Cycling UK Forum

Bikes last forever with a little TLC. To overcome this manufacturers of cycle equipment change designs regularly. Some of us resist this and -with a little help from ebay and the like - keep old bikes going. Many do not, hence the proliferation of new bikes and new bike companies, and the surprising prices. So where do all the old machines go? Who has a stash of high quality bikes and equipment from the 1980s, the 1990s - heck, the early 2000s?

Well in the case of some of my bikes;
Dawes SG (original 1979 model), had been used as a race bike (as I had a handbuilt tourer by then) then down graded to everyday/commuter bike,....rear triangle smashed in a crash... written off with some bits from the front end salvaged for work bike ie bars, saddle.
MKM race bike, purchased secondhand someone had damaged seat tube possibly putting oversized post in, so seat tube began to split..... had been a race bike then was downgraded to everyday/commute bike ......eventually written off, because of damaged tube.
Raleigh Team Replica race bike, down graded to everyday /commute bike to replace above... written off by car.
Quintana Roo race bike... written off by car.

All ended up at the tip once working parts were salvaged.

Son's 650 wheeled bike had purchaseers lined up for it when he grew out of it.

In sheds and garages behind lawn mowers, kiddies sand pits and later vintage push-chairs.

pliptrot wrote:Bikes last forever with a little TLC. To overcome this manufacturers of cycle equipment change designs regularly. Some of us resist this and -with a little help from ebay and the like - keep old bikes going. Many do not, hence the proliferation of new bikes and new bike companies, and the surprising prices. So where do all the old machines go? Who has a stash of high quality bikes and equipment from the 1980s, the 1990s - heck, the early 2000s?

In Fife they tend to go here.
http://www.fifebikeworks.org.uk/

This bike charity collects all bikes from all of Fife Council's re-cycling sites as well as those recovered by Fife Constabulary and refurbishes them for selling on. Few of really high quality though but now and then one appears.

My two Argos (653 & 753 1980's vintage) frames are in the loft waiting for the day I wear out my current 753. The racket that goes on up there I think the pidgeons must be doing 1km sprints on 'em!
Ben

I could cry when I see what's being chucked away into out council tip. Some of them are BSOs that are now in the right place, but not all of them, by a long chalk. They're probably thought to be knackered where in fact an afternoon spent with chain cleaner, lube and a few spanners and allen keys would render them working fine again. It is particularly sad to see them there when I see pleas for a bike from people on freecycle so that they can take/look for a job a bit beyond walking distance but not bussable.

Wife says they end up in the front room, garage and the spare bedroom.

A friend bought a cheap house and stuffed it full of bikes.

I sold my 1970s racing bike to a member via Retro bikes on http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=32

scottg wrote:Wife says they end up in the front room, garage and the spare bedroom.

+1 Ding ding ding, we have a winner

pliptrot wrote:So where do all the old machines go? Who has a stash of high quality bikes and equipment from the 1980s, the 1990s - heck, the early 2000s?

are you asking about old bikes, or those post 1980?

i'm going to work on a '57 bsa. the sw hub wasn't too good, so it now sports a '74 AW. both arrived with me because the scrap man kindly delivered notes saying when he'd next be collecting. i got up earlier than him and asked the householders whether they'd mind if the bike lived on

I would say that a lot of old 70s racers have in recent times been converted to fixed or SS, as too have 60s and 50s machines.

My frame of reference (pun intended) is steel frames that were built since 1980. My oldest is a 1989 bike with 126mm back end - the hubs for which are now difficult to find- but I think Chas Roberts builds such a superb bike that I'll try to keep it going.

Interesting.
5 years ago when I was working for a company in the centre of Lincoln, I was walking back to work from lunch along a road beside the River Witham.
On the other side of the river, there were 2 chav type youths, one pushing a shiny mountain bike which he then proceeded to pick and throw into the river, obviously a stolen bike.
In the 1980s when I was working for that company, the Enviromnental Agency dammed the river about a mile upstream of a lock and drained the river to inspect the bottom, looking out of the office window, we say a bmx bike gradually being revealed by the falling water level. It was school holidays and it wasn't long until a younc lad climbed the fence and went in, rescued the bike and rode away on it.
I guess that quite a few stolen bikes that aren't sold on or stripped end up dumped in rivers or other out of the way places.

scottg wrote:Wife says they end up in the front room, garage and the spare bedroom.

A friend bought a cheap house and stuffed it full of bikes.

Thank you for that. I'll show it to my wife as proof that they don't all end up in my garage!