Sunday's Show and Tell. 4/20/25

[Bike from the Dead]

I'll have to break this into at least 2 posts, but here's everything I got at the Haysville, Kansas bicycle swap meet last Sunday.

To start off, here's how it all looked when it was loaded inside my car.

And here's everything all spread out in the storage building floor, minus the one bike and seat I didn't sell, the one frame and loaf seat I brought to find parts for, my tool boxes, my Bontrager foldable work stand, and my big lunch box. Even I was surprised I got this all to fit inside my car. Most of what I got was free, but there were a few things I purchased.

Got a bunch of fabrics to practice upholstery with for free!

I've also been itching to learn how to paint my bikes, and these free cans will be great to practice with!

I'll skip the descriptions for the most part until I get to a few highlights.

I paid $10 for the middle chain guard for an Elgin frame I have, and I bought the green Schwinn guard, along with a matching fork and set of fenders all for $20. The top guard came from the free pile.

I got these 2 free Schwinns for parts.

This Murray was the first thing I pulled out of the free pile. It wasn't until I shot these photos that I say the holes drilled in the seat stays.

I got this rough Huffman frame for free as well. It's got a fair bit of damage, but it might be salvageable.

Got this Murray for free as well. It's hard to see at this angle, but someone cut off the top rear fender brace for some reason. This might be a good bike to fit a larger rear wheel on...

Another freebie. I'm thinking this would make a good BMX strandie build.

Believe it or not, I got this Bantam out of the free pile as well. I might fix it up and ride it, or I'll trade it with a local bike friend of mine for something else. I don't know yet. It's cool either way.

 

[Bike from the Dead]

This one I'm really excited about! When I first saw it, I thought it was a "snap-tank Colson" minus the tank, but upon further examination, I don't know what exact bike it is. All I know is that the headbadge reads "NONPAREIL BICYCLE WORKS ST. LOUIS. U.S.A. "SPEED." I got it for $4. I've got a rusty black shelby springer fork that would look perfect on this bike! This could make a sweet board track racer!

I also got this Monark step-thru for $20 to replace an identical frame I have. What's weird though is that this bike has the later style dropouts without chain tensioners, while the other frame I have, while identical, has the older dropouts with chain tensioners. To add to the mystery, the headbage says ROCKET on it, but its not the same Monark frame I'm used to seeing that badge on. I'm not too familiar with these Monarks, but I like how they look.

I think this bike was repainted once, but I like the scallops it has.

One piece on this Monark that surprised me was the coaster brake hub it had: Morrow. If you're into klunkers, you can probably guess why I got a bit excited when I saw that name behind the mud. I don't know if it's in good shape or not, but I'd love to rebuild it if possible!

Here's everything I bought at the swap meet.

And here's everything I got for free.

But I've saved the best for last! Because I finally got something at this swap meet that I've wanted for years now: a factory green 1950 B.F. Goodrich Schwinn straight bar! I paid $50 for this one, and while it's a little rough, I know it'll turn into a nice cruiser, whatever way I build it!

In fact, I mocked up a few parts on it last week to see all the potential it had! I installed the fenders and replacement fork I bought at the swap meet, plus the white seat and grips I pulled from the free pile. I already had this long green Schwinn chain guard, and I thought it looked perfect on this bike! The rest of the parts were things I had laying around.

I really like how this Schwinn looks with cream tires, personally.

While I'm probably going to stick with fenders, this could also make a fine strandie or klunker too!

I tried looking for more bike stuff at a local swap meet this past Friday, but I didn't find anything I couldn't live without this time. Still, Haysville provided me with more than enough cool parts and projects to play with!

 

[JRE]

Did some trading with a buddy for this Elgin