Dumpster diving
* * Chas
This afternoon I ran into a character "dumpster diving" outside a LBS. He
had a classic mid 70s Masi that he said he found in a dumpster. It looked
in pretty good shape, full Campy NR, no rust or dents. Someone repainted
it so there were no decals but it was a Masi Criterium.
I tried talking to him. He first said it was a Colnago then he became
adamant that it was a Cinelli and pointed to the bars and stem. He became
incoherent after that and stared waving a broken plastic fender. At that
point it was time to leave, he was obviously off his meds.
Maybe I need to start checking dumpsters, see if I can get lucky too.
Chas.
Mike Jacoubowsky
> had a classic mid 70s Masi that he said he found in a dumpster. It looked
> in pretty good shape, full Campy NR, no rust or dents. Someone repainted
> it so there were no decals but it was a Masi Criterium.
OK, I have to ask, what sort of bike shop would throw out a bike with "full
Campy NR" components?
That part of your story is far more interesting than the dumpster diver.
--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
"* * Chas" <verkt...@aol.spamski.com> wrote in message
news:hsKdney4tZZFvS7Y...@comcast.com...
* * Chas
"Mike Jacoubowsky" <mik...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:INFsh.3453$O02...@newssvr11.news.prodigy.net...
> > This afternoon I ran into a character "dumpster diving" outside a LBS.
He
> > had a classic mid 70s Masi that he said he found in a dumpster. It
looked
> > in pretty good shape, full Campy NR, no rust or dents. Someone
repainted
> > it so there were no decals but it was a Masi Criterium.
>
> OK, I have to ask, what sort of bike shop would throw out a bike with
"full
> Campy NR" components?
>
> That part of your story is far more interesting than the dumpster diver.
>
> --Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
> www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
>
He was outside Velo-Sport in Bizerkly....
I'm not sure where he got the bike. He wasn't too lucid.
I don't think Peter is that flush with retro bikes that he can throw out a
Masi.
;-)
Chas.
mike.a...@gmail.com
To most people, a bicycle is a bicycle and they have no idea of
collector values.
richard
items to the dumpster, then hope nobody checks the trash after hours
before they do.
Ozark Bicycle
richard wrote:
> A shop with dishonest employees who steal first by moving desirable
> items to the dumpster, then hope nobody checks the trash after hours
> before they do.
Bingo! That is a classic employee theft tactic; the sleazebags
sometimes put new, high value merchandise in the trash bags before they
take them to the dumpster. A cohort then retrieves the items.
See-through trash bags have become common in some retail businesses to
help discourage this ploy.
ma...@drumbent.com
and we have to make trips to the metal recycler with our dead frames
and metal parts. One day, as we were emptying the trailer, one of the
workers inquires about our load, and I assure him that there's nothing
we're scrapping that he (or anyone) would want. He says "well, you
never know what people get rid of", and then points over near the
office and says "see that bike? It's a Merlin titanium frame that I
watched someone toss on the pile. He was a landlord tossing out stuff
from an abanonded apartment, and that frame was among the goods". So
we had a closer look, and yeah, this guy got himself a very nice bike!
I wonder how many garbage collectors might be cyclists, and cringe when
they see nice old bikes being tossed out...
Mark
* * Chas
<ma...@drumbent.com> wrote in message
news:1169402601.8...@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I know a builder/restorer who has a deal with some local trash haulers.
Every once in a while they bring him something nice like old 50s and 60s
European 10 speed frames or bikes.
There's a bicycle recycling charity in an affluent community that's become
one of my first stops when I'm looking for good retro stuff. They get some
amazing stuff that people donate to them.
The throw away culture.
Chas.
* * Chas
"richard" <rmcc...@insight.bb.com> wrote in message
news:z-SdnRnsIody9C7Y...@insightbb.com...
> A shop with dishonest employees who steal first by moving desirable
> items to the dumpster, then hope nobody checks the trash after hours
> before they do.
>
That's always a possibility but it looked like the fellow had been riding
this bike for a while. My guess is that it was a stolen bike that the
thief had abandoned somewhere and the "lucky" denizen of the streets found
it.
He mumbled some about do I want to buy his bike a couple of times. That's
what piqued my curiosity, then I realized he wasn't playing with a full
deck.
Chas.
G.T.
Cringe? I'd hope they'd go: "woohoo, score!".
My neighbor buys and sells used exercise equipment. His best source are
a couple of the charities that offer pick up for the donations. They're
usually more than happy to sell stuff right off the truck so they don't
have to take time to appraise and inventory the stuff. He gets gym
quality treadmills and such for $25-$50 all the time, and resells them
for $800-900. If he was more motivated he'd be a millionaire. He keeps
telling me there are plenty of bikes but I haven't joined him yet. He
knows exercise equipment, but not bikes, so he ignores the bikes.
