guzziee

Picked up these 2 over the weekend. A buddy had to have the commander so I passed that one to him, I then found the Paramount for $40 bucks. I guess it was good Karma .

curbtender

That was awfully nice of you... Cool bikes.

Bikedued

Nice... Just got an out of the blue email. It was the guy with the chrome Voyageur 11.8, accepting my $200 offer after the fact. Neither one of us got bent out of shape on the original discussion, so I guess it paid off. I offered to come pick it up this evening. Well see if I have enough time for pics when I get home, hehe. It's been TOO long since I've had a chrome Schwinn from the kg era. It will feel good to have one in the stable again. Of course that jacks the projects in the lineup up to 7, lol. ,,,BD

(Edit) Pitted from end to end, including the components. It was stored in a garage with a lot of pool chemicals, fertilizer, or both. I wanted to cry it was so bad. I told them that I was sorry, but I cannot give $200 for it with the condition it's in. Every component would have to be removed and tossed, search them all out and buy them, possibly re-chrome the frame, find a rear wheel, and on and on, and on some more.

They called me on the way home, and asked what I would offer for it (and no lowballing).. I said $60-$70, figuring that would close the deal on it, and show them I wasn't really interested enough to buy it. They said "I thought I said no lowballing" in a very incredulous tone. I said I wasn't lowballing, and that's what it would take for me to even consider taking it home. They continued on the lowballing thing, and I said thanks and hung up.

In a city this big(Houston) I was a little ticked off they were asking $200 for such a poor specimen, not to mention running me around in near town traffic to get there, to find "that". Once you leave a location during 2-7 PM in a big city, you really don't feel like going back anyway. Oh well, maybe next time.

rjhammett

I picked up this 90ish Georgena Terry 'Classic' bike about a week and a half ago from Goodwill. I did an overhaul and sold it to a very appreciative woman yesterday.

Murray Missile 

I used to have to fly into Houston for my old job and drive I-10 West to Sealy, I fully appreciate the negative aspects of navigating that area that time of day. It's not much fun at 10:00 PM in a strange vehicle during a frog strangler of a thunderstorm either.

Bikedued

We've been getting our share of frog stranglers lately, I can attest to that. Oh wow, I-10 West was a complete nightmare for ten years or so, as there was constant construction, and then the influx of new people over the ten years after that. It used to be it was a rare sight to see an out of state plate down here at the bottom of the world even with the size of the city. Now it's every time I go out, I see two or three in a five mile trip on surface streets now.,,,,BD

Yeah, I think it was chemical damage. It was worse than just left outside rust, this was downright angry, lol. All the little bits with unknown platings had turned green, on top of solid rust. If it had only been leaned against the back of the garage, I'd be ordering decals and stripping the clear right now.

Murray Missile 

On one of my last trips to Houston I got in late and picked up my rental at Hertz, gave it a quick walk around, hopped in and took off. I kept getting got strange looks all the way to Sealy and couldn't figure out why, came out the next morning to see it had California plates.

BicycleNutsy701

Picked up a wheel-less well-maintained late-90s 24" Huffy from the side of the road. Planned on using it for a commuter once I found some equally cheap wheels, but then found a 26" lower-end early-90s Huffy at a thrift store and haggled it down to $18 because the tires were dry-rotted, the rear shifter was frozen, and the center sprockets had missing teeth. Stripped it completely down, sanded it, and am about to repaint it using 30-some-odd-year-old New Holland red tractor paint my father lovingly donated to the build, seeing as he traded the New Holland for a John Deere 20-something years ago. Then I'll put all the parts from the free 24" on it, excepting only the cables and cranks. Gonna build a rear rack out of a 16" frame a friend found by the side of the road. End product should be a perfectly customized, rugged on-or-off road commuter for a grand total of $56. (Yes I already have all the parts...just not the time)

Bikedued

I hope the paint dries, or even still looks like paint when the can is opened. Most paints have a shelf life, and it's not at all close to 30 years. It may look fine once mixed and not dry once sprayed. I am guessing it's acrylic enamel, or lacquer possibly? If it was stored indoors in air conditioning, then maybe. Good luck.,,,,BD

Zoku620

I bought a Yeti road bike with a broken frame and nice Chorus 8 spd group.
The parts were in good shape and are now on the Ross. The stem was stuck in the Yeti, 1/2 of it still is.
The frame alone weighs 2lb 12oz. I cannot find a serial number, any ideas??

My friend found this GT in his yard, he lives in D.C. where this is apparently common. I collected the parts I had and LOL'd at the "flipper blue" bar tape..

I needed wheels. I got some, but it's a story in and of itself so here's a pic of the bike
Custom touches include bar ends that cost $60 each and ultimate ghetto electrical tape paint job on top tube

Still needs a few finishing touches, namely travel agents for the brakes... anyway around this?

GordoTrek

i like your GT did something very similar to a nishiki back roads, stuck stem, frame was beat to hell, i bought a 9x11 sheet of duct tape from the craft department at wal mart and wrapped it around the top tube. aero brakes and i was able to get downtube shifters installed on it, back rack with a nice pannier and fenders. sold it for 200 to a college kid

dddd

I bought this nice Miyata for 24.95, but the toptube was scratched severely on both sides. Some dumpstered Cinelli "finishing tape" to the rescue and I actually like the way it looks some couple of years later.

Zoku620

^Nice! Keeps it from getting scratched more and you can always peel it off. Helps hold it in place when you lean it against stuff too. Not for every bije, but works on yours!

Pathfinder27

I have kept a close eye on this thread since joining the forums and I have to say it's by far myfavorite one to dig through. I just scored my first "save". I'm not sure that it counts because the guy had the add on Craigslilst for the low low price of FREE. It's an older Raleigh road bike, I'm not sure of the model or the frame size yet. I won't be able to pick the bike up for a couple of weeks because I'm traveling for work but he promised to hold it for me since I was the first to respond, maybe I'll take him a case of beer. Anyway, here's the bike. Anyone who has any knowledge about what model they think it is or any other details let me know. I'm very excited to get this thing and start putting some life back into it.

Murray Missile 

Looks like an early 70's Grand Prix, about a 23 inch frame. My first road bike was a '71 Grand Prix, they were pretty low on the Raleigh roster but still seem to have quite a following. I've been looking for one like my old one for quite awhile and they seem to bring a lot more than they should, or maybe i should say more than I'm willing to pay. Just a personal observation but the ones I've seen from that era without the black band on the top tube were built in Belgium and those with it were built in Nottingham or Ireland. That doesn't mean that's a fact or a hard and fast rule, I'm talking a pretty small sample size and I could be completely wrong.

rjhammett

Picked up this '89 Marin Eldridge last weekend off CL. It has the splatter paint job with all Deore II/DX components. I did a complete overhaul. I have a total of $46 into it. Giving it to my daughter.

dweenk

I am interested in Raleighs built in Belgium. Were they completely manufactured there, or assembled from parts built elsewhere?

Clang

Glad this one found a good home!

Murray Missile 

I seem to recall reading that the actual frames were made in the Gazelle plant and the rest if the bike assembled there. Haven't really looked into it, my Grand Prix was built in Ireland. Hopefully some of the more Raleigh knowledgeable members will chime in.

SpiritCyclist

No pictures, but I grabbed a 1984 Schwinn Super Le Tour from a trash pile today. Spent the day taking it apart, and thank the Lord nothing was stuck/seized, despite a decent amount of rust. Will post shots when she's all back together.

coolkat

Happened to ride past just as this '87 Le Tour was put out. True Temper 4130 and Shimano Light Action components. Pretty good shape, and upgraded with a very nice Sugino triple.

lord_athlon

Picked this up off of craigslist last night for 130. Needs a bit of a cleanup.

dweenk

Now that is nice. I wish the Finest frame that I own was in that condition. They are great bikes - chrome under all the paint. Do you have the original tubular rims?

lord_athlon

The guy had two of them. One had the tubulars, one had these. He originally wanted to sell both together. Someone convinced him to split the set, so I jumped on this one.
This one had its wheels switched out for a semi matching set of wheels (sunshine rear hub, schwinn approved Normandy front) with Matching Ukai rims.

Lascauxcaveman 

^Very cool Finest. Take care to preserve those original decals, etc., they really date the bike nicely. I'd love to find one of these more my size in such good shape.