Old Putz

[Old Putz]

Hello all

New member here (obviously). I'm 51 years old (hence the username) and use parentheses a lot (not sure why). Have been involved in mechanical work from a very young age, having been raised with tools instead of toys by my aircraft mechanic dad. Started building up bikes from junk parts back in the late '60s, moved on to motorcycles and cars (there's a 68 Fastback and a '66 Mustang coupe in the garage right now, along with a Triumph Bonneville and a couple of weird Japanese ratbikes). Worked my way through a couple of college degrees as a bicycle mechanic, recently got the bug to get back into it. Currently work as an engineering technician at a biotech startup (lots of electro/mechanical assembly, troubleshooting, product development, and machining/fabrication) but also do some welding and brazing and general mechanical screwing around.

Looking forward to getting involved in the madness around here.

Old Putz

 

[Markm]

welcome :mrgreen:

 

[Rat Rod]

Welcome to rattsville! :mrgreen:

 

[crispy_rat]

welcome to the kewlest bike site ever!

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Man sounds like you are really qualified to be here. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Schwinnspastic]

Welcome to the forrum Old Putz ! I saw in another thread that you worked in a bike shop in Fremont back in the 70s, would that be
Mikes Schwinn Cyclery ? I kinda grew up in Fremont or should I say I lived their for 35 yrs.in the 60s, 70s and 80s was into muscle cars and
British sports cars back then... maybe we've met at one point....done my fair share of work/restorations on the Mustangs as well.

 

[KOTA]

(Welcome!)

 

[Old Putz]

I saw in another thread that you worked in a bike shop in Fremont back in the 70s, would that be
Mikes Schwinn Cyclery ?

I worked at Jack Lennan's bike shop after old Jack moved it from Glenmoor to behind Capwell's by the BART station. Jack had the Schwinn franchise in town for a long, long time but eventually lost it when everyone started buying lightweight European bikes (Peugeot, Gitane, Motobecane, etc. and then eventually Japanese bikes) and he couldn't keep up with sales goals. By that time I went to work for him Jack had become a grumpy old guy and had lost all interest in keeping current with the market. He had one decent line of bikes (Centurion) and a whole bunch of old junk that nobody wanted. He missed a lot of opportunities to expand his market by remaining ignorant of where bicycling was going. For instance he turned down a couple of opportunities to carry some really hot BMX brands because he figured that it would just bring in a bunch of kids who would mess up the shop and not spend any money.

Jack retired and sold the shop (getting a pretty decent amount based on it being the oldest shop in town) to a man who bought it so his wife could have a source of income if he kicked the bucket, which actually meant he wanted to keep her out of his hair. She had absolutely no experience with bicycles or running a business. So I ended up helping her to get up to speed with what was involved with various repairs, what she should charge for labor, what items she should stock, etc. We emptied out the back of the shop and got rid of a bunch of obsolete stuff at the San Jose flea market one weekend. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun, too. But the business never really took off, because she was trying to play catch-up with the other shops in town that had grabbed all the distribution contracts with the popular BMX and mountain bike manufacturers.

I ended up at F&M Cycle City (formerly Cycle City West) which was run by Fred and Mike Genthner. Fred was another goofy old character, but at least he knew how to run a successful business. His son Mike took over the business when Fred couldn't work any more, but eventually sold or closed the shop. The last I heard he was selling motorcycles at the Honda dealership.

 

[jesusfreak86]

welcome i would love see the bicycles could you post some photos

 

[Old Putz]

welcome i would love see the bicycles could you post some photos

Only bicycles at this point are the Schwinn Speedster I'm starting to build (see "Paint or Preserve" post in the Bike Talk section) and an unremarkable aluminum-framed Pacific Vector that I picked up at Target several years ago.

Now if you want to talk motorcycles...

My '82 Honda CM450E Bobber:

The '71 Honda CB500/550 Kamikaze:

The '04 Bonneville, with a '66 vintage Bates fairing:

 

[Schwinnspastic]

sounds like you put in a lot of time in the bike biz , went to Jacks a few times for parts but never felt like he wanted my buisiness
maybe I was one of those kids he wanted nothing to do with...still have my panasonic road bike from that era but rarely ride it.
On a side note...the old Honda CBs look great and the fairing on the Trumpet give it a cool vintage look.

 

[Quanah]

((Welcome), (Old) (Putz) (to) (Putzville), (you'll) (like) (it) (here)!)