My Klunkerz.

I know what your saying, but they're silky smooth on the road... These need to be on one of my keepers lol. Not sure how good the yellow will look against the blue frame, but we shall see.

Introducing Pistonpopper in the much awaited sequel to the legendary 12 cars in a year.... 12 bicycles in half an hour! 😂
Hahaha 😊

12 bicycles in half an hour? It would take me that long just to write the opening sentence lol. D'you know what, i have no idea! I sat there today looking at my growing stock pile of bikes and wondered to myself what the heck am i up to? I have the Carrera and the Jamis, and both of them ride very nicely, and even look quite nice, so why on Earth am i faffing around with this Townsend? I really need to get my head read. My only defence is that with the Townsend i could build a bike that looks rubbish, but due to the parts used it is good to ride. Therefore having something that i can probably leave anywhere and it wont get knicked... Even if it isnt locked up! Yes i know what you mean, and after a long think today i am sort of questioning the madness! I'm not really sure what its about anymore lol. I wanted it to be about the build, the ride, et cetera. But at the moment i don't seem to be finishing anything, and i'm just tinkering at best, and procrastinating at worst! I must admit i do keep looking at the pair of them.



I think out of the two i prefer the Carrera, although i find the colour of the Jamis to be very striking! But i think the Jamis will be the one that gets re-homed first, and the Carrera will be the FELT replacement for now!



Although i think i will tweak the Carrera a bit, so that when it does go MIA i'll know it when i see it! I think i'll swap bits around with some of the bikes i have in stock, and see how it ends up! I really need to start thinning the herd! AGAIN!!

sounds like a plan. it's an addiction I'm afraid, once you start it is very difficult to stop.

if you going to swap some bits around then swipe the shifters, bar and maybe the rear mech of the ridgeback for the subway.
you could always do what we did when couriering and wrap the frame in old inner tubes if you want something that people aren't likely to want to nick. made it scratch proof too.

Love this thread, I used to be exactly same in my youth (about 10 years ago) find some scrap metal as an excuse to go the bike section in the tip just to see what was in, nearly always came home with a bike, had this one about 9 years now, was a fiver, and all the upgrades have come from scrap bike as well


Unfortunately in recent years the council has leased the tip to a private firm, anything that looks vaguely saleable goes in a Luton Transit headed for the car boot with a silly price tag. Which is really annoying because I really need a front caliper and lever for a shonky bmx I'm building, and to go to a shop would put the brake at about 3x what the bike has cost so far

After returning home with my ute empty from selling the RIH racer i figured that i'd stop by the tip to see what they had on offer! In short, next to nothing, Saturday is usually quite poor down there, however...



I did manage to pick up another Jamis and a BMX. I dunno, never seen a Jamis before then in the space of a couple of weeks two of the things turn up!



This is ofcourse the tip of the iceberg as far as my cycle collection at the moment! I did also have a bit of a tinker with the Townsend Topeka. That has been on a weight loss program, as i managed to spirit away a couple of alloy wheels from the tip! I havn't yet weighed it, but the Topeka is noticeably lighter! It also looks a bit better with a splash of silver on it, all black wasn't the way forward as far as i was concerened! Also...



I've started to have a bit of a play with the Carrera Subway. This is it, pre playing with it! I keep looking at it, and i quite like it. When i am sitting on it the frame size and dimensions seem to suit me quite well. I think i can make something of this that will work for me. There will be changes, i think i'll loose all the black, and replace it with aluminium. The tyres have already been re-homed on the Topeka, and i think the handlebars will get swapped out with the ones on the Ridgeback, possibly the wheels too! Then i'll see how it rides... Gotta find a chain first as well! Hmm, really do need to start to have a proper culling... Perhaps i should hold my own auction!!

Thanks PP, managed to bag a 99p eBay bargain on Friday. Wish my beloved would let me keep more than 2 bikes at home though

I can't quite remember, but i think the bidding started at £30 and i think it ended somewhere in the region of £50. But the starting point was more than i wanted to pay, so i didn't bother with it. But you're right, i thought it was pretty cool too. Bikes at our tip start at about a tenner, these were a tenner each i think, one is significantly nicer than the other. I'd agree with that statement, it did look to be a very well made machine, i almost wish i had a chance to give it a good looking over before selling it to my friend, but i'm sure i'll get to look at it again at some point. I'm just glad he's got it, as he'll really enjoy it i reckon.

Today i had to visit the tip, and in a rare change of events i was dropping off, not picking up! Anyway, as ever when i visit the tip i always check the bikes section (just incase), and the metal section. It was in the bike section that i saw this...



