# Rollfast



## Curtis68 (Jul 18, 2014)

*Rollfast Project*

Well, this was my first attempt at cleaning up an old bike and overhauling it.  Overall I have to admit I am pretty happy with the way the bike turned out.  I know it is a base model Rollfast and not worth a whole lot which is what made it the perfect bike for me to work on.  I was originally going to buy the bike for a $100 put a couple of bucks into it and sell it.  However, the more I talked about cleaning it up, the owner and good friend, began to realize he would rather keep the bike and pay me to clean it up for him.  Well after several hours of labor (including straightening out the fork and cranks), a bunch of 0000 steel wool and WD40, a few days in an OA bath, and some parts and advise from fellow CABE'ers, here are the final results.  I know some of the parts may not be correct and the rear rack is still slightly bent. That being said my intent was just to clean the bike up and make it a rider again, which it is.  Now my only question is what is the bike worth?  No, I am not selling it because it is not mine to sell and the owner has no intent to sell it.  The reason I ask is for my own knowledge.  If I had bought the bike for $100 and cleaned it up what would I have been able to sell it for? and would it have been worth my time?


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## mike j (Jul 18, 2014)

Nice clean up. Not sure of actual value. 200.00 + or - ?. Probably the most value is in the experience you gained fixing this one up. Now your'e ready for something more interesting.


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## rustjunkie (Jul 18, 2014)

Came out nice! Buffing with some Flitz then waxing would make it shiny. Careful with the white paint tho, maybe mask it with blue tape.


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## bikiba (Jul 18, 2014)

Nice job. Nice to see rollfasts getting cabe "air time" ... 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## Freqman1 (Jul 18, 2014)

The short answer to your question is "no". By the time you figure in the parts, materials, and time(labor) this particular project would not have been economically feasible. As the others said the real value here was the learning experience. Generally speaking it would take a higher level bike bought at the right price to make money. There are a few here that make money at this but for most of us its just a hobby! BTW nice job on getting some more vintage iron up and running. V/r Shawn


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## Curtis68 (Jul 18, 2014)

*Thank you!!!*

Yes, I agree the experience on this one was priceless. Hence why I did not charge my friend for my time just parts.  Thank you for the feed back on worth.  Like I said my question was based on my wanting to increase my own knowledge on the worth of old bikes.  I figured I would have been able to get $350-$450 on this one, but it sound like I was way off and would have lost money.  So good to know.
I had such a good time working on this one, I would love to fix up more old bikes.  However I do not have the room nor the income to keep them all so I would have to sell them.  That being said it would not be financially responsible for me to lose a bunch of money fixing up old bikes to sell at a lose.  Some much to learn.  Thanks again on the feedback.


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## 58 Jaguar Mark IV (Jul 29, 2014)

Curtis68 said:


> Yes, I agree the experience on this one was priceless. Hence why I did not charge my friend for my time just parts.  Thank you for the feed back on worth.  Like I said my question was based on my wanting to increase my own knowledge on the worth of old bikes.  I figured I would have been able to get $350-$450 on this one, but it sound like I was way off and would have lost money.  So good to know.
> I had such a good time working on this one, I would love to fix up more old bikes.  However I do not have the room nor the income to keep them all so I would have to sell them.  That being said it would not be financially responsible for me to lose a bunch of money fixing up old bikes to sell at a lose.  Some much to learn.  Thanks again on the feedback.




Yeah I'm in the same boat, I did my Uncles Schwinn I inherited, I made a ton of mistakes from buying the wrong parts to chroming  different pieces at different times. So needless to say I was way over what I'd ever get for it, but I won't sell it.

But I'm hooked and hope to get a project cheap and control costs so I can sell them for cost.
Chucky
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