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LOL, no matter how infrequently I check into this forum, I can always count on a fresh "My headset is different than all the others" thread... ;-)

Oh, save it for trivia night. :-/

I'm always amused by the Craigslist currency exchange rate in emails, all-caps 'CASH' is apparently worth significantly more than lower-case 'cash'... ;-)

There's a difference between not making a profit (which I never stated as a goal), and bending over and grabbing your ankles. I see nobody took a stab at my actual question. ;-)

LOL. That's what I figured. At least with bikes we're not talking Barrett-Jackson level lo$$e$... 😉 That's why, after our 'downsizing' and move I still have 3 Klunkers in boxes in our storage unit. I just can't make myself sell them to folks who think it's oh-so-simple because they saw some...

How the heck do you arrive at a value on something like that? Heck, just the "labor" in sourcing frames and parts exceeds the cost of the average Walmart bike, add in the cleaning/overhauling/assembly/wheelbuilding and you're (theoretically) over the cost of a decent bike shop mountain bike...

Here's a slide scan of Ned racing a carbon Specialized Epic at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, 1988...

Those 9800s were such cool bikes. The only bike I ever had not come back from a test ride in over 35 years, working in 5 shops... 😠

This always seems to be made so complicated, doesn't it... TMI! - - - - - - If you want to keep cost down, buy pre-made. The few shops that still cut and thread usually only stock more expensive spokes- DT, Wheelsmith, etc. Generic from Ebay or wherever are just fine for a cruiser...

Ya know yer gittin' old when your snapshots are now "Vintage mountain bike photos..." ;-)

Neat bike. ...and if I were to post that on CL in Colorado, the only question I would get is "How fat a tire will it take?" Or at least that's how it went when I (briefly) attempted to sell my Nobilette. "Gravel,gravel,gravel,gravel,gravel,gravel,gravel...." ;-)

Like the bikes, love the movies! Amazing story, how William Boyd gambled everything on his belief in that character, and what a phenomenon Hoppy was!

Ha! That Divco was pretty sweet!

Tick tock, tick tock... MM almost didn't happen! Some old ones from my Photoshop phase... :rolleyes:

I would strongly advise new wheelbuilders not to drop all spokes in a hub to start, or to even think about anything that might speed up the process. We often forget that for most home mechanics, it's a very intimidating job. Keeping 8 or 9 spokes at a time from getting in your way while you...

...and how did I end up posting that here and not on the Klunker pic thread. We'll never know..... 🤔

The BEST wheelbuilding instruction, ever. After a frustrating go at it using the old Eugene Sloan book, and ending up with a partially-built sputnik instead of a wheel, I saw this in a then-new issue of Bicycling! (still w the exclamation mark) magazine. Even though the author is an industry...

@Schwinn Sales West , good info! LOL- leftover regular tubes... On the Colorado Front Range we sold TR tubes on so many new bikes that we finally started installing them during the build of sub-500 dollar units, explained to the customer they were already in there, cost extra for the tubes but...

There was a little talk a while ago about that Bottecchia, which of course was just a townie, but to the right of center, green shirt and goofy hat, is a red 700c Klunker from BITD. ;-)

My best friend's dad had a Budweiser sign like that above his basement bar back in the 60s-70s. It was old even then. I sometimes wonder what became of that....

LOL, Left Hand- no wonder you didn't drink the second one... 😆 Neat item!

This poor guy can't give this thing away. It's been listed for a couple months now. Granted, it's gigantic, but still... https://westslope.craigslist.org/bik/d/hotchkiss-spec-stumpjumper-lg-225/7572851819.html

Ha! Recognized Elite right away! The old "North City Jail" was always my favorite backdrop before it became a meth den and was torn down... ;-)

I just about fell out of my chair when I spotted a Ritchey Timberwolf during my breakfast scan of our small-town CL one morning this summer. Kinda beat, it'll never be concours quality, but b'gosh it's a gen-u-ine fillet-brazed Ritchey! Hodge-podge of parts. Super nice folks that I bought it...

R-L My 84 High Sierra (purchased at the Outdoorsman in Durango late '83, from a not-yet-famous Ned Overend), '82 (IIRC) Stumpjumper, '86 Shogun Prairie Breaker II.

IMHO an oncoming 'wrong-way' bicycle rider is much more of a hazard to a cyclist than a passing teen driver on a phone. Predictability is our friend.

