What's your story?

[outskirtscustoms]

How did bike collecting / hoarding begin for you?

For me I was never the "rich kid" of the neighborhood but I had a garage or shed most places I lived growing up. One day I found a bicycle in the trash and thought it looked cool so I drug it home. After my 3rd trash find I had learned the art of how to ride a bike with a second bike perched on the handlebars. Before I knew it I had the rafters of the garage full of bikes, more hanging from the rafters, hanging on the walls, more on the floor, even a few stashed in my bedroom.

One day we had a garage sale and I was out working on bikes and a guy asked if I wanted to sell any of them. I said that I'd never thought of it but he could look. He bought 10 bikes. As he left with the pile of bikes in his truck I knew I was on to something. I needed a way to haul more bikes and I now had a little spending cash.

I found a used and rather beat up kid hauler trailer at a garage sale and mounted it on my bike. I was now ready to take on the world of trash find bikes. Garbage day was like Saturday night for me. Trash finds, yard sales, flea markets, trade in's, It didn't matter how I got it I just had to have it. Every weekend I'd open up the garage and set a few of my "Least favorite" bikes out in the yard to sell. People caught on and before I knew it I was "The bicycle guy on the outskirts of town"

A neighbor who moved in just across the alley was a really cool guy and just happened to have a welder. I talked him into doing a few welding jobs for me in exchange for giving his kids all bikes. So I was then known as "The guy on the outskirts of town with the cool custom bikes".

I then found Craigslist and it blew up. I bought my own welder and the name "Outskirts Customs" stuck.

Since I joined here it's gotten MUCH worse. I now have 3 bike trailers that I occasionally tow in tandem behind each other to haul "MEGA LOADS", I check out the scrapyards, flea markets, second hand stores, yard sales, alleys, and ask around about vintage bikes. Though being here I have stopped buying just any bike. I've learned to hold my money for the "good stuff". I still buy others if they are cheap. And if it's free I don't care what it is it comes home with me to be broken down of it's parts and sold for scrap to fund more of the "good stuff". I AM A SICK SICK MAN.

There's a fine line between collecting and hoarding and I flirt with it every day.

 

[Voyager Al]

when I get into a hobby, I go whole hog. Guns,motorcycles,switchblades, homebrewing,trains,etc. Ive done them all, and been deep into each. Problem is I change my hobbies often.
I recently became ill, and am off work. Having an operation in a week, and should be back to work in March. I started riding bikes again last year. I am 55 years old. The itch started late last year, and I started buying alot of craigslist bikes. Was a bodyman as a younger man, so rust and I get along well. I spraybomb most of my bikes, and I hate to have a rat-rody looking bike, they must be nice looking!. I have about 12 bikes in the garage,7 of which are ridable.
And am waiting for my paypal funds to clear the bank so I can go get a few more tomorrow. Iam bored sitting at home, so I spend as much time in the garage as I can. after the operation, I'll be down for at least 2 weeks, but I will be lurking on here! I have a Phat Chopper coming, and may just make it a rat-rod, well see!LOL

 

[Carbon]

For me, I scored a yellow and chrome Redline bmx bike as a kid off an old friend, it had no wheels and tires but my current Huffy Pro Thunder at the time gave its life so the Reline could ride again. I always had and collected bmx bikes after that, even deep into adulthood. I have also always liked cruiser bikes and had many of those off and on, I did alot of mountain biking to, but as of about 2 years ago I re-kindled the flame for the ole big 26'ers, With a genuine love for the 40's and 50's ballooner bikes. Now I would say my main 3 hobbies are collecting wrist watches, my cruiser bikes and I have a couple of atv's that I ride nearly every weekend. Building and riding bikes is very therapeutic for me, its like building working art as an extention of my personality.

 

[udallcustombikes]

I was watching CNN one morning and they had a filler story about people riding tall bikes in NYC. I thought "I could build that." I took my wife's mountain bike that hadn't been ridden in several years and set to work. While she wasn't happy when she saw what I had done I was quite pleased. It was a complete bolt together job, but it rode fairly well.

