Today's trip to the recycling centre..

[Windle]

I'm getting the urge to do a tip run now! Although the one I normally go to doesn't sell old bikes. My most local one (Cragwood near Evenwood) did, but it the council closed it donkey's years ago. The other big one nearest me is a bit far for a work lunchtime and don't even think about going on a weekend . It's a shame the council changed the opening hours a good few years ago so that none are open before 9 am and don't stay open long after work home time ~ if I were a more cynical sort of chap I might be inclined to think that they wanted to discourage usage to make their waste records look good.... .

 

[wafter]

More this weekend having nipped in on the bike yesterday.

The headliner was doubtless this 1987/88 Raleigh Sirocco. It's a slight oddball as it's "only" a 501 frame but is otherwise fairly decent-spec; with 105 / "Golden Arrow" groupset and lovely internally-lugged forks. I asked on the day about cost with a view to scoring a double-win of saving it / punting it on for a bit of a profit..

I was initially told "£30 but with a bit of waggle room" and mulled it over whilst lying in bed this morning. I figured if I could get it for £20 I'd have it so drove down there first thing. Unfortunately the other member of staff I spoke to today wanted £40 and would only come down to £30.

Given that £100-150 would buy you a decent one I declined, since it had quite a lot of -apparently superficial - rusty scuffs on the frame, while the chain and cassette were utterly rusty, along with some bits of the otherwise very nice looking groupset. The tyres and saddle were also goosed so it wouldn't have made a viable fixer-upper to sell and was too small to suit me, so wasn't something I was going to keep. I did check the seatpost and stem, which were both miraculously free despite the damp conditions it had obviously endured..

I was on the fence when I went down there and tbh the bloke probably did me a favour. I hope someone saves it though as I think it deserves it, and if nowt else it's pretty rare to see a frame in 501 with internally-lugged forks (for which I have a bit of a fetish, if this hadn't been noticed).

Other bikes of note included a Falcon "Grand Prix" - again in 501 and seeming surprisingly light; although not particularly high-spec:

... another lowish-end Falcon with 501 frame:

A little Raleigh "even more Extreme":

A Raleigh "Pioneer Commute" - which looked worth a punt, other than its unfeasibly archaic chromed steel rims - methinks this might be a base model they used to get rid of old stock rims..

Looking like a nicer bet there was also this sadly buried Raleigh Pioneer Elite 18:

....

 

[wafter]

We also have a few more old-school utility options, including a boggo Raleigh Mixte of some description:

This Raleigh Wisp; again in 18-23 gas pipe:

Finally we have this pretty decent-looking Raleigh Courier; which I'd have been very tempted by if I had the space and an immediate use for it..

Sadly some of the bikes from my previous visit are still down there too; including the little Mustang, Claude-Butler road bike and oddly the Marin MTB; from which some tosser has robbed the seat and post - meaning the inside of the frame's now open to the elements


Trips to the tip are always a bittersweet experience when it comes to bikes - excitement as to what bargains might be found, tainted with sadness that such potentially serviceable, good quality rides are being discarded and left to rot.

This is compounded by the pricing situation - some time ago I was told "£10 for big bikes, £5 for small" which seemed like a nice price to get them moved and kept out of the scrap. It now seems like they're asking closer to market rates; which is bound to put a lot of people off (why keep going to the tip on the offchance you'll find something you like when you can pick up what you actually want from Muppetplace or ebay that's not stood outside in the rain for weeks or months...?). Sadly I think this will just result in more being scrapped