

Chuckk

$12.95 at Goodwill, a long time ago when old bikes were old bikes...
1984 Olmo Competition

It was sitting there filthy with sew-ups wrapped around the frame, and I thought it was brown until I was loading it into the truck.
It started to turn red then, as it was obviously in mourning for its unknown, original owner.

non-fixie 

This is a really difficult question to answer. The cheapest? The best? The most exotic? My safest investment? My favorite ride? All of these would yield different answers.

I chose the one which gave me the greatest satisfaction so far. Which is a rather lowly Mercier 100 mixte @randyjawa was offering in C&V Sales a few years ago. I fell in love with it, and his price was very reasonable, but by the time it was shipped to me and I was done with it, it was my most expensive bike.



Yet seeing mrs non-fixie enjoying the bike and the attention she got wherever she appeared with it was more than worth the trouble and the money. Yes, definitely my best score so far.

francophile 

Picked these two up with a bag of barely unused Campy tools, several NOS/NIB campy NR parts, tubulars, books and magazines, assorted other stuff for $1k total.

I wouldn't call it "cheap", but I made half my money back on just some of the parts and misc items. I don't feel comfortable publicly disclosing what the bikes went for, but I felt enough guilt I tried to go back to the guy and give him another thousand, and can confidently say it wouldn't have hurt much if I had.

The bikes were so unused, the brake calipers still had the cardboard spacers on them.

obrentharris 

I don't know about my best, but these are my most recent, given to me by an old friend.
Actually I'm not joking. These early Stronglight bolts and caps are very tough to find and very pricey when found. They are just what I need for my Stronglight 57 crankset recently acquired from a forum member.
Now I just need to find the right tall late fifties frame so I can build a bike around these!
Brent

noobinsf 

I’ve had some good luck with components, but I think my favorite score so far has been this Campania frame that was a freebie from Nextdoor. It had several good components on it, like a Phil Wood bottom bracket and SR Royal seat post, but the frame itself has proven to be a sleeper. Lately, it’s the one I’ve ridden most.





And also this Cyclone rear that came from the co-op for $2.50.

ramzilla

Got both bikes for free. 1980 something Nishiki. 2010 carbon fiber Team Fuji. These are "after" pictures. (They were in rough condition when I got them).

jet sanchEz

$375 and a two hour round trip



$300 and a three hour round trip



$200 and a three hour round trip

montclairbobbyb 

1972 Disc Orange Karate - Wife bought for me, $14 at a church rummage sale. (I still pray for forgiveness...after all I effectively 'stole' from a house of God...)

obrentharris 

Ooh! My kind of Cinelli, tall and not too pristine and precious.
Brent

Mogens

Underneath my rattle can paint job and Paul Wellstone memorializing decal is a Trek 730 Multitrack that a neighbor gave to me for free. If not for that, I probably would never have started messing around with old bikes. It’s given me a new hobby that is really great foer my mental health, though not necessarily for my bank account. I’ve now recognized that it’s a bit large for me and I’m working on its successor. But this bike was definitely a score.

TricycleTom

I needed some very short-reach sidepulls for my trike, and found the rare model required in the junk bin at my LBS.
I'm still most pleased by the negotiations to buy my Jeunet 12. I had ignored it for a month of shopping because the chain dragged on the front derailleur in granny gear. The store, which did frame-building on site, said that there was no non-dragging model available. I pointed out that they had one in a Huret Jubilee set on the wall. He said they didn't want to break the set, but would if I won the bet about it fitting. So, I got the lightest as well as the longest.

stephr1

Back in the '70s (in my mid-to-late teens) I picked up a Lime Green (think that was the shade of green) Schwinn 10-speed for $35 in fairly good shape. Owned it for ~3 months. One afternoon I rode it over to my future wife's parents' place (a few blocks away) and parked it between the parents' car and the garage door. The parents went out to get dinner and I didn't even think about the bike being exposed when they left. The house was right across the street from a local park.

When the parents returned, they were surprised to see me still there. When I asked why, they replied that my bike was gone I ran outside to look for it, but it was long gone.

I never really liked her dad and the future wife has long been an ex (30+ years) but neither was because of the loss of the bike.

MnHPVA Guy

I paid $262.50 for my 1986 Jack Taylor Super Tourist frame, fork, racks, headset and a TA BB.