That got me looking online at other unique bikes and I built a no-weld Swing Bike.

After that I decided I needed a welder. With my new toy in hand I built an Atomic Zombie inspired Monster Trike.

The picture is of me running it at the Coaster's Gravity Race. Once I fell in with that crowd it was all over for me.

 

[Philphine]

it's come and gone a couple times.

*aw lawd, now you got him started* :roll:

my parents couldn't afford to get me the kind of bikes that were popular at the time (late 60's-early 70's). i think that may have fueled the first collection. as i became more mechanicly inclined i came across various old muscle bikes at flea markets and the local swap paper (pre ebay and craigslist). bmx was getting big and you could buy muscle bikes almost like you can buy used walmart mountain bikes now. at about 23 i had maybe 10 or so bikes. i didn't really have a place to put them though, so i had them chained together with way too small a chain, and one night 5 were stolen. that ended the first phase.

about 8-10 years later i was living with my brother and very slowly starting to collect parts. i knew better this time to have a bunch of bikes i couldn't store, but it was hard to see an old shifter or wheel and know it was worth hanging onto, so i'd buy it (if you looked at the 'hood cruiser i always post, a lot of the parts i had years before i built the bike). i had also brought a few bikes, but by then mountain bikes were the big deal, mid 80's or so (and nowhere near as interesting to me) and muscle bikes had gotten rare. i brought the bike that became the 'hood cruiser then, and about 3-4 others. to keep from compleatly clogging up my brothers house i ended up with a storage unit i kept bikes and other things in.

my present and real obsession began maybe 6 years back. by then i was better mechanicly and had also learned to weld some. i was renting a house of my own and not much later moving into my own house with a huge garage (a not so positive was i got devorced at the same time. i think some of the new bike obsession was keep my mind busy). i was seeing what people were doing with custom bikes. i got one of the occ stingrays at biglots and tried it myself. been cutting and making my own since.

so it's kind of a perfect storm. i have room for all the bikes i want, more ability to fool with them, and no one to stop me (probaly a bad thing, but...), so i'm at it again.

 

[yoothgeye]

I've always loved to ride, always. I can remember my first bike, a solid tire bike dad got me at a flea market, then my sister and I had matching blue banana seat bikes, then my first BMX, followed by a 26" beach cruiser, then I got into mountain bikes. While at college I upgraded mountain bikes a few times, then redid an old BMX I found in my wife's grandmother's barn, then I bought another BMX and gave the other one away.

It's always been important for me to have a bike, but where I am currently only started a couple years ago. I got a new job at this church and it was the first time I had lived in town (as opposed to the country) in about 10 years. Biking in the country is actually harder with bicycle unfriendly roads. Once here I had been thinking back to when I was 16 and had a moped and really wanted one, but being that only guys with licenses revoked for DUI ride mopeds and scooters around here I didn't want to blend it. So I bought a bicycle engine kit off of eBay, without having an extra bike. While looking for the right bike a friend on a 4x4 forum sent me a 1950 Columbia frame and a set of alloy wheels laced to old hubs. I built that bike and rode it for a few days before installing the engine. The single speed hooked me, reminded me of my first cruiser and I felt bad about putting the engine on it. So I started asking around and people started giving me bikes. Then I just needed one of everything. Mountain bike (had it), cruiser, BMX, road bike, fixed gear, tall bike, etc...

As the bikes piled up I realized that there are children that don't know how to ride or don't enjoy it as much as I do, so I started giving kids bikes and fixing their old bikes for them, which I soon turned all my giveaway bikes over to a local mission since a couple of my kids personal bikes got stolen from the yard.

So here I am, less than 2 years "into" the hobby and have more bikes than anyone I know personally, and love it.

Interestingly, I built my 1950 Columbia in classic "rat rod bike" form, flat black, red wheels, white wall, and only after building it did a friend in town tell me about this site... I WAS NO LONGER ALONE! haha

 

[LowpowerD]

For me it all started with my wife (girlfriend at the time). I didn't have a bike, she had a Schwinn Tri-wheeler. She thought riding would be something fun we could do together. I started looking at new cruiser bikes and I was not impressed with the quality. When I was a kid I had a Stingray, a couple of Scramblers and a Laguna BMX. I remembered them being pretty good, not like most of the junk they try to pass off on us these days. So, I started hitting C-list and realized I could get an old bike and fix it up cheaper than buying new.
I scored a '70s Murray cruiser on the cheap, that guy told me to check out the Coasters BC and RatRodBikes.com. That was August 2010. It's all snowballed sense then and turned into kind of an obsession with our vintage bike collection overflowing the garage and starting to spill into the basement!
The wifey was right, riding together is great fun. The Coasters BC has accepted us into the family like... well, like members of a family. And I swore I'd never join another internet forum, I had to eat those words when I finally visited RatRodBikes.
WE make this hobby what it is. Thanks everyone!

 

[Terry66]

It all started with my first real bike. A green Stingray with a metallic seat. Man, that bike was the stuff. I was totally in awe of it when my dad gave it to me. My dad was a mechanic and was always tearing things apart and building stuff. Seems he was always building these crazy chopper bikes. He would hand them to me and say have at it. Well, to this day I am not sure some of those crazy bikes were safe, but hey....I survived.

After that I was always into cycling. In fact, I got a bike for graduation and my wife and I even got bikes for our wedding. Then kids, work, responsibility came along. I didn't ride for probably 15+ years. Ended up 40 years old and pushing 300lbs. Decided enough of that crap. Went on a diet, got into working out and dropped about 50lbs. At that point, I decided to start cycling again....the cool thing is that it was as much fun then as it was when I was 7. Over a year or so, I dropped more weight and got down to the 170s. I'm about 5'11", so thats a decent weight for me. Now, besides an addiction to vintage bikes, I am a fanatic road rider, I ride mountain bikes and I do touring. I even do time trial and mountain bike races. I put in about 3000-4000 miles a year on a bike.

 

[aka_locojoe]

I've ridden bikes most of my 49 years with the exception of my late teens and early 20s. The wife and I have been riding together since the 1980s. Prior to being married some of our first dates were bike rides. While dating my wife borrowed an old Raleigh road bike from her sister so we could ride together. We started out riding road bikes then in the early 90s switched to riding mountain bikes. Early 2000s we decided our MTBs were overkill for just cruising around the neighborhood so we decided to look for some old "cruiser" style bikes. Didn't find anything so we each went out and bought brand new Wal-mart and Target Schwinn cruisers. We chopped, powder coated, kustomized them. Still on the look-out for old bikes we gradually started coming across them especially once I alerted friends to keep there eyes open for them.

In 2005 to see if there was anyone else out there into bikes like us I held the first Midwest Bicycle Fest. I found out there was. Some had already been doing a weekly cruiser ride. We joined with them and the Coasters Bicycle Club evolved from that.

At any given time we have around 30 ride-able bikes. In addition to building and collecting bikes we really enjoy riding paths and trails. In 1999 we rode our first rail-to-trail. A few years ago we set a goal to ride at least one trail in all 50 states. We've traveled all over the country riding these trails.

 

[ozzmonaut]

When I was young we couldn't afford a bike. Even department store bikes were costly in the 80's. Eventually my stepdad and I found a red Murray BMX in the trash. He helped me take it apart, paint and fix it, remove rust, etc. It turned into a decent bike. After that I always went out the night before trash day searching for bikes. I didn't really have a place to keep them though,even though i only had a few. We were on base housing and the houses were small with no garages or storage. In high school a friend of mine was into older bikes. A guy up the road from me had old bikes for pretty decent prices. I bought a poorly repainted 40's straightbar Schwinn from him. After that i was hooked on the old stuff. This guy's collection amazed me though. He had a front yard full of really old bikes for sale. He had a small building where he kept his personal stash. He had several of all of the krates, phantoms, hornets, panthers, etc. He no longer lives in the house. I checked when I went back to visit friends. But I imagine he is somewhere still collecting and his collection is probably still as nice if not better. I'm surprised he hasn't popped up on the cabe or somewhere. Either way, his collection inspired me to fix up old bikes. It wasn't until I bought a house 8 years ago that I had the space and equipment to really go all out. Now I have 20 bikes and weld all kinds of crazy stuff. I lived in Richmond for a while, where people ride tall bikes as a form of everyday transportation, so that's where that came form.

 

[Rustinkerer]

When I was a kid, I realized that every other wednesday, our town had "bulk tiem pickup" otherwise known as "junk night"! My "second first bike", which replaced the stolen original, was a Columbia All American, 20" bike. White, with red fenders, and a banana seat. I think someone told me bikes without fenders were cool, so I removed mine, and generally started modifying things. Then, in the summer of 1980, I went to a nearby garage sale. There she was, a very rusty and forlorn 1956 Schwinn Corvette. I bought it for $2.50, and so it began! (Zillions of bikes later, i still have it, though it's been apart, awaiting reassembly with nice original parts.) -Adam

 

[sensor]

long,boring,and no one wants to hear it!

 

[Buck Masterson]

I was born a poor black child...

 

[Frankthetank]

Back in '91 when I was 11 I got my first copy of lowrider magazine(the bikes actually looked like bikes than)and I fell in love with the bikes. I built my first one a few years later, nothing fancy just a 20" schwinn stingray frame with chrome wheels whitewalls banana seat and tilted forward apes. As I got a little older and taller I moved onto the cruisers, all schwinns of course, I love schwinn bikes, old ones anyhow.

 

[wimpy]

In my youth,riding bicycles was necessary to get from A to B,there was no fun involved. As soon as I had my driverslicenses for motorbike and car,my bicycle was collecting dust in the shed. It was only useful for a trip to the local bar (and back). Until I saw a beachbike at my LBS,which was 'round the corner.....That was a cool bike and I had never seen a model like that before in my country (around 1993,that is)
It was a Ralleigh,singlespeed. It was the first bike in my life,I really liked and I took it for a spin as often as I could. Couple of years later,my daughter was born and I had to trade the Ralleigh for a normal bike,because the baby-seat didn't fit on the bike. Bummer!
Three years ago,the fire started to burn again,after I visited a few cruiserforums (RRB was one of them). There was a lot of awesome stuff out there and I just hád to build something that looked like the old Harley choppers,I used to own. So I forced a collegue at work,to help me build a mean cruiser. Luckely the guy didn't mind,putting a couple of hours of his spare time into this project. Since the day it was finished,I ride and ride and ride.....
To my frustration,I haven't got the proper tools,nor the proper space to build something else, 'cause that would be the ultimate hobby. Well,maybe some day........

 

[Crassly]

A friend of mine was into bike collecting sorta. He would buy mainly to resell. He always tried to get me interested, but I declined. Then about 15 years ago he came to visit and talked me into going out with him looking for old bikes. We spotted a bike in a backyard and knocked on the door. The old guy that answered said he had a real old one he could show us. That turned out to be a Hiawatha Arrow frame and tank. My buddy paid the asking price (less than $100) and eventually sold it for over $1000. I was hooked and have been looking, fixing, buying and selling ever since.

 

[Harvie]

I started my work life on bikes delivering newspapers in late 40's through the early 60s. My grandfather had a salvage yard and I got my pick of the trash until I financed my first new cycle truck. fast forward 50 plus years.

