A week or so before my partner and I began our quest to buy nothing new for one year, we found a bicycle outside our door. It had obviously been stolen or abandoned some time ago, as it was quite rusty. But this was no ordinary bike, and my partner saw its potential right away. She brought it in the house and posted found notices on craigslist and in nearby bike shops. No one claimed it. So we owned n orange1984 Peugot road bike with a leather Brooks seat. And it was free!
But as I said, it was rusty. Girlfriend took it to Scallywags, a bike shop that specializes in custom jobs and works to provide bicycles to people in Rwanda. They rebuilt the bike with reused parts, and referred my partner to a paint shop for the body. The only original parts on the bike at this point in the story were the seat and the frame. But those were the coolest parts.
Note my use of the past tense. The seat was too low for my partner, so Scallywags tried like hell to raise it. The seat post was rusted and would not budge. She tried two other bike shops to no avail. The last shop, The Hub Co-op, was determined to remove it. I mean, super determined. They worked on it for two hours before sending my partner away, saying "You'd better come back tomorrow. He needs some time to cool off. He may not be able to save your frame."
And he wasn't. So for $50 they sold my partner a 1984 Peugot frame, yellow, instead of orange, and no rust. The only thing remaining of her new bike is the leather Brooks seat. we now own a yellow 1984 Peugot road bike with a leather Brooks seat. And it was $200.
Oh, the lengths we will go! Most people would have seen that rusted pile and sent it to the scrap yard. Instead, my girlfriend sent it piecemeal. She tried to conserve it, and in her efforts, well, she didn't. But she does have a really cool bike now!
The best laid plans of mice and men...
At least she came dang close! That's definitely worth a big pat on the back if nothing else.
Even beyond that, most people would have been angry to find a rusty old bike on their lawn...
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Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. --Mahatma Gandhi
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She was super psyched! Identifying the exact year and model of the bike became a week long project. She was so excited when she figured it out!
:D
Then there was the finding of parts, etc. It was kind of an anthropological project for her. Urban anthropology, as it were.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
This reminds me a little of something my ex-boyfriend did with his kids. One spring they decided to find as many bike parts as they could in people's garbage cans and in alleys. They drove around for weeks and searched for old bikes and bike parts. After about a month, they finally had enough parts to build a pretty cool bike. The front wheel was much smaller than the back and it had a banana seat, but it worked. Also, the boys had such a huge sense of pride at building this bike all by themselves and for free. One man's trash is another man's treasure! Sounds like this bike is pretty awesome, too!
What an amazing project! I might think about that with my charges next summer, if I am still around. We have a science and social studies curriculum for the summer this year, so we can't take on a bike salvage project, but man! That is so cool! I will remember that suggestion for the future. That would even be a cool classroom project. The bike could be auctioned as a fundraiser for the school.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
That would be a really cool thing to auction off! I'll bet a bunch of kids would love to win it, especially the members of the class that will have worked so hard to build it.
Sounds like a commercial for buying a new car.
Or a warning against used stuff.
Have fun with that.
Do you have a picture?
There were always in me, two women at least,
one woman desperate and bewildered,
who felt she was drowning and another who
would leap into a scene, as upon a stage,
conceal her true emotions because they
were weaknesses, helplessness, despair,
and
If it is a warning against anything, it might be a warning against used stuff that has been abandoned outside for who knows how long. The thing was obviously rusty and in need of extensive work. I am all for rebuilding and reusing as much as possible, but in this case, it might have been wise to abandon ship $200 ago. Some things really do need to be thrown away. At least all the old parts are getting recycled.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I have had a 'hopless' bike before that I took to a scrap recycle center, I was affraid that it would a beach somewhere if I tossed it the 'normal' way.
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There were always in me, two women at least,
one woman desperate and bewildered,
who felt she was drowning and another who
would leap into a scene, as upon a stage,
conceal her true emotions because they
were weaknesses, helplessness, despair,
and
I have to say, although I did none of the actual work on the bike myself, I, too, have an immense sense of pride about saving....er...building it. One day when I have a garage, I hope to be the one doing the building.
my grandpa left a pair of older bikes in our garage (male and female frames--he and my grandma used to ride when they were younger)... I don't know much about bikes, but I know they were old. Like 70s old--maybe older. My grandpa never throws out anything.
I put them in a yard sale because, I loved them a lot, but I didn't want to pay to restore them... they were pretty rusted and the seats were torn and the wheels were flat.
I figured someone else would put in the effort though. I gave them to some high school kid for $10 each. You should have seen his face when he saw them for sale. It was like giving a 6-year-old a puppy. I almost didn't charge him at all, but then I did.
My mom said I should have sold them for more than $10 because they were worth a lot more but... they weren't. If they were in any kind of decent shape they would have been but, really, they were just junked up frames taking up space in the garage. So, I cleared garage space, got $20, and made some kid happy. Totally worth it.
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when are you going to write new stories?
When my borken thumbe heals?! I can't type with this thinfg on . You, of all people, sshould kneow that. Patience, grasshopper.
But I guess I should addd theat I have a new thumb brace. Another thing one can't really get used.
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haha she got you to type funny. :-P
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Aere you guys in it tigether>. ? That's not fair.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
no. I just think it's funny. :-P
well... not the pain part. That is sad.
But, the typing. It's entertaining times ;-)
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
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=;
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I made you an internet cookie. :-)
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
:bows:
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman