Garage sales: A bike geek's best friend

All of you who know me are aware that I'm subjected to garage sales every Saturday morning with my beautiful wife Trish during the spring summer and fall months. I've always hated going, but being that it's an inevitability, I've tried hard to make it pay off for me somehow. Last summer I was scorin' like James Bond at the sales, finding alot of dirt cheap parts and other cycling goods, but the coop-d-grass was the 2 bikes for a dollar deal. As we pulled up to a house in Highlands Ranch I quickly scanned the junk displayed in the driveway without exiting the vehicle. This is my normal procedure, as it keeps me from getting out for no good reason. I immediately spotted a Graber hitchmount rack and a couple of old bikes. I ended up snagging all three items for $6.00. That's a schweet score when you figure the bikes were Novara Randonee 'cross/touring models, early 90's vintage, with full Deore 7-speed gruppos, bar end shifters and 105 levers. The frames fit me perfectly.

I took one and made it into a 29'er oney (called "onezie" in Mississippi), the other I gave to Hellclimber 4Father so he can join in the painful 'cross fun for a minimal investment. You'll note the metamorphosis of the 29'er oney in the pictures above. It went from the blue "as found" state to the schweet new paintjob. You guessed it ,that's official Dodge "Go Mango" laquer with GM "Fathom Green Metallic" laquer on the lugs, with lots-o-clear laquer squirted all over the whole thing. All the bosses for the shift cables were ground off, making it a oney only bike. The Thomson seatpost was acquired at a garage sale too. Unused, it was $15 bucks!! Cruises the trails real nice, but it's gonna have to be a solo ride bike. I made this decision after riding it with Mississippi G, Deadly Fredly, and Danaco late last fall and taking a horrible faceplant up on the top of Deer Creek Park. The skinny 'cross tires and full rigid design make it so that I have to slow the descents a tad over rocky terrain. You know if I'm with any of the Hellclimb Gang I'll not be slowing down, for ANY reason. I guess my desire to go fast overcomes the limited amount of common sense I posess.

"So what the hell's the point here?" you ask. Only this: don't overlook the local garage sale, it can be a potent source of oddball parts to keep the creative fires in your cycling soul burning.