I had to have a triple hernia repair done and was told to do "NOTHING FOR 8 WEEKS" so I set out to find the same year cycle truck I bought and a Phantom that I never could afford. Got both and am with in 2-3 weeks of having both completed. Both origional with some replacement parts on the Phantom.

Learned that the bike groups are just like the other collector groups there are those who think their poop does not stink, those whos poop is gold, and then regular people.

Since I will never pay retail price for anything, am able to afford anything anytime I want it , and can find a good deal on anything, I piss off 2/3rds of them and I could care less... :mrgreen:

I have a very extensive "tool set" (haha) 3 welders, and a few other machines I use to do the work on these and other peoples bikes. I am even going back to college to take some advanced tig welding cources this year. Its free for us old folks.

I fix lots of local guys stuff free, I buy low and sell low or give the stuff away, so everything workds out well....

 

[badlandkustoms]

I got into this hobby by accident, A friend of mine had found an old Schwinn DX with what was left of a Wizzer kit. I thought that was pretty neat and told him I would like to find an old bike to fix up, About 3-4 months go by and I get a call from him asking if im still lookin for a bike 8)
He says that a guy had brought this old Schwinn into his shop and his price was $100, I said sure sight unseen :roll: When I went to pick up the bike I almost cried and thought WHAT HAVE I BOUGHT It was a frame with a tank and a pair of dented fenders with a pair of very rusty wheels and bent handlebars. But I did agree to buy the bike so now to find some parts and make this mess into a rider, Thats when I meet Gordon aka Crassly 8) He helps me with a few parts I needed and then tells me a little about my bike :wink: Turns out it wasnt to bad a deal for the $100 after all what I had was a 1959 Schwinn PantherII, Its missing hard to find parts such as headlights and correct rear rack but still a nice rider. While out at Gordons I got to see alot of COOL OLD BIKES!!! and that got me hooked :mrgreen: Oh yea my bike is 1 month older than me so its kinda special to me now, even if it isnt my oldest bike in my collection

 

[jwm]

I actually have two separate stories. I first got interested in old bicycles back in '77 when I met a guy in Huntington Beach who was riding a beautifully restored Autocycle. I was hooked on first sight. By 1979 I had the beginning of my small fleet- a '56 Starlet, a '61 Jaguar MKIV, and a 1950 B6. By '82 the fleet was in mothballs. I had the bikes as living room decor for a while, but by the mid '90's they were crated up and stored.
The revival came a couple years ago. I was daydreaming about building a Panhead chopper- (with my income it was a total daydream). I was looking at pictures of choppers on the web, and I ran across a pic of the Stingray Spoiler. That was a life changing moment, just like when I saw that old Autocycle. Shortly afterwords I saw one new in the box on e-bay. I hit "buy-it-now" so hard I bruised the keyboard. Also around that time, my wife and I were riding our (boring) comfort bikes in Huntington Beach, and we ran into a fellow riding a 30's Hiawatha Fire Arrow. He told us about the Cyclone Coasters ride in Long Beach. That was it. I ditched the marshmallow comfort bike, and got back into American steel.
It has been the best thing to happen to me since I met my wife. Mary and I have had some of the best times of our marriage riding with the friends we've made in the classic/chopper/rat rod bicycling community.
Ride On!

JWM

 

[Gold Street Customs]

My first ride I remember building was a yellow stingray with MX bars off a Honda and a ten speed quilted seat and tractor grip tires, next thing ya know bmx started happening, I never had a new bike when I was a kid but I had a Honda Elsinore I rode the life out of it, First new bike I bought was when I lost my drivers license (worked at a speed shop, and had a tri powered 327 in a 63 Suburban with a 411 posi,go figure) so I bought a 86 Ross Mt Whitney in black and gold off the showroom floor. I loved that bike. I didn't really get back into bikes until I was in Walmart and they had a BFK Stingray, but it just sold, so I kept bugging and calling and they finally got two in, a black and a green one,took the black one, and the torch was lit, then I wanted to find some old ones.......and I did,here I am :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: