Occasionally one will find a dumpster that consistently has such an enormous variety and quantity of non-gross stuff that it turns dumpster diving into pure entertainment.
Last week a companion and I visited such a bin during a longish late night bike ride. As he peered over the top of the industrial sized dumpster he said “Hey, there are bikes in here! A not bad Trek and a three speed.”
“Three speed?! What kind?” I asked as I scrambled up the other side. Few things get my attention like internally geared hubs.
“Shimano.”
“Crappy. Oh wait, how’s the shifter?” One of the ECOS bikes actually needs an old Shimano 3-speed shifter, and I had almost given up hope of finding one. I jumped in and found the bikes tangled up and underneath furniture, the 3-speed hub on a cheap, rusted late 70’s/early 80’s folding bike, but the shifter seemed just fine, so I decided I wasn’t going to leave without it.
Shimano 3-speed and all the fixin's!
With an adjustable wrench and some other dumpster bits we turned into makeshift screwdrivers, I got everything I needed to fix the library bike, plus my companion and I took the seats as well, the folding bike’s seat being similar but slightly wider than Poplar’s current saddle, so hopefully it’ll be a good replacement.
Amongst the other random crap, I also found an old vegetarian cookbook and a comic book from the eighties called CARtoons (cuz it’s about cars, get it?)
CARtoons 1980's vs CARtoons 2000's
I grabbed it because I thought it would be a nice juxtaposition to Andy Singer’s CARtoons. I still have no idea what to do with 2 iron-on transfers.
Evolution of CARtoons 1980's to CARtoons 2000's (with a BMX'er cameo). Click on the image to enlarge to read.
My bike takes me places your auto will never go. Go BMX kids!
mmmm…internally geaared hubs….mmmmm…
hey there, i know this is an older post, but i am fixing up an old three speed with the same exact shifter. all three speeds work, but they slip out rather easily, so you end up going back to 1. Have any thoughts or advice about how to make it work properly? Sorry i’m about 2 years late on this post.
The hub should work properly when the shifter is in second and the “N” inside the circle and the fine red line match up exactly with the window on the part that connects the hub with the cable. If it doesn’t line up, you can adjust the cable tension with the adjuster barrel (the part that screws the cable to the hub) until it’s perfectly centered. Also check that the screws are tight on all the cable housing stops so they’re not moving around.