When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

BEHIND THE FIND

-
On 2 occasions, I have reached out to a CABEr for assistance in picking up & shipping a bike for sale locally on Craigslist & FBM where they live. Both times the poster of the ads I saw was from the CABErs I was reaching out to for help!

Thanks @Schwinny & @tacochris
1739073


1739075
 
I'll start, I was at an auction a few years ago, I was talking to a buddy about a bike in the auction and a scrapper guy I know who buys the scrap over hears us and said he had an old bike and I could have it for scrap price. I got his address and a few days later I called and went over, I tried to pay him but he said you gave me some scrap a few years ago so just take it. It was tangled in the weeds so I loaded it. All the way home I thought that's a weird bike it has no seat mast and these little pods. When I talked to some bikes guys I knew at Canfield I described it and they (David) knew right away its a twinn bar 1939 or 40. At the time I didn't know they were Cabe member's and they told me you should join the CABE, it's a great site to learn about old bikes so I did and I have learned alot.

20201119_120025.jpg


20201119_120236.jpg


20201119_120056.jpg


20201119_120039.jpg
 
About 15 years ago i saw this bicycle at a "super secret" swap meet in the Seattle area. I tried to buy it but the owner indicated it wasnt for sale. I also have a friend in Seattle who also was friends with the owner and his family. This friend put a bug in the ears of the family and owner multiple times over the years about my continued interest in the bike. In addition, i wrote letters to the owner over the years expressing my continued interest.
Well the owner became ill and later passed away which caused his family to begin liquidating his collection and several desirable parts. My friend called me and told me he was helping in evaluating the collection and asked me what i would pay for the Aerocycle. I gave him a fair number, he checked with the family and i was told to come get the bike. I also bought the 39-40 during the same trip.

20201014_133740.jpg


20201014_133907.jpg


20201014_133931.jpg


20201027_122709.jpg
 
went to the Marin Museum of Bicycling swap meet. mostly road and mountain bike stuff. got there about 9:30, and finally saw this at 10:30. it was a donation to the museum. talked to Joe Breeze he said what will you give me for it? I told him "I paid $75.00 for the last one I bought" (in 1985 🙂 ) and he told me $150.00. I bet nobody even looked at it but me.

added the tank, a set of vintage tires, Evaporusted the chrome, rebuilt the brakes, and greased everything that needed grease.

1739114


1739115
 
This story is a little long winded but true. Again at the Canfield swap meet, got there on Thur. riding around on my golfcart with my buddy and seen a vendor pull in with bikes on his trailer. Followed him and got to buy 2 bikes, put 1 on the roof and 1 on the golf club holders,, my buddy who isn't a bike guy said I paid to much for those bike's so I started to think maybe I did but they were cool bikes. I got back to my vendor space and put the bikes behind my Van. Fri. morn. a guy seen the bikes and asked if they were for sale, I said no, he said can I look at one of them, I said sure. My buddy said that one bike is getting alot of attention. The guy says if you want to sell it I'll give you 1K for it. My buddy who knows what I paid for it says sell it. I said no but took his phone no. Slept in my van,, Sat. morn I got up and my buddy vending next to me said Mike you have to hide that bike because at 2AM there were 5 guys looking at it talking and taking pictures. Sat. the swap meet fills with people and a different guy asked if that bike was for sale, now I don't know alot about old bikes but somethings up with this one. The guy says can I look at it, I said sure, he said would you sell it, I said no I just bought it and a guy offered me 1K for it yesterday he said would you take 2K for it, now I'm thinking that must be a special bike, I said no and my buddy said your F%#@ing crazy sell it, the guy then says how about $2200 I said no but took his phone no. When I bought the bike it had a gun strapped to it. I brought it home and researched it. I was told buy the first guy not to even clean it so it sits in my pole barn as found. The gun was an 1886 Quackenbush bicycle rifle. The guys that showed interest are Cabe members and I would like to thank them for helping me and not pressuring me to sell them the bike. You know who you are. My buddy was the one pressuring me to sell it but he's about the money not the hobby. I added the tool bag and lite.

20201119_114649.jpg


20201119_112000.jpg


20201119_114137.jpg


20201119_111902.jpg


20201119_111916.jpg


20201119_111437.jpg


20201119_111937.jpg


20201119_114547.jpg


20201119_113958.jpg


20201119_115002.jpg


20201119_114944.jpg
 
Last edited:
I have alot of crazy stories but here is the one about my 45 CWC.

So back around Thanksgiving 2018 my sister, in Austin, decided she wanted to host Thanksgiving. My family and I packed up and headed out to make the 2.5-3 hour drive. Im a picker by nature so my neck is ALWAYS moving when i take road trips, looking in back yards, scrap yards, around corners etc. Well coming into a super small old town (aka: wide spot in the road), I spotted a rusty bicycle laying next to what looked like an old days gas station. My wife KNEW I would stop so i quickly hit the median, swung around and dust-clouded my way to it. When I got to it, the gas station was closed up, boarded up non-functioning kinda just for display and had rusty stuff everywhere propped up. HOWEVER, there was a phone number scribbled on a post-it note stuck to the front door with zero name or context. Called it and a surprised older fellow answered the number and I said "I need this rusty old bike, would you let it go?" He said, "sure but I wont be back in town for a long while as I dont live there" and I told him I was just passing thru too! He said "well....how about this, how about you slip $60 underneath the old gas station front door and its all yours! The gas station door was ancient and had a 3" gnarly gap under it so I rolled up the 60 and thru it into the store as far as I could. So, check-one for throwing money into the cavern of an ancient, boarded up filling station on the honor system.

After I got home from the trip I brought it out into the yard to hose it down and ANTS, large tree ants started pouring out of every hole in that d@mn thing like an army. I have no clue how they didnt come out during the two day 4 hour round trip and attack me and my family but we got blessed in that respect.

asfound.jpg


CWCLARGE.jpg


45CWC.jpeg
 
Having had bought/collected bike most of my life alot of them I don't remember where they came from ( so many swapmeets! ) but this 1940 CWC Hawthorne All American I remember like it was yesterday and funny thing just had it out yesterday for a ride and tune up but that's another story!. Back in 1987-8 took my Mom & my 95 yr old Grandmother to visit her 93 yr old sister & relatives (2-3 day drive) in southern Oregon, Ashland is a small collage town. spent some summers there when I was a kid ( many hrs with my minibike, BB & 22 rifles ) so took a mountain bike ( 86-7 Diamondback Apex ) to check out the town ( and and to get away from the old people ) just happened to look at a Pennysaver/Hotsheet type local paper and saw old bike for sale at the collage so went to the dormitory and bought this, kid had it in his dorm room and back then didn't even think about asking if he knew any history!, I had never saw a 2 spd shifter in the tank. Was driving my mom's 4 door sedan ( brand new 87 Mercury Sable ) with a small trunk mount bike rack and the MW H AA was way to heavy so had to disassembly and put in the trunk for the 700 mi drive home. took me 25+ yrs the find the right CWC ducktail fenders, rack with no switch and especially the chain guard!, that's another good story!
1669406319376.png
1669406372473.png
1669406421144.png
 
Last edited:
March of 2019, browsing craigslist and casting the net out further and further, a ladies Elgin popped up, I showed it to my bride to see if she liked it, no - she loved it. It was priced too low in my opinion, although it was quite a distance from us. I made an offer and the guy accepted, but said he would not hold it. It was through text, so I called him asked if he would take paypal, nope. Offered to overnight the money to him, he agreed. That was on a Monday and couldn't make the drive until Saturday. I was sweating bullets as she really wanted the bike, and there was no way to even see if it was okay, or if it would be there when we arrived. Loaded up early Saturday, drove 5 hours to about 40 miles from Southeast Kansas and the guy wasn't there.

He was still at work, we waited an hour, he showed up. I asked again if he was okay with the price, and he said yep. Loaded it up and got out of there, still not believing that we had the bike. It had been his grandmothers bicycle, she got it as a child, still had the original tires, aftermarket fender light as well.

Aside from a deep cleaning, a set of John's chain treads (still has the original tubes), period correct light, peeling the sheepskin saddle cover off and service of the moving parts, it is as found. Rides like a dream. 62 pounds of fun. 11 hours overall to pick it up and get back home.


1739332


1739333


1739334


1739335
 
#2 All American, not quite the whole story ( don't remember where I got it ), had my #2 40 AA restored be Kieth Dean around 30 yrs ago and a few yrs back was trying to remember what it looked like before restoration, I didn't think I would have restored it if it had much og paint ( even back in the 80 when they were restoring just because of a few scratches! ), well a old friend called and said he had a pile of parts for sale so when I was looking he had a pile of old pics of bikes and the old swaps around here ( Doc Gibsons, Whizzin's etc. ), well in the pile was pics at my mom's house years before with a pic of the AA so now I know I didn't ruin a og bike and now that my beaters complete I'm going to send the restored one down the road!
1669408611092.png
1669408780555.png
1669408734686.png
 
Last edited:
Back
Top