MetroMPG's "Pirate Bike"
 

Allow me to present the Pirate Bike.


This 37.5 lb beauty got its name from this summer's "Treasure Hunt Day" - our city-promoted semi-annual junk fest / waste reduction program where residents place stuff at the curb they don't want any more for anyone to take away free (as opposed to putting it in the garbage or taking it to the dump).

It was plucked from the in front of a house around the corner. (Actually, it was leaning against a tree, so I knocked on the door just to be sure before riding away with it - the guy gave me the impression I was nuts to have asked.)

And in fact I couldn't ride away with it because the chain was rusted solid, as were the headset bearings (couldn't turn the bars easily). Nothing that couldn't be sorted out in about 45 minutes with some WD40 and patient working back and forth of parts.

It came with the lock on the top tube, too. Took me about 35 minutes to finally pick it (one of those simple 3-number rotary combinations).

So for the grand total of an hour and a bit's worth of tinkering, I had a "new" beater bike to ride around town and resolutely NOT lock up. And 1130 km later (of mostly sub 8 km round trips) it still hasn't been stolen!

Underneath the spray-can fluorescent green paint (previous owner) is a vintage Norco, about 20 years old - one of the original mountain mikes.

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Once I got the Pirate Bike working, I retired my previous beater bike (also a Treasure Hunt find) by listing it, appropriately enough, on FreeCycle:


This 30 year old Raleigh went to a woman who was tentatively looking at getting back into doing a little bike riding after knee surgery, but didn't want to commit by spending any money.

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And of course I also moved the custom hitch from the Raleigh over to the Pirate Bike so I'd still be able to pull around my home made bike trailer!

http://www.metrompg.com/posts/photos...ler-teaser.jpg

(Is it a bicycle trailer or a cargo trailer for a bike? I never know what to say.)

Nice find. I found my first road bike like that. Had a small crack in the top tube. It was pink and I got about 5000 miles out of it before the crack made it unsafe. The pirate looks like a big bike, did it fit you OK?

It is big, but not unmanageable. Tippy toes.

I probably put about 4000 km on the red Raleigh. A cracked top-tube would have sidelined me pre-ForkenSwift. But I know how to braze now.

That's some whacky frame geometry on the pirate bike. The headtube angle is amazingly steep, those old MTB's are funny that way.

I have the impression that there's no difference from the 10 speed / roadie frame of the same vintage. I think they just stuck on different cranks, wheels, bars & seat.

And fortunately the rims are aluminum, so they wont rust up like the Raleigh's steelies did from constantly being in the elements (and salted winter roads).

Stolen!
 

STOLEN!

The pirate bike has been pillaged!

I join the sad and growing ranks of EcoModders who have had their various types of transportation taken. Nearly four years of riding this thing around and never locking it, I was confident that it was immune to the covetous glances of velocipede villains.

Seriously, only a drunk person would have taken it. Probably just a case of "grab, ride & dump".

I'm hoping it'll turn up soon in a creek or in some bushes. Don't want to wait until the next garbage day to replace it! :D

condolences

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Ha! Thanks.

I had a look around the neighbourhood - found a fresh one in the creek (not mine).

Also put the word out to my cycling group and got a tip of another abandoned bike seen in a park. Located it too, and turned both bikes in to the police station while filing a report on mine.

If karma exists, maybe it'll pay off!

I had a knee-action Schwinn stolen once. It looked like hell though ("rat" stuff hadn't been invented yet) so once they saw it in the light they must have decided they made a mistake. It turned up a few days later. That was the second bike I had stolen.

I've had lots of other stuff stolen too but haven't been lucky enough to get any of that back. :mad:

Knee-action, eh? Had to look that one up. I'm hoping they make a similar decision when they see mine in the light of day.

I've had 2 other bikes stolen before this one. Found one a the same day, dumped on a lawn elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Lost the other one (locked) in the big city, and didn't bother looking or filing a report.

Like this, only ratty:

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...e6d07ca_05.jpg

Someone pilfered the pirate?! (sorry Darin... Had to.)

Pilfered & Pillaged.

How functional is/was that suspension? Seems like odd geometry.

Just curious, do you get "dibs" on the creek and park bikes if the cops do not locate their owners?

Karma rules!
 

Dcb: dunno - I didn't ask. Should have, I suppose, since one of the bikes was in better shape than mine.

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Found it!

Spotted it this AM less than a kilometer away, in a muddy ditch on a dead-end road.

Drunk teenager, too lazy to walk the rest of the way home on Saturday night, I'm guessing.

Yay! Glad you found it! After your post I was thinking back on all the stuff I've had stolen (probably not a good idea) and the return/solved rate is pretty dismal.

Knee-action really works well... I'm heavier than their target customer I'm sure, so it is extra smooth and extra bouncy for me. But it is fun to watch and I actually steer towards bumps instead of away so that I can watch it boing. And it is far more posh than any sprung mountain bike forks I've ever ridden.

Sounds like fun. Does the ... rake (?) angle change as the suspension moves?

Darin, it's good news that you found the Pirate, but bad all the same that it was stolen in the first place place. I was just about to propose that if you (or anyone else) ever need another bike, we have an old bike hanging in our garage for the last 5 years that we'd like to give to someone who would put it to good use. Just drop in and pick it up:thumbup:

Ha. Next time I'm passing through the neighbourhood, I'll drop in!

I actually had 2 similar offers for "beater" bikes from friends & allies. Apparently there's no shortage of surplus velocipedes hibernating in sheds & garages.

Yes, the forks pivot at the bottom of the stem so the rake changes. I haven't noticed any strange handling characteristic cuz of it.

Also, there is a built-in stem lock at the base of the stem! :eek: Limited utility though- it would prevent a ride-off but not a carry-off.

Here's to recycling bikes! I truly enjoy bringing a bike back from oblivion and making a sweet machine again. I always ask before picking from the curb. Cleaning, sanding, and repainting make a frame look brand new. I use automotive grade spray paint and clear coat everything I can. Kids really like a decent bike with a cool fairing. Check with the police for auctions of unclaimed stolen goods. If a local municipality has a bike registration program, look into it. Having a record of frame numbers and some photos helps if only with the homeowners insurance claim.

The pirate bike is still going ... made it through another winter of riding in the Canadian rust-belt.

Truth be told, it needed some mid-winter first-aid via a welder. (Fatigue fracture in the fork's steerer tube.)

It seems keeping this hideous hulk on the road (including time spent searching after it was stolen and dumped in a ditch) has become more of a personal challenge than a rational pursuit.

yes, but culture usually wins-out over rationality.

I snagged a Trek 800 free and it was in the same shape as Pirate. It took a few hours and the wasted chain that I replaced from my Igauna to get going. It rides nice except for the tire going flat over night. It is however rough looking, part of its charm.

Rough looking = built-in theft deterrence!

Wow was the winter road salt ever tough on my bicycle! :mad:

It's summer at the beginning of March- in like a lamb this year. No excuses for not getting those bikes out!!!

I'm summerizing the snowblower today, and got the Songi electric bike out of the bag, aired the tires, and put the battery pack in. Woo Hoo! :thumbup: Now to pedal off that extra 50 lbs that glommed on to me somehow. :confused:

Road salt is bad enough - but a devil's brew of that & calcium chloride mixed is...

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...h_ebb9fe50.jpg

That isn't something dredged up from the deep, that's just from three years of all-winter use, then just sitting for a couple of months... indoors actually, as all my bikes & bits are stored o.O

I'd never ride anything other than a beater bike in the winter :thumbup:

Ouch on that gear! What does your chain look like?

It looks replaced heh ;)

A cheap narrow snow brush helps keep the cogs clean. Bar and chain 30w oil sticks to parts. For keeping the salt at bay on metal parts I have used a marine grade clear coat from CRC. The internal gear bikes held up well year round. I use a heavy cable and a U type lock. I look for spots out of sight to park a bike.

That's what mine looks like after last winter... and it was such a mild winter that the street and hwy depts only used a tiny fraction of the road salt they usually do.

I'm in the middle of trying to fix that bike up; I see that the rear sprocket is MISSING 3 1/2 teeth! WTH? Never had that happen before.

Pirate Bike, the second. Also stolen!
 

Just coming back to update this thread. WITH MORE DRAMA!

Good news: I retired the afore-pictured green Norco pirate bike a couple of summers ago, replacing it with another bottom-of-the-line mountain bike that was being thrown away by a neighbour. So its lineage is as pure as the first one.

Bad news: It too was pilfered, a week ago. I looked for it at the scene of the previous crime (and along many more km of nearby bike paths & ditches) - sadly, no dice. I fear I may not recover this one, despite the fact the odds are very high it was only taken for a ride & dump. (It's otherwise worthless and ugly, not something you would profit from by stealing.)

That means I'm averaging ~5 years between thefts of my unlocked junk bike -- a bike that sits in full view of the sidewalk & road, year round. I think that's not a bad record, however it is a little inconvenient!