Eric Elman provides us with the all-time (so far) *Dump Award*
My local dump (recycling center) has a "round house" which is an old round building where anyone from the town can deposit something of no value to them, but not worthy of throwing away. Also, any town resident is welcome to scrounge and take - for free - whatever they wish. Needless to say, it's one of my favorite routines on the weekend; bring my trash and bring home something useful - can you picture my wife and kids rolling their eyes now?!? Two winters ago I entered the building and saw a womens three speed black Raleigh with the slightest patina of rust on its chrome parts. I quickly passed it by as not worthy of being brought home to reside with my ten speeds. Then, out of the corner of my eye I noticed something unusual about the brake levers, they were chrome and fully mechanical - no cables, just rods, levers, linkages, etc. Very intriguing as I had never seen anything like this before (never bothered looking at 3 speeds - my first bike was my dad's 3 speed Rudge which I was embarassed to ride until I bought my first "real" bike - a Peugeot UO-8). On closer inspection the tires where 28" and still had their original molding pips on them, absolutely no wear; pedals also showed absolutely no wear at all; paint, although very dusty bordered on flawless; chrome, as mentioned had the very lightest of rust which I knew could be cleaned up. I could not leave such an unusual and original bike for a less appreciative person so, in my truck she went. Over the next two months I disassembled every single part of the bike, rebuilt, repacked, polished and buffed. Now, among my various 10 or 12 speed bikes - this virtually unused and totally free Raleigh DL-1 rod brake bike is the standout in my little collection. She's a sight to behold and the price paid balances out with all the money I've overspent on other bikes and parts.
Philip Evans comes up with the *6 Bikes for $5* Award (Gotta be close to free)
I bought Cinelli Model B serial # 126 -- with 5 other bikes -- for $5 Canadian at a police auction. Came with TA 3-pin cranks, Universal centre-pulls, Cinelli bar & stem, Gran Sport gears. Now it is a just-a-little bit fancier...full frame chrome, translucent (but simple) red & green paint, Campy steel crank, Weyless hubs, wood rims, silk tyres, CLB side-pulls, N Record gears, red-white-green Benotto tape. Bought another with a 4-digit number a few months later for $65. Damned expensive if you ask me!
Russ Fitzgerald discloses what I call the *All Time Rotting Leaves & Gutter* Award
My best freebie moment came when I was returning from shipping the infamous green Meral to Chris B. ... I was driving down the aptly named Reynolds Avenue, and at 35 mph saw the gleam of alloy drop bars under the leaves of a trashheap at the curb. I turned around, asked the kid in the yard if he minded if I looked at it, grabbed the bars and pulled. It's been rattlecanned many times, but it appears to be a Raleigh Gran Sport, the full 531 with Nervex lugs variant of that model. It's my size, complete with Stronglight mod. 93 crankset and a working VGT Luxe SunTour rear derailleur. It has since become my favorite commuter of choice, built up with a bunch of other cast-off parts.
Anybody else?
Paulie Davis Los Angeles
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