im out of the bike game

[Highridah]

all my stuff left in a big white van last night, only 3 bikes left the 2 bmxs are for sale but if i can drop them in gonna cut them to pieces and recycle them. the chopper will survive but i doubt itll ever get ridden. i jus woke up one day questioning why i bothered doing this in the first place.

RIP to

and a long long long sleep for this one

 

[gashuffy63]

Nice builds all. Take a break, shake it off and give it another try. This hobby is all about fun and riding. Hang those bikes up somewhere out of the way and enjoy them later.

 

[Dman]

Anything on your mind we can help you with Bro?

 

[Uncle Stretch]

I kinda know the feeling. I look at all the bicycle parts that I have amassed in the last year and a half and think what am I doing. It will take over your life for sure. I have threatened several times to order one of those big dumpsters and fill it up with bikes and haul it to the dump and cleanup my life. Then I look and think that rollfast frame would go good with that 7 speed nexus and I'm right back where I started.

 

[KOTA]

Sometimes we get caught up with collecting and building, NOT riding......I know the feeling. I stopped trying to re-invent the bicycle, and started riding more, a lot more. My last "few" builds have been very, very simple, and RIDEABLE. I'm enjoying this hobby more and more everyday now.....No more stretched bikes, burritos, choppers. Just plain old stock framed bikes that are comfortable and IMO, just cooler.............Well, that's what I'm feeling today. Who knows what I'll feel like building in the future. Just happy , now.

 

[No cars on mars]

Once a month put them on craig's list, someone might nibble.

 

[JoKeR63]

Sometimes we get caught up with collecting and building, NOT riding......I know the feeling. I stopped trying to re-invent the bicycle, and started riding more, a lot more. My last "few" builds have been very, very simple, and RIDEABLE. I'm enjoying this hobby more and more everyday now.....No more stretched bikes, burritos, choppers. Just plain old stock framed bikes that are comfortable and IMO, just cooler.............Well, that's what I'm feeling today. Who knows what I'll feel like building in the future. Just happy , now.

I'm gonna' say ditto to this, it'll save me a lot of typing.

One of the things that keeps me from burnout is winter, 'cause I HAVE to take a break. Any hobby I've done where I did it year 'round burned me out, I'd just get bored with it.
I'm guessin' your a younger guy and driving cars makes much more sense to you now. Well listen to me now and believe me later my friend cars are dead. Being able to repair and make bikes is going to be a sought after skill in the future.

But clearing everything out and starting over sometime later isn't a bad idea, if you were meant to do this stuff it'll come back to you. Although I've built bikes in the past (the '70s), I've been at this 6 years straight, mostly because I'm older and it allows me to build machinery AND stay relatively fit, so I'm killin' two birds with one stone.

 

[deorman]

If something made you suddenly realize how much time and money you spent on this stuff, I can relate. Over the years I have spent thousands of hours and dollars on old cars, guns, and other mostly useless stuff. It's easy to look back and wish you could take it all back, but there's no point in dwelling on it, it's done. Thank your lucky stars it wasn't whiskey or crack, and get to getting on with life.

 

[Bigcam59]

If something made you suddenly realize how much time and money you spent on this stuff, I can relate. Over the years I have spent thousands of hours and dollars on old cars, guns, and other mostly useless stuff. It's easy to look back and wish you could take it all back, but there's no point in dwelling on it, it's done. Thank your lucky stars it wasn't whiskey or crack, and get to getting on with life.

Amen to that. Best thing to do is relax a bit and find out what made it no fun anymore. One thing I've learned is that everybody has something. Some people fill their basements with model trains. Some spend every weekend chasing a little white ball with a stick. Me, I build and ride bicycles.Could be worse...could be gambling or drugs. One thing's for sure, if you ever need an ear, we'll be here.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Must be a man thing..When I was young I had 21 differant horses. The most was 4 at one time. Lots of vet bills and equiptment purchases. If I had all that money back I'm sure I would probably have a larger collection of bikes or something equally as silly. At least my bike junk dosent eat. :roll:

 

[karfer67]

i had to take some time off too from building. i got too wraped up in it but i took a step back calmed down and got back at it. rather than selling your bikes or chopping them up just set them to the side and think happy thoughts for awhile. or maybe try building something in a different style then what you normally do

 

[Highridah]

thanks for the replies i managed to sell the green one to some guy that plans on bringing me a few frames for me to paint. bikes are fun but limited in mobility i can easily ride 20 miles out i just dont feel like riding back. also im pretty much on my own around here no one to ride with and if i do i have to travel quite a ways. dont get me wrong i love riding bicycles but its time for me to get a motorcycle(S).

 

[Bigcam59]

That's the beauty of ratrodbikes...they're cheap enough to let you have both.
Good luck, Highridah.

