I have already posted mine, the 1950's Wards Hawthorne I found at the flea market for $20.00. It has parts missing and parts needing replaced, but it is a good start for something I don't intend to sell in the near future.
What was your best bicycle find?
- Thread starter fundreamer1
- Start date
Here's my best find. A storage unit with a pile of old bikes for under $500. A lot of girls bikes, but some boys. I haven't motorized any yet. I was able to sell a couple and the rest were basically free. Also came with 9 plastic bins of parts. Two tandem frames and a Worksman trike.
Wish I could get a find like that...
Reminds me of those stories or wishful thinkers of buying a new property and there's an unknown locked shed at the top of the hill and inside is a whole collection of expensive antique vintage cars and whatnot. LOL
Reminds me of those stories or wishful thinkers of buying a new property and there's an unknown locked shed at the top of the hill and inside is a whole collection of expensive antique vintage cars and whatnot. LOL
My first bike was a Monkey Wards. After that I've owned various JC Higgins, Murry, and Schwinns, and some others I can't remember, but my best find is the one I have now that I bought new off the internet. An aluminum framed beach cruiser from China. It's the lightest, and has the best quality accessorys of all the bikes I've ever owned, and when the price is adjusted for inflation, it's by far the least expensive. Is it perfect? No, but no other bicycle I owned was either.
I got this Schwinn World traveller from a junk man for $5 I happened to have most of a can of matching metallic red paint.
I was originally gonna motor it, but I found I was not going to get a natural pedal because the short top tube put the tank in the way- I coulda used a rack tank I guess, but the chain stay clearances were real tight too-
when I threw the narrow chain I was trying before I got it started I decided to scuttle the build- and put the motor on a Huffy cruiser with 700c wheels and handbrakes instead
I sold the Schwinn last summer for about what I had put into fixing it up.
It really was a nice bike, and pretty with the red tires, but I already have four bikes in a one bedroom apartment. If I was riding it sans motor, I'd want 1 inch or 1 1/8" tires- not the red 1 1/4- I need every skinny roll advantage the old bod can find these days!
I was originally gonna motor it, but I found I was not going to get a natural pedal because the short top tube put the tank in the way- I coulda used a rack tank I guess, but the chain stay clearances were real tight too-
when I threw the narrow chain I was trying before I got it started I decided to scuttle the build- and put the motor on a Huffy cruiser with 700c wheels and handbrakes instead
I sold the Schwinn last summer for about what I had put into fixing it up.
It really was a nice bike, and pretty with the red tires, but I already have four bikes in a one bedroom apartment. If I was riding it sans motor, I'd want 1 inch or 1 1/8" tires- not the red 1 1/4- I need every skinny roll advantage the old bod can find these days!
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I have another few pictures, but they are not so good...
the light was too bad to make better pics, it's in my bedroom.
the bicycle stands there since many years as decoration
i bought it once on a fleamarket in bad condition, very rusty.
Sorry, no pics made in the restoration
the light was too bad to make better pics, it's in my bedroom.
the bicycle stands there since many years as decoration
i bought it once on a fleamarket in bad condition, very rusty.
Sorry, no pics made in the restoration
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My most exciting find was a 1950 Schwinn Panther at the local dump. It got made over into the Motorbike entered in the current EZMotors four stroke build-off.
Last summer I was given the opportunity to go through a whole pile of a couple hundred bikes a friend had under tarps. Part of what I got was a 1950's men's Monark, a 1951 Schwinn Hornet which I am riding this winter, a 1953 Schwinn Hornet which is my current project, a 1939 Hiawatha, numerous seats and other parts. This summer I get to go through the other half of the bikes, the ones stored inside storage sheds.
SB
Last summer I was given the opportunity to go through a whole pile of a couple hundred bikes a friend had under tarps. Part of what I got was a 1950's men's Monark, a 1951 Schwinn Hornet which I am riding this winter, a 1953 Schwinn Hornet which is my current project, a 1939 Hiawatha, numerous seats and other parts. This summer I get to go through the other half of the bikes, the ones stored inside storage sheds.
SB
I think my best find would be the JC Higgins that the people down the street were getting rid of after their garage sale. It's my current build and my replacement for the one that was wrecked. For some reason I can't post pics today. I even resized 'em, but no dice. I'll have to look into this.
For me it has to be this one. My major prob is sourcing a machine shop when I just wanna do it my self. I have sourced a piece of crap pipe just the right size to form angle iron straps. Then there is the new play of a drill press and lots of cutting oil and a hole saw on billet grade aluminum bar. This bike has weird angles I want to J shaft it. But I got to adapt the S.B.P kit to do it. http://motorbicycling.com/attachments/f45/24898d1274899071-my-newest-rat-full-susp-p1010011.jpg
Yes the motor will fit!
Yes the motor will fit!
Laying in a ditch for a week. I stopped, picked it up and tossed it in the bed of my truck. The cops didn't want it, the charities didn't want it so I stored it for a few years, then discovered motorized bicycles. This was my first build. Chris Hill (CH) 80. It is a 90s vintage Roadmaster, Back Streeter. Made in the USA. Says so right on the seat tube. Cost? Nothing. 1800 miles and now it hangs in my garage.
Tom
Tom
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Mine isn't that exciting. My boss was getting rid of a junk pile which included smashed up airplane wings, props, some tractor parts and lo-and-behold a bicycle. I took the bike (free!), the scrap man can have the rest. It's an 80's or early 90's Huffy mtn. bike. The frame is in good condition, but everything else is rusted solid. Most importantly (to me anyway) is that it was made in the USA. I haven't motorized it yet, but someday I'm sure I will.
You might want to check out this thread then, it works great at removing rust!http://motorbicycling.com/f3/rust-removal-26725.html
