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RustyGold

Epic Level Bike Hoarder! 🏆
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Couple recent 'finds'. One was free, one wasn't... I'll let y'all decide which is which :grin:.

#1…Co-worker texted me this mess he saw at a pick-a-part on labor day weekend...

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I dropped by that Monday to take a look...and left with this...

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Looks to be ~'73 Murray built Sears Ted Williams Free Spirit Spyder...woof, that's a lot of names. Oddly, can't locate a serial...even with a little scotchbrite and brake kleen.

Everything is pretty straight, and even though rusty, nothing so far is rounded/stripped and came apart fine. OG ad...

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#2...this came in the mail...

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...opened it up...:13:

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...pretty box...:hi:

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... opened it up...empty?...

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...of course not...:41:

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...do I hear angels singing? trumpets?...

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:praise: Race Inc ML-26 tribute f&f #84 of 100 :praise:

Now... before you jump to what you may think is the obvious answer...have you ever had a wrecking yard give you something free without purchasing anything? (hint: it was a first for me :bigsmile:)
 
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After the trumpets died down, I was hit by the, now familiar, realization of how much time/money to accumulate the required/desired parts to actually go from F&F to rideable bike. Then I remembered I may have a set of wheels that would be nearly perfect for this build (problem being, they are also nearly perfect for the other build that I had them stashed for :doh:).

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Couple recent 'finds'. One was free, one wasn't... I'll let y'all decide which is which :grin:.

#1…Co-worker texted me this mess he saw at a pick-a-part on labor day weekend...

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I dropped by that Monday to take a look...and left with this...

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View attachment 105147

Looks to be ~'73 Murray built Sears Ted Williams Free Spirit Spyder...woof, that's a lot of names. Oddly, can't locate a serial...even with a little scotchbrite and brake kleen.

Everything is pretty straight, and even though rusty, nothing so far is rounded/stripped and came apart fine. OG ad...

View attachment 105148

My oldest son had one of those, was then repainted and handed down to number 2 son. Eventually it sold at a garage sale. It was cheaper than a Schwinn at the time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
They are golden now...big money.
Lucky kids :thumbsup:...did they race?
It went for a song at a garage sale maybe 30 years ago. No racing just knocking around the neighborhood.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Interesting. I remember lightweight bikes branded Ted Williams but never seen a TW with the Spyder goodies. You owe that co-worker a six pack of his favorite.
 
This last week a couple bikes that I had looked at during a recent swapmeet popped up on CL. So, after 3hrs of sleep and a 6hr roundtrip to Portland before work I ended up with two Western Flyer badged bikes...a y-frame Shelby, and a '41 Huffman. Unfortunately, due to trying to get to work on time...they got housed in the hoard with no homecoming pics :grin:. I gleaned, and cropped, these pics from thecabe...

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...I took a slight detour on that trip and snagged this as well...

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New worksman (HUGE!) seat and stand. 2spd kickback hub...I think I may need a layback or seven seatpost on this bike, cockpit is a bit cramped.
 
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Very cool scores!
That Ted Williams Free Spirit has to be bicentennial or near 76. My brother and i had 10 speeds in that paint scheme. Everything sporting goods at Sears had the TW name on it then. Kinda like Elgin or JCHiggins decades before.
 
Hmmm...this thing had a $4300 price tag when new...and is in pretty good shape. I just bought it for the Girvin, and the maguras. I think I will have to call the police tomorrow with the serial to see if it is stolen as I got it for the price of a cheap Girvin.
 
Slick! Somebody liked that bike! Hopefully they left it in the parents garage and forgot about it, Mom sold it off without asking, or something like that!
I am very curious about the Maguras. And the Girvin. Also curious about how well carbon fiber ages; I would hesitate to ride that one in anger.
 
It came back with a clear serial...so, now I have to decide its fate...

1) Pull the Girvin and the Maguras and sell the rest, as I originally planned
2) Throw it up on the ebay and see if it draws enough interest to make it worth more than the Girvin and maguras
3) Keep it, dial it in, use it for a loaner for family mountain bike trips

:39:

My only issue with the bike is the idea of using maguras with a cf bike seems...dumb. On my GT with maguras, when you squeeze the brakes you can watch the fork and rear (aluminum) subrame flex like crazy. Flexing cf seems like a real bad idea, fortunately the maguras on this bike are set up really sloppy, they won't even lock up a wheel with a rider on it. So, I don't think it has been super abused yet, and I'll make brake braces before I adjust them right (and start crushing rims!).
 

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