parts for ageing bikes

"Neil Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dear All,
I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting increasingly
difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone advise as to a
source of older bike parts/accessories?

If it helps any:
Older small bike shops typically have some old parts laying around, but you
may have to go farther to other cities to find them.
You could substitute parts (even upgrading too).
www.ebay.com may be a good source for old parts too. Just check it on a
frequent basis.
Another source is old bikes at garage sales or left in the alley to be
picked up by the garbage truck.
I found a decent 1970's vintage JC Penney 10 speed touring bike this way.
New tires, tubes, and a chain got it nicely going again.
Also any part made by man can be remade by man. If you have access to a
milling machine and or lathe yoi can make your own parts.
Bearings and even loose bearing balls are fairly easy to still obtain.

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 10:29:51 -0000, "Neil Smith" <[email hidden]>

wrote in message : said:

I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting increasingly
difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone advise as to a source
of older bike parts/accessories?

Try Sheldon (http://www.harriscyclery.com).

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

"Neil Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dear All,
I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting

increasingly

Quoted message said:

difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone

advise as to a source

Quoted message said:

of older bike parts/accessories?

I'm just guessing that they are old 27 inch road bikes.

1. Old local bike shops. Look for the ones that recently had
"Schwinn" in the title, and haven't changed locations in
decades. Don't go in when they are busy. These shops often
have a bunch of old inventory "somewhere" and will be happy to
unload it -- often cheaply -- if you give them time to find
it.

2. Bike swap meets, where there are sometimes people selling
old parts they have stripped off.

3. If you look long enough, you will find a nice bike at a
garage sale for, say, $10, which can be mined for some old
parts. This strategy produces a lot of basement clutter,
though.

4. There's Sheldon's site, always a good place to try.

Here's Sheldon's list of 27 inch tires:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/630.html

Lickton's also has some older stuff.
http://www.lickbike.com/

Here's Lickton's list of road tires. You can see some 27 inch
tires (like Continental Top Touring) and even an S6 tire for
old Schwinn rims:
<http://www.lickbike.com/sectionsublist.asp?SECTION='0018'&SUB
SECTION='100'&SECTIONNAME='Tires'&SUBSECTIONNAME='ROAD'>

I haven't used these guys myself, but these guys have parts
for sale:
http://oldroads.com/bikepart.html

I'm looking forward to seeing other answers on this thread.

Quoted message said:

Dear All,
I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting increasingly
difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone advise as to a
source of older bike parts/accessories?

Could you be more specific? Brand, model & approximate year would be great.
Some older bikes are easy to get parts for, others can be nightmarish. For
example, if you have an older French bike, with a still-usable
French-threaded rear wheel, good luck trying to find a freewheel for it.

Also, you might need to balance the hassles of fixing up an older bike vs
getting either a new one or a newer used one. Sentimentality comes into play
here... could be that you really want to keep those old ones running because
of what you've been through together. But, if not, it may not be worth the
time & expense.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Unfortunately or fortunately I live in the U.K. but thanks for the
suggestion.
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 10:29:51 -0000, "Neil Smith" <[email hidden]>

wrote in message : said:

I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting increasingly
difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone advise as to a
source
of older bike parts/accessories?

Try Sheldon (http://www.harriscyclery.com).

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 20:50:09 -0000, "Neil Smith" <[email hidden]>

wrote in message : said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting increasingly
difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone advise as to a
source of older bike parts/accessories?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Try Sheldon (http://www.harriscyclery.com).

Quoted message said:

Unfortunately or fortunately I live in the U.K. but thanks for the
suggestion.

So do I - and I am not the only person on uk.rec.cycling to have
bought stuff from Harris.

http://www.sjscycles.com/ are also worth a try, phone them and see if
they have what you need, or try the cycle jumbles at the bike rallies.
But I still say send the bearded one an email.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 10:29:51 -0000, "Neil Smith" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Dear All,
I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting increasingly
difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone advise as to a source
of older bike parts/accessories?

See if anybody in your city is doing charitable work involving
bicycles. There are often programs that solicit donations of old bikes
for sending to poorer countries and inner-city youth groups.
Sometime they'll have a store-front presence full of treasure.

Neil Smith said:

I have two bikes which, unlike me, are ageing. It is getting
increasingly difficult to get the parts I want for them. Can anyone
advise as to a source of older bike parts/accessories?

If it was on a bike once, chances are Dave Abraham has it somewhere:

www.hokiespokes.com

--Matt O.

In article <1108321409.0bba74033f3388ae50314b2c1de0303e@teranews>,

Mike Kruger said:

3. If you look long enough, you will find a nice bike at a
garage sale for, say, $10, which can be mined for some old
parts. This strategy produces a lot of basement clutter,
though.

You can say that again ;-)

But I've gotten some nice old Suzue hubs that way. And that
Maxy crankset with which I'm still wondering what to do. And
lots of spare cable housings & ferrules, etc.

And it affords an excuse for night rides, looking for
unlocked dumpsters, tiffs & bins to dump junk frames &
forks into.

I might rig up a garden trellis out of some old wheels.

A chainring with the spacers on it makes a pretty good
teapot trivet.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I might rig up a garden trellis out of some old wheels.

This seems like a good idea. I must have at least half a dozen
old 27 inch steel rims hanging around, and unless I move to a
place with under 2 inches of rain a year I'm never going to
use them again. I'm sure I could find more if I wanted to
look.

Anybody else try this and have some pictures?

In article <1108527167.49dc183b95c00d1a616be26148a0739d@teranews>,

Mike Kruger said:

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I might rig up a garden trellis out of some old wheels.

This seems like a good idea. I must have at least half a dozen
old 27 inch steel rims hanging around, and unless I move to a
place with under 2 inches of rain a year I'm never going to
use them again. I'm sure I could find more if I wanted to
look.

Good grief! Steel rims are a plague upon the land. I don't even look at
a bike with 'em, unless it also has a Sturmey-Archer hub (I can always
use another S-A hub for...something).

How did you end up with, um, any? It's not like bikes with proper rims
(not to mention proper drivetrains, proper frames...) are hard to come
by.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Good grief! Steel rims are a plague upon the land. I don't

even look at

Quoted message said:

a bike with 'em, unless it also has a Sturmey-Archer hub (I

can always

Quoted message said:

use another S-A hub for...something).

How did you end up with, um, any? It's not like bikes with

proper rims

Quoted message said:

(not to mention proper drivetrains, proper frames...) are

hard to come

Quoted message said:

by.

Without being too scientific about it, here's how I ended up
with these:
1. When I returned to cycling, I bought a mountain bike, but
after a while wanted to see if I could ride drop bars again.
Bought Schwinn Sprint for $40 at a rummage sale, but after
sliding through an intersection on a rainy ride, replaced
rims: 2 I got >8,500 miles out of the bike before I
upgraded.
2. Friend gave me an old 1970's Raleigh for use as a commuter.
Same story: 2 more
3. 20 year old daughter found Schwinn Caliente in dumpster; we
restored it to use as a father daughter project. This was a
wonderful thing to do together, and I hope someday you get the
chance to do something similar with a younger Cousineau. She's
still riding the bike (it's proven to be much more theft-proof
than her earlier college bikes). However, what father would
have a college child in a hilly town ride steel rims? Not me:
2 more.

There's a bit more story here, but you get the idea.

In article <1108527167.49dc183b95c00d1a616be26148a0739d@teranews>,

Mike Kruger said:

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I might rig up a garden trellis out of some old wheels.

This seems like a good idea. I must have at least half a dozen
old 27 inch steel rims hanging around, and unless I move to a
place with under 2 inches of rain a year I'm never going to
use them again. I'm sure I could find more if I wanted to
look.

Anybody else try this and have some pictures?

I've searched online but didn't find anything.

But across from a coffee house where I like to
go (Bean Around the World at Main & 28th, for
fellow Vancouverites,) there's this nifty
garden gate. The pickets are made of various
old long-handled gardening tools -- forks,
dutch hoes, etc. They're aligned vertically
like normal pickets, alternately right-side-up
and upside down. I rather like the effect and
the statement.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats said:

I might rig up a garden trellis out of some old wheels.

I'm planning on taking an old moderately tacoed 700c rim,
a steel 20" rim, some stakes, wire and clear plastic to create
a little greenhouse tent for my mint. And I'll probably have
time to do it next month.

Of course it won't be even a little bit needed by then.

But next year...

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
"Admiration: Our polite recognition of another's
resemblance to ourselves."
-Ambrose Bierce

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dane Jackson said:

Tom Keats said:

I might rig up a garden trellis out of some old wheels.

I'm planning on taking an old moderately tacoed 700c rim,
a steel 20" rim, some stakes, wire and clear plastic to create
a little greenhouse tent for my mint. And I'll probably have
time to do it next month.

Of course it won't be even a little bit needed by then.

But next year...

Another trick is to stick an old wheel on top of a tall,
upright pole, lace string up & down between the ground
and wheel, and let your scarlet runners, morning glories
(the cultivated, annual ones,) or other climbers go nutz
on it.

Maybe smaller sized rims by themselves (no spokes or
hubs) laid on the ground around plants would make good
slug barriers?

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats said:

Another trick is to stick an old wheel on top of a tall,
upright pole, lace string up & down between the ground
and wheel, and let your scarlet runners, morning glories
(the cultivated, annual ones,) or other climbers go nutz
on it.

I have this old 5 speed rear wheel that I was trying to think
of a good use for. I think I just found it.

😉

I think if I fan it out a bit, I can probably make it a little
more tent-like. Which would make my 3 1/2 year old ecstatic.
Thanks!

Quoted message said:

Maybe smaller sized rims by themselves (no spokes or
hubs) laid on the ground around plants would make good
slug barriers?

I was thinking of cutting them in half and making a small half
cylinder cold frame with them.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
"Let us have a moment of silence for all Americans who are now
stuck in traffic on their way to a health club to ride a stationary
bicycle." -- Congressman (and bike commuter) Earl Blumenauer (OR)
at the inauguration of a new D.C bike path.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dane Jackson said:

Tom Keats said:

Another trick is to stick an old wheel on top of a tall,
upright pole, lace string up & down between the ground
and wheel, and let your scarlet runners, morning glories
(the cultivated, annual ones,) or other climbers go nutz
on it.

I have this old 5 speed rear wheel that I was trying to think
of a good use for. I think I just found it.

😉

I think if I fan it out a bit, I can probably make it a little
more tent-like. Which would make my 3 1/2 year old ecstatic.
Thanks!

Maybe you could even stick some shade lovers like impatiens or
defenbachia or certain begonias at the bottom, inside the 'tent'.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Maybe smaller sized rims by themselves (no spokes or
hubs) laid on the ground around plants would make good
slug barriers?

I was thinking of cutting them in half and making a small half
cylinder cold frame with them.

Now, that's a great idea! I just might do that myself.
I've also gotta stick a bottomless bucket over the rhubarb
pretty soon.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca