Here's my "Fresh Find" that's not REALLY a "fresh" find -- but I just brought it home yesterday!
This was my third bike, and the first one that I bought myself. I was 15, had outgrown my Schwinn Varsity and dad couldn't figure out why I needed a more expensive bike. I later bought a Motobecane Mirage (thinking it was a much better bike) and left this one behind when I moved out of my parent's house in '83. This bike was nicer than the one dad was riding, which he'd found at a garage sale and this one fit him, so I was happy to let him have it.
30 years passed and I bought several more bikes: but only mountain bikes and cruisers. Meanwhile, he sold that house, bought a new one, sold that, bought a condo, and still hung onto this bike and rode it around the neighborhood on weekends. He put a new set of tires on at some point, and I suspect new brake pads, but it's been hanging on his garage wall for the past three or four years.
We talked over the weekend and he mentioned that he's finally decided that he's never going to ride it again -- he just turned 79 -- and based on conversations over the past few years he knew that I regretted ever replacing this one. I'm not planning on doing anything crazy or rat roddish to this one, but I'm planning on replacing the somewhat frayed-on-the-ends cables and probably the brake pads. It definitely needs new handlebar tape, it has some small chips in the paint, some bigger chips and cracks in the decals, and some tiny speckles of rust on the rims, but outside of that I think it's in pretty good shape for a 35 year old bike!
(I'm also too dang old to make this thing into a "fixie" and as mentioned in other threads, I live in a place with hills and I like having lots of gears. According to topographic maps, my closest local bike shop sits at the bottom of a 1/3 mile long, 80' tall hill -- which works out to be a 5% grade! It's fun to go blasting downhill at 30 MPH, but climbing back up isn't quite as much fun.
)
One thing I would like to do, though -- the 17 year old "me" thought it was a good idea to put two loops of clear packaging-type tape around the frame to protect the decals and paint on the down tube from the bolt-on water bottle clamps I was installing. Maybe it was a good idea, but it would have been a better idea to remove that tape at some point -- I tried to gently peel one piece off today and it was MOSTLY coming off quite nicely, but started to take a SMALL piece of decal off so I stopped. Ideas or suggestions welcomed, or I may go searching through the "How To" forum.
I took this bike out for about 10 miles today and it rides and feels great!
This was my third bike, and the first one that I bought myself. I was 15, had outgrown my Schwinn Varsity and dad couldn't figure out why I needed a more expensive bike. I later bought a Motobecane Mirage (thinking it was a much better bike) and left this one behind when I moved out of my parent's house in '83. This bike was nicer than the one dad was riding, which he'd found at a garage sale and this one fit him, so I was happy to let him have it.
30 years passed and I bought several more bikes: but only mountain bikes and cruisers. Meanwhile, he sold that house, bought a new one, sold that, bought a condo, and still hung onto this bike and rode it around the neighborhood on weekends. He put a new set of tires on at some point, and I suspect new brake pads, but it's been hanging on his garage wall for the past three or four years.
We talked over the weekend and he mentioned that he's finally decided that he's never going to ride it again -- he just turned 79 -- and based on conversations over the past few years he knew that I regretted ever replacing this one. I'm not planning on doing anything crazy or rat roddish to this one, but I'm planning on replacing the somewhat frayed-on-the-ends cables and probably the brake pads. It definitely needs new handlebar tape, it has some small chips in the paint, some bigger chips and cracks in the decals, and some tiny speckles of rust on the rims, but outside of that I think it's in pretty good shape for a 35 year old bike!
(I'm also too dang old to make this thing into a "fixie" and as mentioned in other threads, I live in a place with hills and I like having lots of gears. According to topographic maps, my closest local bike shop sits at the bottom of a 1/3 mile long, 80' tall hill -- which works out to be a 5% grade! It's fun to go blasting downhill at 30 MPH, but climbing back up isn't quite as much fun.
)One thing I would like to do, though -- the 17 year old "me" thought it was a good idea to put two loops of clear packaging-type tape around the frame to protect the decals and paint on the down tube from the bolt-on water bottle clamps I was installing. Maybe it was a good idea, but it would have been a better idea to remove that tape at some point -- I tried to gently peel one piece off today and it was MOSTLY coming off quite nicely, but started to take a SMALL piece of decal off so I stopped. Ideas or suggestions welcomed, or I may go searching through the "How To" forum.
I took this bike out for about 10 miles today and it rides and feels great!
Of course, that also means that I have to FIND the right cog in the back too, while listening to the clatter of "I'm in the right gear but the rear derailleur is between cogs." 