I always look forward to MMBHOF pics, as I can't see myself ever being in that area... ;)

It's cool that Schwinn headsets and BBs can almost always be reused! :)

Put the '61 Racers on CL yesterday. We've had these for over 30 years, but haven't really ridden them in ages. Downsizing for a move, and they need to go. I think it was 1987 when an ol' boy brought these into the shop for tires and tubes. He had just purchased the pair at a church rummage...

The shortage is going to get worse before it gets better. I'm not saying "hoard", but a few spares of common items won't hurt if the opportunity presents itself. 35+ years in the business and I had to get a pair of S-6s on Ebay. Never imagined I'd see that day! ;)

Schwinn had some characters working for them in that era. There was a faux Schwinn Reporter article/ad in an industry publication- 'Schwinn to replace Quality emblem with Quantity emblem' or something along that line. I think of it every time I see one of those round badges... :grinning:

IN NORMAL TIMES the proprietary Schwinn sizes aren't really as unusual or hard to source as folks often think. If they don't stock them, nearly any shop can get the S-5/6/7 sizes for you. Right now all bets are off, though... FWIW I like to sneak in 700c tubes with S-5/6s. Seems to help the...

@Chad H , A Shogun Easy Street! I haven't seen one of those in 30 years! The good ol' days, back when we looked forward to the next year's bikes instead of dreading them...:grinning:

Pulling stuff out for the move, and I don't think I've ever seen so much stamping on a BB...(?)

I'm going to play amateur psychologist here and say that over my 35 years in bicycle retail my experience leads me to think that couples who have the spoken or tacit understanding that the patriarchal figure is the 'bike expert' and is 'in charge' seem to have tandem riding work for them best...

Be sure to visit the Schwinn Tire Size sticky near the top of this forum page for S-2 vs S-7, etc, etc diameter info. ;)

That's so 2010... :grinning:

I going to ask your indulgence- both for perhaps a 'newish' bike and my borderline rant.... Mark built this for me in 1996, which isn't all that long ago but it's really sort of the end of an era. When road bikes still looked like road bikes and people cared about the tubing and the builder of...

There was a thread on the Finns selling piles of their old bikes on BCUSA a while back. I'm too lazy to find it for you, but there were tons at various prices/condition. In Finland, of course. Seemed much more straightforward in design than the Swiss bikes. I know folks drool over them, but the...

I'm not in the habit of making phone calls searching for, or paying retail to get repair parts. But the customer was enthusiastic about refurbishing a prewar Musselman equipped bike for his wife's birthday. Got the parts from Memory Lane, overhauled the hub, and watched him roll a really neat...

This was my 'ultralight' klunker project- 29# as pictured. Also I wanted one that I could use with a qr truck bed mount. Bendix instead of Morrow. Alloy SR stem. Vintage campy front hub. The later, narrower Araya 7x mtb rims. 4130 tubing bent by a friend in the aerospace industry (a little...

Sounds like a solution in search of a problem. IMHO. While there would be no practical concern over "speed-scrubbing" friction, I'm always wary of anything that can get gobbed up with dirt, grease, and grime or through deterioration that might prevent the freewheel from freewheeling freely...

I see folks asking that on CL all summer long. Do they get it? I don't know... But you'll never get it unless you ask for it, that much is certain!

That is one of the best resources for working on classic bikes! Used books of all kind are so cheap on Ebay, it's crazy!

I most often see old Schwinns not literally 'crossed'. Always throws me for a loop when I replace one spoke the 'now-normal' way! Would have been hard for the old-time Schwinn School guys to have wheel lacing races if they had to overlap them. FWIW several years ago Mavic laced a bunch of...

Worst case it will be a very minor annoyance if you ever have to replace a broken spoke that's underneath. And that's unlikely. You had the smarts to lace it without the internals! Bravo. :-)

@GTs58 , Love the hyperbole in that piece! :grinning:

The OP-related brazed Contis are just awesome. I've enjoyed owning and refurbishing a couple over the years, one original, one 'resto mod'. The details are so cool- everything from the graphics, to the thickly chromed cottered cranks and brakes, to the combo chromed/alloy 2 piece stem!

I think '93 from Googling various years. No matter, it was a decade of no frills, useful bikes. I would rather tune one of those than any gimmicky modern bike. ;)

I know folks love their Sting Rays and Krates, but 20" ballooners are just cool! :sunglasses: