A friend who knows I work on bikes gave me an old Murray Ultraterrain Sport 18 speed that needed some work. Pulled the gears, headset, chain, brakes, etc. and greased and adjusted. Took it out for a spin and runs great. Going to donate it to some group; have to ask around. Wish I had more to fix up for others to enjoy.
I really enjoy working on them. I miss fixing up bikes each year for the Goodfellows for Christmas in our town in Nebraska. We repaired kid bikes all year and delivered them to families along with food and presents right before the magic day. My thought is that every kid who wants one should have a bike.
@Tim Burr You are obviously familiar with the old Bendix coaster brake design, pedal forward and it engages and drives the wheel, stop pedaling and the bike coasts, or move pedals in reverse, and it brakes the wheel's rotation. My first 24" bike, obtained at about age 7 or 8, was so-equipped. Being the curious and mischievous lad that I was, I removed the rear wheel, and disassembled the Bendix mechanism. Don't think I understood 100% the operation of the mechanism, I saw it was gummed-up, parts difficult to move, so meticulously cleaned, lubricated them, and began addressing my Dad's order that, "You'd better be able to put that back together!". I did, it worked, and I was off into the new, wild world of working with, and trying to understand the workings of, things mechanical. Frank
@Frank Sanoica About 10 years ago, I was given 3 Schwinn bikes in various stages of life. At first glance, thought all 3 were the old Varsity 10 speeds that were very popular in the 70's and 80's. One of them turned out to be a Caliente with the Front Freewheeling system. What this boils down to is when you pedal and come to a stop, the chain continues to free wheel. This way you could shift to an easier gear to start off from a full stop. Problem was, it's very dangerous with the chain moving at that fast of a speed while you are waiting for a traffic light or at a stop sign. They only produced that gearing for a couple of years. I still have it and ride it sometimes just to get peoples reactions as I pull up to a stop next to them and the old chain is still going a 'mile a minute'...Hipsters love it! ( it is also very difficult to work on, parts are very hard to find ) 1979 Schwinn Caliente
Tim, I like what you do....a big thumbs up to you. There is money to be made in fixing and selling bikes. A man on our street does this and takes them to a vendor flea market and supplements his pension this way.
I grew up in a farming community in the rural Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Although we had homes and land, people didn't tend to have a lot of money. Consequently, new bicycles were almost unheard of. Not only did I never have a new bicycle but I only knew of one or two kids who had, so it wasn't really an issue. My Uncle Art lived in a former gas station. The pit was in his living room, which was interesting, but that's not what I'm talking about here. He would build bicycles from parts. I don't know where he got the parts but he built bicycles for pretty much every kid in town, even refinishing them so that they didn't look like they had been pieced together from different bikes. Although my cousin, Calvin, claimed to have done it himself, I always suspected that Uncle Art helped him install an old washing machine motor onto a bicycle, creating a moped. Probably because of the extra weight, he went through a lot of tired, but it worked.
We all had bikes in my neighborhood but being Pittsburgh it was very hilly and a ride around the block meant you had to either go up or down a very steep hill. I don't think anybody could ride up all the way without getting off and walking it part way and we were young and fit.
I found the street, it was Larose and I lived on Linda Drive...it doesn't show how steep the hill was.