Photo Fun Contest - Week 9 – “I am guilty of...” hoarding bike parts.
@claudiaz always has interesting themes for her weekly Photo Fun Contests, and “I am guilty of…"” is the latest one. Since my entry has to be a confession of sorts, I will share a shot that I took recently while cleaning out my workshop in preparation for a move. Generally, I would say that I am neat and organized. I tend to like clean modern décor, and am stressed out by rooms that feel cluttered. You wouldn’t know that from looking at all of the spare parts bins in my workshop though. Yes, the bins are somewhat organized (like the box of cranksets shown here), but the volume of bike components/wheels/frames is somewhat ridiculous (not to mention the number of complete bikes).
In my defense, I did get rid of a lot of parts (and a few bikes) during my big clean-up. I sold some on Ebay, but much of my “hoard” got donated to the Village Wrench, a great local organization that is using bicycles to really make a difference in a community that could use a little boost. I firmly believe that bicycles can change lives, so it feels good to get some of this stuff out of the dark recesses of my workshop and back on the road where it belongs.
Nice job
Thanks!
What a cool shot! My husband and I owned a small town bike shop back in the late 80s and I don't think we ever had that many used cranksets in the shop! That is quite a collection!
Thanks, and interesting to hear about your bike shop. I was in high school in the late 80s, and worked as a mechanic in our local shop. probably about 95% of the money I made went back into my bikes, but I really loved working on bicycles, interacting with customers, and the atmosphere of the shop in general. I have friends who own or work in shops today, but bike retail is definitely not the same as it was then. It's really tough to run a successful independent bike shop these days, but I am glad to see that some of them are still flourishing. Internet retailers and big chain stores may have a price advantage, but there is still value to being the local cycling hub, where cyclist are comfortable hanging out to talk about bikes.
The cyclists were the best part, and introducing people to quality bikes for the first time ever! Giant was a new brand, and lots of local kids got new decent bikes for the first time. Before, the only place to buy a bike within 70 miles was the local True Value. Serious cyclists were thrilled to be able to hang out, and buy without driving to the city. Sponsoring races and tours was fun. I just gave away my well loved Bruce Gordon from the bike shop days to a young friend. It made me sad, but I am no longer able to ride, and it was too cool of a bike to leave collecting dust!
It's a shame you had to get rid of your Bruce Gordon, but it's good to get it back on the road. I am sure that your friend was thrilled to get such a wonderful bike.
We sold a lot of those early Giants too. The shop I worked for was a Trek and Giant dealer, and though the entry level Trek's were a great value, you couldn't beat the component specs on those Giants for a little less money. They had some great bikes for 300 bucks or so (crazy when I think about now much I spend on bicycles now).
When I think back, I do miss those bike shop days. Turning wrenches, talking bikes all day, sleeping in my car and racing all weekend. Oh well...I'm too old for that now (except for the talking bikes all day part).
Bicycle can change lives for sure! :) Nice post, I was read that with pleasure :)
Thank you.
You are upvoted and resteemed by Thank You Bicycle - SteemIt Cycling Community!
It is our mission to spread good vibes of cycling across Steemit. We support you!
Keep those wheels rolling and enjoy the ride!!
If you want to know more about our mission click here.
If you want to join us, click here.
If you do not like our activity, reply with STOP to this and we will leave you alone
thank you for the entry, we have a similar so rt of arrangement in our garage except its of electronic parts, hahaha, I dont which is worse, and now we too are moving so a big clean up will be in order.
Ha...that sounds like my son's room. He is always in the process of building a new computer or electronic device. I do see a lot of value in tinkering, which is why I keep a lot of that stuff around. It definitely feels good to clean up and give things away, but it's important to have projects so you can't get rid of it all.
Hoarding can lead to interesting images 😊. I like the story you told: doing good with your hoarding habit! And I really like the patterns of the cranks in this image!
Thanks so much!
so do you still have a lot of bikes with you?
I still have 6 complete bikes...down from 10 not too long ago. That number always fluctuates, but I will always have at least a road bike, a mountain bike, a track bike, and a cyclocross bike.
...oh yeah, my wife and I have a tandem too, so make that 6 1/2 bikes currently.