A Kalkhoff Weltmeister. But not just any old Kalkhoff Weltmeister, a Kalkhoff Weltmeister that i'm pretty sure i sold about two years ago! To be fair i have no way to prove this, it's just that you don't see all that many Kalkhoff bikes at the tip, or indeed anywhere in my town. Infact, in my town i've only ever seen three including this one, and i think i've seen this one twice! The first one i picked up was a ladies bike this took forever and a day to sell on, but it was good to ride. Then the second (and probably third) one was this Kalkhoff Weltmeister. The only reason that i think i've had this before is because of the furry things in the wheels that keep the hubs clean! Plus its quite a big frame. However the more Eagle eyed amoungst you may have noticed that there is a piece missing.



Yep, the handlebars. This is quite an important bit in my opinion, and i used it as a bargaining point! The next thing i knew, i had a Kalkhoff in the bed of my ute! When i had this thing last time i remember looking at it and thinking that it was quite a nice looking bike, and almost didn't want to sell it. But common sense got the better of me and away it went even though i had plans for it! Well it won't get away this time, or atleast, not until i've had my wicked way with it! Next stop, the metal bin! Peering inside the big Ro-Ro skip full of steel i quickly located a ladies touring bike which had a pair of handlebars! I got the hook they guys use to fish things back out of the skip if they get thrown in by mistake! Before long i was fishing, and i caught a Gary Fisher ladies bike, possibly only ten years old! It was then i was apprehended by the guy who runs the metal bit! What are you up to he said. I looked at him briefly before replying that i was getting this bike out as i needed the handle bars! Before too long he had a hook on the other end of the bike, and we pulled it out. I then whipped my little multitool from my pocket, and took the handlebars off. I then chucked the rest of the bike back in the skip. Right then said the man, what should i charge you for this? I said, nothing, it's already in the skip so it was going to be recyled into baked bean tins, you had your chance to sell it when it was a complete bike! I fumbled in my pocket to see if i had any change. I pulled out a ten pence piece and put it in his hand. Is that it? He said. I said, i hope not, i'm hoping for atleast five pence change because this isn't worth ten pence at current scrap light iron prices, which is what it is once its in this bin! He told me to be gone (or something like that!) So i headed off!



I also 'liberated' a pair of Mushroom looking grips froma BMX while i was there! Before too long i was looking at my Kalkhoff complete with handlebars! So plans for it? Well, i remember wonder the last time how good it would look without all the clutter, so strip it. No chain guard, no mud guards, no dynamo lights, and definately no rack... The bare essentials! However, it's all in really nice condition, so i shall keep the bits to put back onto it if i change my mind! It does ride really nicely... Theres a fair chance this will mean the sale of the Townsend Topeka!

Today in my wisdom or otherwise i decided to take the kids to the Beach, or somewhere quite near it as they were bouncing off the walls at home. So as Mrs Pistonpopper was out at work we climbed into the Chev-suzu, and headed off. Initially Hayling Island was to be the destination, but as we arrived at the junction the que was already quite a long way along the A27... I headed on! The Chev-suzu hadn't had a run for a while, so i decided that Worthing is where we'd stop for a bit. I've not been there for ages, so why not? Well, why not? Basicially because i got lost, and eventually ended up in Brighton! No matter, i've not been there in a while either. We parked up, then wandered along the sea front which was lovely, then decided to have a look around the town! It was then that it really cost me money, as we were walking along this street we wandered past this charity shop, and there it was in the window! I knew right away that i had to have it, and as Mrs Pistonpper was at work i was without proper adult supervision, so then i knew i would have it! My Eldest Pistonopppet asked me if i really needed another bike, and i told her that although i really didn't need it, it would be a shame to leave it there when we've come all this way, and have a pick up that it would fit in...



Nearly! Besides, it was a charity shop, therefore i was helping them out by giving them money for something that they would have been given for free! She then asked what i thought Mummy would say. I told her that Mummy would be very pleased, as this is one fo the charities that she used to volunteer for, so she would be glad that i'd helped them out. So new bike bought, put into the Chev-suzu (almost) and we headed for home, it was getting late, and i don't really like leaving my truck parked with the tailgate open and a bike hanging out the back. Once back at Pistonpopper towers i unloaded the bike, and stood back to have a good long look at it...



Oh yeah... I'm a badass lol! Its a Falcon Long Beach, and it's big! The wheels are 26" to give you some idea of scale! Well, after a quick look over i decided that i would head on out for a spin to see how it rides! Out on my ride i ended up chatting with a gentleman who is a little more vintage that myself by possibly a good 20-25 years. He was riding along on a Raleigh Lizard, and seemed to know a thing or two about bikes, and was more than happy to share his opinion of my latest bike with me. He told me that Choppers like this are not meant to be ridden, they are just for looking at, and infact the Raleigh Chopper is possibly the most dangerous bike of all time!! I told him that i had to disagree with him there, as a Chopper owner in my youth i found it to be quite a safe bike, yes i had some scrapes and bumps, and even broke my arm on it, but you have to remember that my riding style was a cross between Evel Knievel, and Barry Sheene... I was bound to get knocked about riding like that! He just said, there you go, thats because it was a Chopper. I told him that it wasn't any design fault of the Chopper that got me hurt, pretty much every time it was down to pilot error! I then went on to tell him that when i got too big for my Chopper, i went on to use a normal roadbike, a Halfords Pathfinder (i think), which was about as normal a looking bike as you could find, and on that thing (because of my riding style!) I got really hurt, infact at one point i got a broken nose, and jaw on that in one go! That was a bad day, and one that even today thinking about it as i write this i can feel the pain to the point that i've just rubbed my nose, chin, and forehead, and this all happened over thirty years ago! I don't honestly like thinking about it even now... Anyway, we had a lengthy chat about the Falcon, and to cut a long story short, he didn't like it, as he thought it would be dreadful to ride! I offered him a go, but he declined as he preferred proper bikes... Hmm, should introduce him to my Townsend Topeka! Now i can understand from a handling stand point that he's probably right, it's not going to be the sharpest handling bike out there. But then this is just horses for courses. If i wanted something that handled crisply, then hanging onto the Giant would've been a good thing to do. But sharp handling is not what i'm after. My riding style is no longer a cross between Evel Knievel and Barry Sheene thankfully! I like to just cruise along these days, i'm not in a hurry, i'm not trying to set a lap record, i just want to waft along happily. I don't want to dress like a lycra clad Power Ranger when i'm out on my bike, i want jeans and a T-shirt. So i told him this, and his respose was, well i guess it's ok, if you just want to look cool and pose around on your bike like you're the Fonz or something! Wow!! The Fonz! I'm gonna take that as a compliment, i do want to look cool like the Fonz! Sadly on the way home i rode past a supermarket window and realised that i don't look cool like the Fonz, if anything i look like Mr Cunningham (at best) on the Fonz's bike! Oh well never mind! But up until that point i was Arthur Fonzarelli cruising through town on my bike! Damn those big windows lol! Thing is though, the old boy did make me chuckle, he said to me, when i've had as many bikes as him, i would know a thing or two about bikes that are good to ride, and bikes that are not! So i then asked him if he at any point had owned a cycle shop? He said that he hadn't. So i asked him how many bikes he'd actually owned. He said that in his life he's probably owned thirty or so!! I said to him, Thirty or so... Thats a lot!! I didn't have the heart to tell him i probably have that amount right now lol! I then went on to say that out of these thirty or so bikes how many where Choppers, or Chopper style bikes? He said that none of them were, they're dangerous! So i said to him, ok then, how many Choppers have you ridden? He said, none, because they're... I know i said, dangerous! Right, he said! So then i said, ok then, so based on NO first hand experience, therefore just heresay propably based on the early Mk1 Rasleigh Chopper, you've made judgements that you believe to be true, but only because of what you've been told, or read. He thought for a while as we rode along, but eventually said that he believed it to be true, even thought he had no experience, or had even known anywone who had ever owned a Chopper that had told him it was dangerous. So i said, well, i've had quite a few Chopper style bikes, and admittedly, i've not had one this big before, but i think it will be no less safe than any of the other bikes in my collection. And if he should ever feel the need to try riding a Chopper for himself, then he should just let me know! It was a pleasant enough ride, and to be fair i quite enjoyed the conversation. I kinda hope i run into him again (not litterally!) Although next time i hope to be on my Kalkoff, or something else that isn't Choppery! See what we chat about then!



However, no doubt you're wondering what Mrs Pistonpopper thought of it when she saw it. Well, the first thing she said was that it was big, and do i need another bike? My respose to this was, but i don't have one of these! She said that was fair enough! As for my plans for it, well, i don't know, i think i'll ride it about a bit before deciding if its a keeper, but if it turns out to be, then i think a winter strip down, and a new coat of paint will be in order, but we'll have to see how it goes in the meantime... Let's ride!