Greg
--
"All my time I spent in heaven
Revelries of dance and wine
Waking to the sound of laughter
Up I'd rise and kiss the sky" - The Mekons
Leo Lichtman
"* * Chas" wrote: (clip) They get some
> amazing stuff that people donate to them.
>
> The throw away culture.
There is a *huge* difference between donating and throwing away. I donate
valuable stuff all the time. I hardly ever throw anything away. My place
is full of stuff that's too good to throw away, and not good enough to
donate. :-)
Werehatrack
<mik...@ix.netcom.com> may have said:
>> This afternoon I ran into a character "dumpster diving" outside a LBS. He
>> had a classic mid 70s Masi that he said he found in a dumpster. It looked
>> in pretty good shape, full Campy NR, no rust or dents. Someone repainted
>> it so there were no decals but it was a Masi Criterium.
>
>OK, I have to ask, what sort of bike shop would throw out a bike with "full
>Campy NR" components?
It was not stated that the bike involved was from the dumpster in
front of the diver; the bike had probably been ridden there. As for
"who would throw out" such a bike, I know of such an instance that
took place when an apartment building near a university was scheduled
for demolition; as one of his last acts, the building manager
anniounced that he would be clearing out the tenant-accessible storage
room, including tossing unclaimed bikes into the dumpster. One was a
Diamondback roadie with 105 kit. A friend of mine, who was one of the
last tenants in the building, grabbed it literally just before it
would have hit the dumpster. The original owner of the bike had left
the country a couple of years prior, as it turns out. That bike still
resides happily on my patio. All it needed was tires, tubes and lube.
As another poster noted, those who know little about bikes would have
no reason to suspect that they were throwing away gold..
--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.
ddog
Dumpster diving clubs across America?
No wonder homeless people have some nice old bikes.
For trading profit, recreation, transportation, and faking getting hit
by cars at intersections for cash settlements.
Ozark Bicycle
ddog wrote:
- on homeless people and bicycles -
> faking getting hit
> by cars at intersections for cash settlements.
Geez..... :-(
ddog
It happened to me. No mark on my truck. No mark on her bike.
No mark on her. She just stopped in front of my truck, stared at me for
10 seconds, and
fell down (without a scratch or bruise) in the center of 2 - 5 lane
highway intersection.
I picked her up from hospital after ambulence picked her up, and
carried her and her (unmolested 3 sp) bike to Salvation Army.
She just wanted a cash settlement and my insurance rates jacked up
until switched ins companies.
Come down to Florida, but you better keep your eyes open at
intersections:
especially within 10 miles of Salvation Army. I've read it also
happened to UK BMW motorcyclists at intersections as well.
The only reason she risked me in a fairly heavy Dakota truck is I was
stopped already - perfect setup to pull in front of me.
Its just a fact of life down here. May sound strange in the Ozarks, but
I've seen
stranger things up there riding through Arkansas mountains when at Fort
Lost in the Woods, Misery. A whole lot stranger.
Bellsouth Ijit 2.0
"Leo Lichtman" <l.lic...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:_X5th.442587$Fi1.2...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Same here, I never throw away useable things, especially bike-related. I
donate them through various means, freecycle.org (great resource),
craigslist, emails to friends. Contributing needlessly to landfills and
global warming doesn't sit too well with my already guilt-ridden conscience.
Ozark Bicycle
I can't think of anything stranger than some newb coming on the group,
asking a series of strange, off-the-wall questions regarding long
defunct manufacturers, cheap outdated RDs and five speed freewheels and
then beginning to expose his sad stereotypes and prejudices. YMMV.
K
>
>Ozark Bicycle wrote:
...
>
>Its just a fact of life down here. May sound strange in the Ozarks, but
>I've seen
>stranger things up there riding through Arkansas mountains when at Fort
>Lost in the Woods, Misery. A whole lot stranger.
I've seen Deliverance...
Can you squeal like a pig?
Werehatrack
<bicycle...@ozarkbicycleservice.com> may have said:
>I can't think of anything stranger than some newb coming on the group,
>asking a series of strange, off-the-wall questions regarding long
>defunct manufacturers, cheap outdated RDs and five speed freewheels and
>then beginning to expose his sad stereotypes and prejudices. YMMV.
Not even much verisimilitude in the tales, either. When I lived in
Florida, the typical asshat who would pull a stunt like the one
described was a pro. There was contact (of a nature calculated to
leave plenty of room for claiming greater injury than was present),
there was careful selection of the target (expensive car driven by
over-50 white female was the usual pattern), and the perp had a
domicile and claimed multiple dependents...and had an attorney on
retainer. Insurance scams were a way of life for a small but
expensive (for the rest of us) fraction of the population.