It had been given, lightly used, to a local executive as a retirement present, by an English friend he had toured with. He never built it up as it weighed 1/2 pound more than his Trek frame. He said now he was "free to sell it" as the friend had died. So I didn’t feel the least bit guilty that he didn't know what it was worth.

Almost every component I built it up with had been given to me way back when they were obsolete, but not yet collectable. Including low milage Campag derailleurs, Mafac Tandem canti brakes, TA canvas h'bar bag & 160mm TA cranks. The hammered LeFol fenders were from a ’64 Jack Taylor tandem. The owner, who’s had the tandem since new, had taken them off them as they were too heavy & bulky. He gave them to me because he thought they were just right for the Taylor. Brake levers and SunTour Bar end shifters were from a bike someone was throwing away. Even after buying tires, cables, H2O cage and a Brooks Pros "S" from Ebay I still have well under $500 invested.

The cyclometer is a metal bodied Lucas, given to me with zero miles by the widow of a friend, who never got to use it. The wheels, w/Campi hubs & Super Champion Mod 58 rims, were also from one of his bikes. While riding with another old geezer he commented that he’d not heard the sound of an old “TikTik” in many years. I replied that it was rather pleasant, but that I’d always found it annoying back in the day. He said, “That’s because now it’s going tik..tik..tik..tik, but 30 years ago we made them go TikTikTikTikTik.”

Freebies: I don't know why, but people give me bikes, including;

1950 Norman roadster

1964 British Merlin - Reynolds 531 road bike with a Sturmey FM 4 speed

1973 Ladies Raleigh Sport in showroom condition, with paint to match my similarly nice men's '73 (Both now have S5 hubs and mostly alloy components)

1976 Raleigh Super Course Mk II

1983 Fuji Touring Series IV - It had been used for 1 tour of about 1,200 miles, then sat in a basement for 30+ years, collecting copious grime but no corrosion.

2015 Bacchetta Corsa 700 recumbent with about 500 miles on it and many upgrades.

1964 Robin Hood 3 speed (Now with an S5 hub.)

1985 Trek 720 frame & fork

1970s Fuji Newest with nearly perfect Campi brakes, levers and pedals.

20?? Iron Horse MTB

semroc

Great thread. Beautiful bikes everyone. I guess this counts as a score. My most cherished bike. Early 1980's Rossin. My Dad raced on it in the 80's. He just gave it to me. Rides nice. Family heirlooms rule!

Billhpeloton

It’s been a while since I’ve done it but I spent years acquiring and selling vintage bicycles and components, mostly on eBay. I was fortunate enough to make some good scores but my best, by far, was two Frejus bicycles: a road bike and a track bike. The lead came from a friend of a friend whose father had owned the bikes. He had bought both, new, to use to qualify for the 1964 Olympics. Apparently he almost made it but didn’t qualify. The bikes were then put in storage in a dry basement until I purchased them. Both were gorgeous; the road bike even had the original shop tags. I sold them to a Japanese collector. They were too small for me but I have often wished I’d kept both. At the time I was a pretty dedicated cyclist and wasn’t’ the Into owning something just because it was pretty. The only picture I can find is the track bike.

Billhpeloton

Don’t qualify to post pictures so I’ll make a couple of spurious posts to get up to 10

Billhpeloton

Gorgeous! Back in the day I really coveted one of those

Billhpeloton

RobbieTunes

300 on the PFT, 4 years running.
267 at Midway Lanes, sober.
2:20:57 for 26.2, 29:39.12 10K, 14:39 5K
235 at the range, rifle. Can't remember the pistol. 7-years Expert on both.
102 on a par 72. Yes, I admit it. First time I had any balls left, too.

Pretty good at Galaga, better at Space Invaders, sucked at Pac-man.

Oh.
Bikes? My girl's NOS Guerciotti, but I agreed not to disclose the price.

2016 Cipollini Logos with SRAM Force 1x11 and 2 sets of wheels (Roval CL60 and Bontrager RXXXL) for $1100.

Bike wheels---$400 for a set of 8-sp Eurus and 9/10/11-sp Eurus from CL in Cary NC

For every good score, I guarantee I've overpaid ten.

merziac

No expert by any means but guess I'll show my ignorance, never knew these came in a disc version.

montclairbobbyb 

Yes, 72 & 73 models. Klunky and heavy mechanical rear disc; functionally awful but hugely collectible.