 

[roadmaster]

ive been on and off with bicycles since like 92', and somewhere around 99', i kinda started really lookin at all thebikes an all the parts ive amassed over the years and kinda felt... dirty. you see, i have a very addictive personality and along with my other addiction at the time (ice) i felt as though i had alot of bikes to "tweek on" (and i never stole bikes, i wouldnt let my addictions go that far), it was consuming my life and my living space. so, i purged about half of my collection by either hauling them to the dumps or just abandoning bikes around town for someone else to find. a very long story shorter, i just kept about 9 of the bikes i had left in my basement till around may of 08', when i got back into my passion. as stoked as i ws about what i had kept, i was ticked off at what i had just let "go".

i definatly know the feeling and as most my interests latley have been cruisers, i just was given two 80's trek road racing bikes a few days ago (about $500 each when new) and now i've been riding around on skinny tires i thought id never ride on again (700c x 25!). and now that ive been clean for the past 3 years, it feels weird sometimes doing the very same thing i did when i was "high" (and it takes alot for me to share that with ya'll). but thats just my story and alot of similar stories out there

its cool that your gonna get into motercycles. maybe it will just evolve into that for you, but definatly sounds like you need a break for a quick minute. bikes and motercycles are not super different and i wish you luck on whatever you do.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Sometimes I get frustrated thinking when am I ever going to have time to build all these bikes!!!!! then My daughter says dad can we ride tonight ? as thats her escape from the house. So if she is interested and my son stays interested we can have an outlet,and plenty of stock to build. 8)

 

[eseyer378]

thanks for the replies i managed to sell the green one to some guy that plans on bringing me a few frames for me to paint. bikes are fun but limited in mobility i can easily ride 20 miles out i just dont feel like riding back. also im pretty much on my own around here no one to ride with and if i do i have to travel quite a ways. dont get me wrong i love riding bicycles but its time for me to get a motorcycle(S).

I've always had a passion on bikes. I've also got into motorcycles. I still have my motorcycle, but I've been neglecting it. I've had a bunch of hobbies, music, comics, video games. But bike building and riding is to me, more healthier. Dont get me wrong, I'm going to strip my motorcycle down and send it to get painted, slap on new pipes and jet the carb hopefully in time for the Lonestar Rally. I'm new to this website and am totally happy with it. I check it everyday to keep fueling with ideas for future builds. Good luck on your next quest brother.

 

[MarksA-C]

bikes are fun but limited in mobility i can easily ride 20 miles out i just dont feel like riding back. also im pretty much on my own around here no one to ride with and if i do i have to travel quite a ways. dont get me wrong i love riding bicycles but its time for me to get a motorcycle(S).

What if you motorize a bike? Get farther, you can still ride, its a lot cheaper than a motorcycle.

Have a good day

 

[benz]

Hey, just keep on truckin, I know how it is sometimes when you have a garage full of parts and bikes and all you see are price tags to fix everything. It gets overwhelming. But, don't just forget about them, store and keep them and then one day you'll ride em again and think to yourself...I need another bike. Heck I bought one schwinn typhoon just so I could start with a simple build.....and it's still in pieces and I have 12 other bikes all with something that needs to be done. One day every single one will be done and I'll think to myself.....I need another bike. I have seen some of your paint jobs man, and they are pretty cool, you have some talent I'd say stick with what works for you.
Anyway, if you can't find people to ride with you around your town, post some Craigslist ads, and see who shows, Thats what another member from this board did two months ago, now we have rides in town that average over thirty people. If all else fails, just ride around and see who wants to join.

 

[drabe]

I know how you feel, only my situation is that I'm just getting back into bikes (after around 25 years away from them).
I was into old cars/hot rods for years. Talk about a money (and time) pit!
Anyway, I've done some soul searching and have pretty much decided to sell off most of my cars and parts (I'll keep one project) and do the bike thing for a while. I can re-do a bike a whole lot quicker and for a fraction of the cost (compared to cars).
Plus I've met a lot of really cool people in my area that are into the vintage/rat rod bikes and we meet every Sunday morning and ride (ususally 15 to 20 people).

Don't get me wrong I still love the cars and always will, I just can't afford to do the things I'd like right now. After selling off some of the cars I have I may even buy one that's 'done', just to have something cool to drive.

Someone mentioned posting an ad on C/L to see if others in your area would want to ride, sounds like a good idea.
You might even post a thread here, you never know how many might be in your area and want to do the same thing.
I can see too how one can get overwhelmed. My garage has exploded with bike projects recently. The good thing, in my case, is more than half are done and ready to ride and half of those are ready to sell. Since dicovering this site, I'm just getting into the idea of 'modifying' bikes and have a couple I'm getting ideas for.
None of what I've said may change your mind (wasn't really my intent, just letting you know there are others going thru the same thing). Life is about change, take a break from it for a while if you need to, there'll aways be bikes out there when/if you decide to get back into it.

 

[thom]

I know the feeling.One local police dept in my area collects bicycles and gives them to less fortunate children at Christmas. I'm thinking about calling them up and donating a truck load.Only problem is,none of the bikes I have are kid's bikes.I thought about trying to sell some of the ones I have to recover some of my investment. It seems though, that as soon as I own a bike the value drops to near nothing.I am fortunate in that the most I have invested in one bike is 20 or 25 dollars but I have a bunch that I paid 10 or 15 for.