By comparison, when a loon tried to pull a bump-and-scream on a friend
of mine in a parking lot near here (and yes, she fit the target
profile I mentioned), she just whipped out a pen and paper, wrote down
the guy's tag number, the time, and a basic description of the perp
while she called 911 on her cell phone. What she didn't tell the
moaning perp was that she told 911 dispatch that she was at the scene
of an attempted fraud and assault with a motor vehicle. She knew
there was a security cam pointed directly at her on top of a light
pole 30 feet away. The cops showed up, they looked things over, one
of them went inside and reviewed the tape (which was collected as
evidence) while the paramedics examined the "victim", and the cops
decided that the gal was right. The perp, instead of getting a free
ride to the hospital, would up with a much less satisfying ride to the
county lockup. Last I heard, he was trying to plea bargain, and the
DA wasn't having any.
There are a lot of things I don't like about living in Houston, but
sometimes it rises above the muck...and by comparison to Miami, it's
damn close to perfect.
* * Chas
"Werehatrack" <rau...@earthWEEDSlink.net> wrote in message
news:gi3br2tsl705d0a21...@4ax.com...
When I was stationed in Japan in the 1960s we always had to have 2 people
riding in the front of all of our large vehicles, one to drive and the
other to look for pedestrians. Our vehicles were left hand drive and Japan
was a right hand drive country but the big thing we had to constantly
watch for were elderly people standing on corners waiting for us to drive
by.
Jumping in front of one of our vehicles was a socially accepted mode of
suicide. If they died their family was the beneficiary of a large payment
of "Gomen Money". Even if the person didn't get killed they were set for
the rest of their lives. There were legal officers on call to make instant
settlements.
These were not criminal acts in the same way as the insurance scams that
you mentioned. It was more of an issue of duty to ones family and not
being a financial burden on them.
We only had one situation at our base in the year and a half that I was
there but we were always cautious. No one wanted to run down an older
person.
Chas.
ddog
Ozark Bicycle wrote:
> I can't think of anything stranger than some newb coming on the group,
> asking a series of strange, off-the-wall questions regarding long
> defunct manufacturers, cheap outdated RDs
Someone approached me, so wanted to find out the differences. Trust
through verification, since found out 'old outdated defunct cheap'
rachet shifters were the best possible shifter for crank. Its what
Lance Armstrong uses for crank shifter, and he is a racer. Heard of him
before? Several members here painstaking helped see the diffferences. I
just bought a Campy Centuar!
> and five speed freewheels and
Well that's what I've got, and that's what I'm getting with IRD
hyperglide 5 speed. What more do you need? With ANY Campy rd (1999 and
up) and a 9 speed pulley set/chain, you can have ERGO 8 and its NOT
OBSOLETE. Duh you say? Although I will not need Ergo 8 in FL, I may
later and want the option in the future. Rachet shifting in my aerobar
cockpit will be the next best thing for now especially with Swift Shift
on my Profile Century aerobar. In fact it will allow both hands on a
handlebar/aerobar for control while shifting. Still tweaking bars now,
but definitely acceptable as is now.
> then beginning to expose his sad stereotypes and prejudices. YMMV.
Engineers tend to just tell the truth and seek further truths. Sorry if
you are the king troll here, but I find the intellect here outstanding
otherwise. I am finding out things from experts as well as finding out
things not commonly known from research and personal experimentation on
my bike. But thanks for revealling that you are the king troll and I
will take that into account in the future.
Jasper Janssen
>> ddog wrote:
>>
>> - on homeless people and bicycles -
>>
>> > faking getting hit
>> > by cars at intersections for cash settlements.
>>
>> Geez..... :-(
>
>It happened to me.
A taxi minivan I was in hit a junkie on a bike, once (this was heerenveen,
and from the reaction of the cabbie, this was *the* homeless junkie of the
town), when he erratically dived in front of it. Nothing else happened. We
both went on our ways, the junkie swearing at us and the cab having lost
its front license plate.
Jasper
Jasper Janssen
<l.lic...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>There is a *huge* difference between donating and throwing away. I donate
>valuable stuff all the time. I hardly ever throw anything away. My place
>is full of stuff that's too good to throw away, and not good enough to
>donate. :-)
My local charity thingy throws most of the computers (anything older than
4 or 5 years for sure), let alone dead monitors/TVs, straight into the
trash. Those (when I can't fix them) I don't donate any more.
Jasper
Leo Lichtman
"Jasper Janssen" wrote: My local charity thingy throws most of the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Where I live, we're not allowed to throw that stuff in the trash. We have a
tax-supported recycling center for electronic waste.
Luke
<q8xth.803563$QZ1.6...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, Leo
Lichtman <l.lic...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
Hmm. Just listening to an NPR feed here in Canada; the host is
detailing the succession of scandals that have flourished under the
dome of the Capitol. Seems to me that in Congress you also have a
tax-supported recycling center for a species of rubbish much more toxic
than obsolete circuitry!
