The Guildford Bike Project

Going back to my first ever post from the March last year, I described the three bikes I owned. What I hadn't included was that a week after that post, I'd bought up two more bikes.

The bike-doing-up bug had caught hold. 

Somehow, I'd decided I needed yet another bike to mess with. All this bike messinaboutin' was an experience, I'd convinced myself, and one that shouldn't be confined to just the bikes I wanted to ride around; buy cheap, tired old bikes with potential, renovate them, then sell them on whilst learning about how they work in the meantime. 
In fact, the original idea was to buy an old 'vintage' bike (cheap), then do it up (cheap), then start the Ebay bidding at the cost I bought the bike plus the cost of anything I'd added (new cables, brake pads etc). I didn't really care about making a profit, it was more about the experience of playing with old bikes I'd otherwise never own. 

A year later, I've still no idea whether this will pay off, as I er, haven't actually sold any yet...

Nope, the two bikes I just mentioned are about 6ft away from me as I type this. They are looking pretty swell though, albeit after some hefty transformation. My vision of a cheap bike renovation flew out the window about the same time money started leaving my account in lieu of new handlebars and tyres... OK so if they weren't going to be ultra cheap, they'd at least look the shit!!

I bought the bikes from the Ebay arm (naturally) of the Guildford Bike Project. The GBP are a great project that pick up donated, unwanted bikes from the local area and set to doing what I wanted to do but on a grander, more community focused scale; fix the bikes up so they run, then sell them on, whilst trying to teach people something about bike maintenance in the process. 
If I remember rightly, the people getting taught were part of a JobCentre or skills teaching program, whereby they'd learn how to fix and maintain the bikes which would then be sold on. The GBP also pop up at community events in and around Guildford through the year, servicing and selling bikes.
All in all it's a great scheme, especially as it promotes everyday cycling and a DIY skill, as well as providing a way to keep those barely-ridden Apollos and Carreras out of landfill.

I think they were still in their first year back in 2013, as I remember the guy running the show (John), being a little taken aback by the sheer number of bikes that were being donated; their pick-up van was always full, and they had container after container after container of bicycles to be dealt with. So much so that the older, 'vintage' 3 speeds (a completely different breed to the mountain bikes that made up the majority of those donated) were put to one side to be sold-as-seen on Ebay. This suited my needs down to the ground as it's near to my house, and I was even invited by John to bypass Ebay altogether and contact him when I'd renovated and sold the ones I'd just bought (something which I've still to do...). 

Anyway the bikes I bought were a black Halfords Commodore, and a champagne Raleigh Misty; both steel town bikes, both about 30-40 years old, and both in need of some TLC and wire wool (or in the Misty's case, brute force and a lot of leverage to prise the rusted parts off).

Halfords Commodore (1978 I think, if going by the Sturmey Archer hub)

Raleigh Misty mixte frame (the original listing said it was from 1983, but I've no idea where they got that from)

"Sold-as-seen" is always a gamble, but the Misty looked in such a sorry state when I turned up that I was starting to question my recent life choices. It was going to take more than a new set of cables to bring it back from the brink. 
And as much as I love the frames and certain aspects of the two bikes (like the Commodore's brass coloured mudguards, and the Misty's mixte frame shape), I thought the handlebar setups on both bikes were ugly as. The Commodore especially is a small bike to begin with; having such a short, Dutch-style stem meant you could practically steer with your knees! I guess this was about the time the "Cheap Bike Renovation: Exit this way" window started to open...