Finding stuff while riding

[mikeeebikey]

Hey guys and gals, been meaning to bring this discussion up for some time; Do you find stuff while you ride?
I mean freebies, someone threw it out, left it behind, didn't care, lost it, for whatever reason the thing has no owner.

Started for me when I was 9 years old. My buddies and I would race around a back parking lot at Burger king, the dumpster was our pitstop. Well I pulled in for a pit and sitting on a curb is a Williams breaker bar and socket set. Dad was thrilled, all he had was craftsman, Williams was like getting diamonds to go with your zirconium....

A couple months later, riding down this long hill some guys go by giggling. Next thing I know there's a tupperware sliding past me and the car load of laughter coming out of it. Tupperware is expensive, so I stopped and picked it up. The contents of the tupperware made my hippie mother happy for a month. Also I am betting who ever loaned that car never ever let that happen again! Mom said it was alot back then....
Since then I found money in discarded cigarette packs, and other garbage. Tools, o.m.G. the tools!!! Betting over the years I have drug home a 200 piece craftsman set piece by piece!
Bicycles, going to say people throw out too many, around 100 garbage finds.
So what have you found, free,?

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I have so many tools I've found over the years. I can't think of them all, but I remember when I use them. Two that come to mind are a Craftsman razor knife and a SK screwdriver with multi bits. The thing I won't pick up is bungie cords. If it fell off, it's probably no good.


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[mikeeebikey]

Bungees!!! Don't know how many I have passed over the years, I have a truck tool box full of ratchet straps, chains(not all found), binders, and a couple cargo nets.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I once saw a high end camera tripod in a ditch off the side of the road and forgot to go back and get it.

 

[jerrykr]

I once saw a high end camera tripod in a ditch off the side of the road and forgot to go back and get it.

I would not forget that! Many of my dad's tools were found on the road. Lots of tools are left under the hood after a car repair. Here, traffic is too fast to risk it for a tool I already have.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

My most memorable find while on my bike was when I was a young kid and found 9 one dollar bills scattered out along the road in my neighborhood. The excitement was compounded by the space between each one. It felt like it went on and on with each bill I added to my pocket! Nine became my favorite number for years after that day.

Thanks for jogging that memory from 40 or so years ago!

 

[rickpaulos]

My wife and I have a long term contest going. Who can find the most cash on the streets each year. I've won maybe 2 of the past 20 years. Helps to find twenties.

I'll pick up any tools and some other items. Blinky tail lights, camp flash light, a really nice framers hammer, cell phones, someones family bible one time (boy was she pissed at me for looking at it which I had to do to figure out the owner). Many sockets but they are always sizes I don't need. And of course, abandoned bicycles.

She also picks up cans. at 5 cents per, her annual goal is $100 and that money goes to the local animal shelters.

 

[vmcrcr]

Does it have to stuff found while riding?


Southern NH, DR350S, multiple bicycles.....
Thoughts? Suggestions? Jokes?

 

[rickpaulos]

Does it have to stuff found while riding?

We count walking or running too.

One of my favs was visiting a corn field on Ragbrai, going in a few rows for privacy and finding a $20 bill.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

One of my favs was visiting a corn field on Ragbrai, going in a few rows for privacy and finding a $20 bill.

If movies have taught me anything, it is STAY OUT OF THE CORNFIELD!
(Unless you want to play baseball, then it is ok.)

Luke.

 

[kngtmat]

I try to find stuff but it never happens or someone gets them before I do.

 

[rickpaulos]

Oh, gee. Those midwest corn field snakes sure are BIG and UGLY but they eat rodents, not people. The local corn snakes look like a 5 foot turd.

I must not have seen the movies scared you away.

some corn field movies I have seen:
Field of Dreams - the corn field is a doorway to and from the after life.
Wild Wild West - giant free flying buzz saw blades with endless momentum
North By Northwest - Cary Grant flees a bi-plane trying to run him down.
Cars - a talking car gets chased by a mean corn picker

How to buy a pet corn snake!?

 

[vmcrcr]

We count walking or running too.

One of my favs was visiting a corn field on Ragbrai, going in a few rows for privacy and finding a $20 bill.

But not driving? Rats. That's where some of my good finds have come from.
Walking/riding - $9 in a puddle on a sidewalk, 8GB iPod at the edge of a construction site, 3000lb scissor jack and handle, and under the front seat of an 80's Camaro in a salvage yard (a stretch, but I had to walk through the yard) a Snap-On 1 1/16 combination wrench.


Southern NH, DR350S, multiple bicycles.....
Thoughts? Suggestions? Jokes?

 

[outskirtscustoms]

All the time, I have found pocket knives someone dropped, tools, bikes thrown out, furniture, scrap metal, ever found a motorcycle with a free sign on it once!

 

[dragnusa]

When we living in VA, me and my son was always dragging stuff home from curb finds. my best was a bunch of Budweiser Advertisement stuff, My son came walking home from the bus stop one day carrying a VTech golf bag that was thrown out, it had a small bad spot on one seam. I listed it on craigslist for him and it sold for $50

 

[aka_locojoe]

I'm surprised I haven't found more stuff than I have.

 

[mikeeebikey]

Even a rubber duckie!!!

 

[mikeeebikey]

While riding I came across a womans bra connected around a light pole, no I didn't pick it up!!!
Some stuff is supposed to be lost.....

 

[MiniMe]

I normaly tend to find road bike riding gloves (nice expensive ones at that).... old collectable glass bottles (like the 7 up with the handpainted logo) i found a mountian bike tossed into tree (way up too, the lowwest gear was shattered) an Ipod....I commonly find big mean dogs lol

 

[Nagant]

Like most of you since childhood I've found many tools along and in the road. Found a almost full box of 12 gauge bird-shot sitting at the edge of a gravel road by a tree line some years ago. Three or so years ago I found two sections of Rohn 25 Z bar tower, including a top section, thrown in the creek just outside of town. They were still in good condition so I can't understand why they were pitched out. Needless to say me being a two-way radio hobbyist for many years I rode the bike home, got the truck, and took them home.