Estate Sale Willow Springs, IL

[Guest2]

I saw some old Predators w/ Atari graphics I would have bought...also would have bought a 16" looptail frame BMX bike for a project I want to do.

 

[biker]

I was told working bikes took what they wanted out of there before the sale. Around 2000 bikes. They only took mountain bikes and nice quality road bikes. Who knew you could be picky with free bikes.

2000 are you kidding? So on top of what's there now there were 2000 more. Where did he have them on the roof? I suppose they could have been stacked up to the ceiling in some rooms. This guy gets the extreme bike hoarder collector award.

 

[ricobike]

Here are my scores from the sale. I went twice, once on Thursday afternoon and yesterday (Sat). Got a fairly decent small frame Racer with a mangled rear fender for my girlfriend. A Schwinn middleweight boys frame to do some gender changing for girls bikes. 2 Sears girls bikes, one made by Huffy, one made by Steyr, both with Torpedo Dreigang hubs. The Huffy is missing the shifter, but the Steyr is complete with cables and shifter. I bought them just for the hubs, but looking at the Steyr, I'm impressed by the build. This is the 2nd Steyr I've bought (first was a folding bike) and I had the same reaction. Super lightweight compared to the Huffy. I'll probably use parts from the Huffy to make it complete and scrap the Huffy. I may steal the hub off of the Steyr though

I also got a 2 speed yellow band tandem hub in a rusted out rim. A little heat persuasion got it all apart and I was able to save the spokes. Some Cheng Shin ballooner whitewalls with heavy duty tubes to go on a rider bike. Oh and a cushy Mesinger bike seat that's still in the van .

As you've seen there was a ton of stuff. You had to really focus on what you might be looking for and dig until you found it. Fun sale and prices were good for me. I got all of this for around $70.

 

[jammer]

Here are some of my treasures I found.

 

[MBlue6]

2000 are you kidding? So on top of what's there now there were 2000 more. Where did he have them on the roof? I suppose they could have been stacked up to the ceiling in some rooms. This guy gets the extreme bike hoarder collector award.

Not to make myself sound like I deserve the hoarder award, I have 3,000 plus bikes. Lol. He had them stacked in there for sure.

 

[Tom Carroll]

2000 are you kidding? So on top of what's there now there were 2000 more. Where did he have them on the roof? I suppose they could have been stacked up to the ceiling in some rooms. This guy gets the extreme bike hoarder collector award.

Maybe 500 place was jammed but not that bad.

 

[fordmike65]

I need to show my girl these pics, but I'm sure she'll still complain about my mess.

 

[old hotrod]

Thanks for your kind words, yep Joe was a smart guy and very mechanical minded. I was at the police auction when he bought his Suburban ambulance. I was interested but did not want to bid against Joe. My memory is not good these days but I still clearly remember what he paid...$601. There was some problem with the title or maybe at that time there was no title since it was owned by the village. It took him a while to straighten that out.

too often we judge from what is in front of us without knowing the whole story...thanks for the kind words about your friend, we should all be so lucky...

 

[old hotrod]

I too knew Joe, I meet him when he sold bikes at Wolff's Flea Market in Rosemont at the Allstate Arena. Joe was great guy & very intelligent and knew something about everything mechanical and even not. We had a lot of the same interests so we always had something to talk about. I would always make my way back to him to say goodbye before I left the market. He drove a an old 70's black & white Chevy Suburban ambulance & he would pack it full. Joe also had a 1967 GTO 1968 GTO 1940's Cadillac and a Pontiac Lemans parts car on his property when I visited him several years ago. I stopped seeing Joe at the market well before Covid & I would call him off & on to see how he was doing but as time went on he would not always pick up, so I lost touch with him & his land line number that I have has been disconnected. I know the cars & all of the good bikes & small cycle stuff have been sold off by now I just wish I could have said goodbye one last time & thank him for his stories, friendship & service to our country. There are not many guy's like him left in this world. I may go to the sale but it will also be hard to go through his things no matter how good the find is. Thank you & R.I.P Joe

too often we judge from what is in front of us without knowing the whole story...thanks for the kind words about your friend, we should all be so lucky...