As someone who has collected a ton of bikes and parts over his years, I find myself dealing with helping someone clean out what remains of another's years of collecting bikes and parts. The old guy was most fond of road bikes and even three speeds. Over his 85 or so years he accumulated quite a bit, most of which was in his basement and attached garage.
As I and a few others go through boxes of parts the big question is what to do with parts that really don't bring enough to list or ship?
For instance, he had a 55 gallon barrel in the corner full of misc. 5 speed freewheels, and two huge tubs of used freewheels that he took apart, cleaned , relubed, and bagged for future use. I counted 70 just in one drawer, and didn't even attempt to count those in the tub or barrel.
He's got boxes of Shimano, Suntour and a few other brands of derailleurs, all used, still greasy with bits of sharp cables still attached.
Most show no wear, most were likely fairly new when he stripped the bike for parts. Many were likely of girls models that had no market value.
There are chains, pedals, kickstands, used tires and tubes, a few hundred steel wheels, most appear to be Schwinn or Raleigh three speed wheels,, boxes of rims, both new and used, and probably a ton or more of small parts dumped into small drawers in what appears to be old library card files. Then there's the hubs. I found one full barrel of nutted Normandy high flange hubs, two barrels of matching rear hubs, and dozens of Schwinn high flange hubs off bikes like the Varsity. His kids tried ebay for a bit but not much sold, and its not worth selling a used freewheel for what they will sell for.
The real shame is that they have to bring something and likely will end up at the junk yard being sold by the pound.
The same with stacks of steel rims. There's nothing wrong with them but most these days view them as inferior and refuse to use them.
With the amount of time and labor clearing it all out I'm wondering if its at all even worth it the way things have been lately. With eBay being basically dead and CL not finding many buyers either I think the right snwer is take them to scrap and call it a day. ('ve probably got a few milk krates of old freewheels and those are likely headed to the same fate) Then there's the long row of stripped ladies frames, again, mostly Schwinn and Raleigh models that I thing are most likely going to need to be scrapped.
All of this has really made me think about what all I've saved and whether or not any of it iis really worth saving or not.
As I and a few others go through boxes of parts the big question is what to do with parts that really don't bring enough to list or ship?
For instance, he had a 55 gallon barrel in the corner full of misc. 5 speed freewheels, and two huge tubs of used freewheels that he took apart, cleaned , relubed, and bagged for future use. I counted 70 just in one drawer, and didn't even attempt to count those in the tub or barrel.
He's got boxes of Shimano, Suntour and a few other brands of derailleurs, all used, still greasy with bits of sharp cables still attached.
Most show no wear, most were likely fairly new when he stripped the bike for parts. Many were likely of girls models that had no market value.
There are chains, pedals, kickstands, used tires and tubes, a few hundred steel wheels, most appear to be Schwinn or Raleigh three speed wheels,, boxes of rims, both new and used, and probably a ton or more of small parts dumped into small drawers in what appears to be old library card files. Then there's the hubs. I found one full barrel of nutted Normandy high flange hubs, two barrels of matching rear hubs, and dozens of Schwinn high flange hubs off bikes like the Varsity. His kids tried ebay for a bit but not much sold, and its not worth selling a used freewheel for what they will sell for.
The real shame is that they have to bring something and likely will end up at the junk yard being sold by the pound.
The same with stacks of steel rims. There's nothing wrong with them but most these days view them as inferior and refuse to use them.
With the amount of time and labor clearing it all out I'm wondering if its at all even worth it the way things have been lately. With eBay being basically dead and CL not finding many buyers either I think the right snwer is take them to scrap and call it a day. ('ve probably got a few milk krates of old freewheels and those are likely headed to the same fate) Then there's the long row of stripped ladies frames, again, mostly Schwinn and Raleigh models that I thing are most likely going to need to be scrapped.
All of this has really made me think about what all I've saved and whether or not any of it iis really worth saving or not.
