The CABE CONFESSIONAL Bike Skeletons in the Closet - Share Your Tragic Bicycle Decisions, Regrets

[Thee]

2 weeks ago I took 15 ladies frames to the recycler.....the horror......

Hopefully you’ll only suffer in purgatory , and not be condemned to eternal damnation ,
I shall pray for you my son

 

[OC_Rolling_Art]

One day a person came to my house and asked about the Lotus. He proposed a trade............straight across for his old Volkswagen bus...............you know, the kind with lot's of windows and the windshield flips up. His Volkswagen was in REALLY good shape. BUT...........my thoughts at the time was this thing would be too slow to drive . Just not enough horse power. So I passed. I would have had the better end of the deal had I not been thinking that way......... I drove the Firebird for a good long time and loved it , as well as the Datsun roadster ( Many good memories there ) I regret getting rid of these vehicles as all of them are now Classics and worth some real money. Oh well, live and learn ! Here's a picture of me with my Firebird .I sadly don't have pictures of the Lotus or Roadster on my computer.

A Microbus with Safari windows might have been a good trade... The '75 Firebird 400 looks sweet! I had a friend in high school with a built Datsun Roadster with top end goodies from Japan, it was surprisingly fast. Great stories here!

 

[SJ_BIKER]

Back in 2010 I took a condition 7 opalescent red 4 hole rack and stripped the paint in order to redo a black phantom.....lame...could a used a junker rack instead ...ugh

 

[kreika]

So back in the early mid 90’s I worked for bicyclebones. I regret not buying an original Aerocycle. I won’t say what it was going for but I coulda got on the payment program but didn’t. I was just a kid getting into it the hobby. I was dreaming of Phantoms, Panthers, and Hornets. What was prewar? Doh!

 

[Robert Troub]

Hopefully you’ll only suffer in purgatory , and not be condemned to eternal damnation ,
I shall pray for you my son

I promise to only strip 10 bikes a month

 

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

I would rater ride a Cheeto's bike then a TOC.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Any pics of the lime green Paramount John ?

No color photos that I know of, most were black/white back in the day.

I had a white leather John Kucharik helmet. A "hair net" was state of the art in head safety, before we all knew better.

John

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

In the late 1970's I worked for Cycles Peugeot as a sales rep. I was talking to Dennis Hansing who owned Montrose Bike Shop with his dad Bob Hansing. He told me that when they built their new building on Honolulu Ave in Montrose, CA. they needed to build a cement retaining wall for the parking lot because the lot was sloped. Rebar was expensive, and they needed something to tie it all together. He said they filled the wall framing with every old balloon bicycle frame they could find and called in the cement mixer to fill it up. It's still there today if anyone needs a replacement Autocycle or Phantom frame. They primarily sold only lightweight bicycles and fat tire bikes had no value. Euro-Asia Imports was located on the second floor of the building. Bob at one point ran Shimano American.

John

 

[partsguy]

I parted and scrapped various girls bikes that today would be a hot item. I also scrapped a Spaceliner in rough shape because I could not find any info on it. I also did the same thing to a Murray Meteor Flite. Today, those bikes would be equipped with TRM tanks and be cruising.

I also botched my first attempt at restoration, a 1963 Columbia. However, the mistakes I made on that helped me save a lot more bikes properly. So, not really a loss.

 

[cyclingday]

In the late 1970's I worked for Cycles Peugeot as a sales rep. I was talking to Dennis Hansing who owned Montrose Bike Shop with his dad Bob Hansing. He told me that when they built their new building on Honolulu Ave in Montrose, CA. they needed to build a cement retaining wall for the parking lot because the lot was sloped. Rebar was expensive, and they needed something to tie it all together. He said they filled the wall framing with every old balloon bicycle frame they could find and called in the cement mixer to fill it up. It's still there today if anyone needs a replacement Autocycle or Phantom frame. They primarily sold only lightweight bicycles and fat tire bikes had no value. Euro-Asia Imports was located on the second floor of the building. Bob at one point ran Shimano American.

John

Bury the dead, in concrete.
I love it!
That’s going to be quite the discovery someday, when that retaining wall gets demolished.
Every once in awhile, I have bought some vintage parts from the Hansings, not sure if it was Dennis or Bob, but they always send one of these postcards with the order.
They must have an old stock of them.
I like that they also sold surfboards.
I always thought the building kind of looked like a Van de Kamps restaurant.
Classic California bike shop!