Luke
ddog
On Jan 24, 2:08 pm, Luke <lucasirag...@rogers.com> wrote:
> In article
> <q8xth.803563$QZ1.628...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, Leo
>
> Lichtman <l.licht...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> > "Jasper Janssen" wrote: My local charity thingy throws most of the
> > computers (anything older than 4 or 5 years for sure), let alone dead
> > monitors/TVs, straight into the trash. (clip)
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > Where I live, we're not allowed to throw that stuff in the trash. We have a
> > tax-supported recycling center for electronic waste.Hmm. Just listening to an NPR feed here in Canada; the host is
Michael Press
<gi3br2tsl705d0a21...@4ax.com>,
Werehatrack <rau...@earthWEEDSlink.net> wrote:
We put with some stuff because the only alternative is
poor use of our time. Sometimes the clouds part, the
sun shines, and the almighty smites the godless
malefactor.
One fine day I was taking a freeway ramp from one
freeway to another, a right 90 degree ramp that had a
badly designed two lanes in, one lane out
configuration. In the middle where there was less than
1 1/2 lanes a candidate for compost roars in front of
me, forcing me to swerve and brake. On my way again a
highway patrol officer rides up next to me and waves me
over. I comply, wait, and a couple minutes later he
comes back to me. He says good day, apologizes at
length for the candidate's act, again wishes me a good
day, and sends me on my way. Up the road the malefactor
is getting a citation.
--
Michael Press
Jasper Janssen
Well.. the TV container at the local 'recycling station', I mean. A small
yard with a bunch of containers, one each for things like metal, wood,
plaster, asbestos, white goods, brown goods, other. Also there is a
trailer owned by said local recycling center, where you can put anything
you think might be salvageable. Then at the end of the day their guys come
along, do a rough sort and throw half the stuff away to start with
(although sorting it into the proper containers).
The brown and white goods do go to 'recycling', but that's as far as i can
gather recycling in the sense that they put it through a crusher and then
'recycle' the bits that look like there might be valuable metal in them,
as opposed to recycling of the nature of 'here, that's a perfectly good TV
if we jigger the thingummy there and replace the thang from the junkbox,
and now somebody'll pay us 200 bucks for it'.
Jasper
Jasper Janssen
>Luke, its the toxic solder in electronics.
Solder ain't all that toxic, it's just lead/tin in a 60/40 (usually)
alloy. Heavy metal posioning at worst. There's lots of stuff much more
toxic in a circuitboard.
Jasper
Jasper Janssen
wrote:
>One fine day I was taking a freeway ramp from one
>freeway to another, a right 90 degree ramp that had a
>badly designed two lanes in, one lane out
>configuration. In the middle where there was less than
>1 1/2 lanes a candidate for compost roars in front of
>me, forcing me to swerve and brake. On my way again a
>highway patrol officer rides up next to me and waves me
>over. I comply, wait, and a couple minutes later he
>comes back to me. He says good day, apologizes at
>length for the candidate's act, again wishes me a good
>day, and sends me on my way. Up the road the malefactor
>is getting a citation.
Uh.. why is the police apologising to you for something some other guy
did? Unless they were in hot pursuit of him already?
Jasper
Michael Press
<4a0lr25n1anbahikn...@4ax.com>,
Jasper Janssen <jas...@jjanssen.org> wrote:
I do not know how to explain this.
The officer saw the dangerous driving of the guy, and
went to detain him. He took time and trouble to erase
the bad effect on me of the perpetrator's dangerous and
impolite act. I went on my way a happier man; and one
less likely to do something dangerous myself (not that
I in fact drive that way). He gave me time to cool off
and let me know that this time the malefactor would
immediately reap what he sowed.
--
Michael Press
John Thompson
Mark Hickey
> Jasper Janssen <jas...@jjanssen.org> wrote:
>> Uh.. why is the police apologising to you for something some other guy
>> did? Unless they were in hot pursuit of him already?
>
>I do not know how to explain this.
>
>The officer saw the dangerous driving of the guy, and
>went to detain him. He took time and trouble to erase
>the bad effect on me of the perpetrator's dangerous and
>impolite act. I went on my way a happier man; and one
>less likely to do something dangerous myself (not that
>I in fact drive that way). He gave me time to cool off
>and let me know that this time the malefactor would
>immediately reap what he sowed.
Makes sense - the initial tendency would be to pull over when the cops
stopped the idiot, and give him a piece of your adrenaline-charged
opinion, at which point the cops might have to decide which of you to
taser. ;-) They might also have considered needing you as a witness
if they thought they might need one (for example if they found the guy
was drunk or running drugs or ????, and needed to make sure they had
an airtight reason for having pulled him over).
Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame