Around 10 years ago this fell into my lap: https://theradavist.com/royal-h-cycles-johns-belt-drive-rohloff/
Had it for a few years fixed, eventually Ant Bike Mike brazed on some posts for Paul Racers at 650b, and then it sat in my attic for a year waiting to be painted, then a few years waiting to be built up…
Finally getting around to it…
I liked ant bike mike
“liked” as in past tense?
Didn’t he stop doing the website?
I’m going to put a few bikes in long term storage with the possibility I won’t be riding them again, ever. They’re totally clapped out - each bike needs new tires, chain, cassette, chainrings, bottom bracket, headset service, cables/housing, etc.
I have parts and can fix all the issues before they go into storage but I’m also thinking of perhaps selling the parts instead. Tiagra/105 level stuff, would be getting pennies on the dollar for the foreseeable future. So that doesn’t make much sense. At the same time it seems silly to completely rehab a bunch of bikes I might not ride.
I suppose the real answer is sell the bikes and the parts but I don’t want to do that either.
Tarck pls help
I can understand not putting parts on bikes before storage because sometimes you fix everything that’s wrong, put it away, and then when you pull it out again you want to change everything.
But the bigger question is why do you want to keep bikes you may never ride again? They have some value? Nostalgia?
Yeah
Disassemble bikes
Keep frames and parts as needed
Sell or donate the rest
I just did this!
Be honest with yourself about which of those bikes you actually want to keep riding, and which ones you think you should want to keep riding. (like, when I decided I didn’t want to ride a fatbike in the snow anymore.)
Sell only the stuff that guarantees a high return for the time invested. Set aside the quality but low worth stuff for a bike kitchen. Trash the rest.
Take your time doing it, so you can mourn the release of bikes that have aspirational or sentimental meaning.
Backing this.
Tear them down, save the framesets if you want to. You can let them go another day if you need the space.
Other than certain nice stuff, donate the components. It’s just too much pita to try to sell $5 stuff.
Maybe save any sentimental components (for me it was saddles and a particular set of bars that I will make a Picasso style sculpture).
+1 for minimizing the number of bikes you own and make the ones you ride as good as possible. Life is too short to ride shitty bikes and atmo a cluttered bike storage area weighs heavily on the mind.
A wildcard options: Rehab the bikes to the point they are safe to ride and function well (brakes and drivetrain, maybe leave the BB/headsets) and gift/permanent loan the bikes to a friend who wants to dip their toes into a new discipline or sell for cheap to a high schooler who needs a nice adult sized bike.
I’ve been really enjoying riding my xtracycle conversion around just for fun, not even when I need the hauling capacity, and it’s made me wonder if I shouldn’t swap the donor frame for something I enjoy even more, and n-1 myself into having a really fun and even more practical bike.
Oh no I’ve put my 645mm Towel Racks on my REEB Donkadonk.
I think you should keep those two bikes as they are.
>:{ you're no fun
is that a real dither or satire?
Honestly not sure. I’ve never been one for drop bars but I’ve loved the 645mm (and now 600mm Towel Racks) on my Stooge Rambler. In a weird turn of events my parts bin flat bars are all super high rise to the point where it’s too much stack. And since I’m using cable disc brakes + Dia Compe friction shifter with various bar shims + have a left side Advent dropper drop bar lever it’s not that big of a pain to swap.
Most time when I’m fat biking my head is down and I’m just mashing out miles. I just need to keep weight on the front end.
Buuuuuuuuut I’m not sure how pogies will fit into this equation since I’d like to be able to actually use the drops. So we’ll see.
New guy has me considering a Stooge Rambler. However, I’m pretty sure that my Polyvalent is pretty damn close as it is. Should I try to cram some 650x2.3’s in there and throw some Tumbleweed bars on it?
@igor i have a gen 1. How awful of an idea is this?
The steel tumbleweed bars are very heavy. Like as heavy as a fork. They feel solid, but jeez.
Oh I know. I already have a set in the parts bin, which is why I called them out specifically
