so I was out yard saling yesterday, and I come up on this house that looks like it was just built but nobody lives in it yet. There's a bunch of old junk out front, including a BMX bike with mags. I get out, I look it over, I notice that there's nobody standing there... as I get ready to walk up to the front door of the deserted-looking house and knock, I notice there are cardboard signs at both ends of the junk pile that say FREE in permanent marker. sweet! so I drag this home:
It looks pretty complete at first glance, but it's a horror show. I had no reason to expect the tires to hold air, but they did, so I tried to ride it around the driveway. The first problem is that the sprocket has a couple of teeth bent just enough to make the chain skip and do funny things. I kinda straightened them so it's ridable, but I think the sprocket is junk. Then there's the seat post. Apparently someone stuck it in just barely about 2 inches (about 3 inches short of the insertion line) and then rode it around and bounced on the seat. The post itself isn't bent, but the seat tube has a little kink just ABOVE the top tube, so now the post won't go in any further. I tried working on that a little, but I think it may be a lost cause... The steering was gritty so I rebuilt the headset, but it's still gritty. It's a freewheel rim, so the brakes are kinda important, but they're pretty shot... the arms are bent all wrong, and looking at the nasty stripe on the rim, I'm pretty sure those are the wrong brake shoes (How do you get that black stripe off anyway?) ANd the stem is missing one of the 4 little bolts that holds the bars in place. It's got that weird offset round head that holds it still in the top of the stem. Anybody know where to find one of them?
Anyways, the bars are so ugly it's a crime, but my first idea was to get Stingray-type bars, seat and sissy and some whitewalls for it. That's if I can get a seat post into it. Otherwise I keep the rims, stem, crank, and various other bits and pieces and ditch what's not usable... if I decide not to use the bars and frame and forks, I'll post a message up here to see if anyone can use them.
(While I'm on that subject... how does that work around here? I have a couple of old frames I'd like to get rid of now. I hate the thought of giving them to the recycler as scrap if someone can use them, but I dunno if they're worth anything to anyone here. One is a Monark girls' 26" with bent forks, and the other is a Kent 18" (yes, 18" wheels) BMX. They're pretty much stripped of anything usable as a spare...)
--rick
It looks pretty complete at first glance, but it's a horror show. I had no reason to expect the tires to hold air, but they did, so I tried to ride it around the driveway. The first problem is that the sprocket has a couple of teeth bent just enough to make the chain skip and do funny things. I kinda straightened them so it's ridable, but I think the sprocket is junk. Then there's the seat post. Apparently someone stuck it in just barely about 2 inches (about 3 inches short of the insertion line) and then rode it around and bounced on the seat. The post itself isn't bent, but the seat tube has a little kink just ABOVE the top tube, so now the post won't go in any further. I tried working on that a little, but I think it may be a lost cause... The steering was gritty so I rebuilt the headset, but it's still gritty. It's a freewheel rim, so the brakes are kinda important, but they're pretty shot... the arms are bent all wrong, and looking at the nasty stripe on the rim, I'm pretty sure those are the wrong brake shoes (How do you get that black stripe off anyway?) ANd the stem is missing one of the 4 little bolts that holds the bars in place. It's got that weird offset round head that holds it still in the top of the stem. Anybody know where to find one of them?
Anyways, the bars are so ugly it's a crime, but my first idea was to get Stingray-type bars, seat and sissy and some whitewalls for it. That's if I can get a seat post into it. Otherwise I keep the rims, stem, crank, and various other bits and pieces and ditch what's not usable... if I decide not to use the bars and frame and forks, I'll post a message up here to see if anyone can use them.
(While I'm on that subject... how does that work around here? I have a couple of old frames I'd like to get rid of now. I hate the thought of giving them to the recycler as scrap if someone can use them, but I dunno if they're worth anything to anyone here. One is a Monark girls' 26" with bent forks, and the other is a Kent 18" (yes, 18" wheels) BMX. They're pretty much stripped of anything usable as a spare...)
--rick
