Hello Folks;
My name is Randy. My online name is randyjawa.
It seems than my name has come up in your forum, recently, due to an auctio n that I listed on Ebay. The auction title is "A Choice, A Thank You and S omething Special". My purpose with that listing, primarily, was to say tha nk you, to all of the people who have been kind enough to follow my auction s. Secondly, I wanted to let these same people know, that I am taking a mo nth off from Ebay, to ride the roads of Jamaica, while my wife guards the b each. Third, and to make the auction interesting, I offered a choice of so me of my best bikes. All are high end and pretty rare. I offered the bike s to keep me legal with Ebay. In all honesty, I really do not want to sell even one of my special bikes but I do have too many to look after properly .
I am a retired guy who likes bicycles, particularly vintage road bicycles. I have owned and parted with everything, from a late forties French Rochet in rough shape, to a gorgeous 1971 Carlton "Professional". My present bic ycle collection focuses on high end, and rare, Canadian made vintage road b icycles, of which I have seven or eight. Most of my bicycles are not exoti c, but a half dozen or so, each year, are more than worth digging deep for.
I have found and street restored over three hundred bicycles, in the past f ew years. From that experience, I learned a great deal about these old gem s. Some of what I learned, I learned from the Net. Most, I learned by doi ng. And, it is what I have personally experienced, both in building and ri ding, that I hope to share, on my soon to be released web site, E-zine, or what ever you call this sort of information/entertainment package these day s. I really don't know what to call my information/entertainment package, but I have it. I have spent months working on it. And I finished the seco nd rewrite this morning. Thank goodness.
I am not a bicycle expert of any kind, but I am pretty good at finding old road bicycles. In fact, I can pretty much do it on demand these days. I h ave tried this and that, combining each with other things, to come up with about a dozen proven bike hunting procedures that I use regularly. I find between sixty and one hundred bicycles each year by myself. I am not part of a group. Some of the procedures work OK. Some work pretty good. At le ast one works almost instantly, and every time - for me.
I am a retired professional industrial mechanic, and I spent thirty years a pplying my trade. I have written books, on vintage motorcycle restoration and other topics. I spent ten years developing Management Systems for a ve ry large company. It was during my Management System days, that I came to understand what I believe to be the true purpose of business. To help oth ers! That, incidentally, is a long story, but I believe absolutely in the principle.
I sell quite a few bicycles and I am disturbed, by the general lack of unde rstanding, that many people exhibit with their questions and concerns. I s ee people paying too much for some of my bicycles and, quite frankly, I fee l uncomfortable about it, even though I start most of my bikes at ten dolla rs, with no reserve. I hope to help people who wish to get started do so w ithout making the mistakes that I did. And I made them all, as nearly as I can tell.
Our hobby/sport is growing very quickly. There are a great many new people , expressing an interest in acquiring a frame set and building a bike thems elves. With that in mind, I realized that there was a need, for an informa tion resource that catered to every level of vintage road bicycle interest. From entry level, the person just getting into the hobby/sport, to the ex pert who has been involved since these bicycles were the hot items, of thei r day. The question was, how to reach, inform and entertain all levels of expertise and interest. I think that I have a pretty good answer. I hope you will take a look and find what I have to share informative and entertai ning at the same time.
I am a Bicycles for Humanity volunteer. What a good organization, we have in our city. Nothing really formal, but we have sent 430 bicycles to Namib ia, already. And our second container is bursting with over five hundred b icycles, tires, components, basket balls, and you name it... That containe r is away in a month, or so, and then we intend to focus on local bicycle i ssues, concerns and promotion.
Finally, since I hope I have your attention, I am always open to trading my European stuff, for unusual vintage Canadian road bikes. In case anyone is interested.
Anyway, since my name came up, I though that I would join your group and in troduce myself. When I get back from Jamaica, I hope to list the new web s ite as a "Buy It Now" on Ebay. I am not even sure that I will be allowed to do that, but it seems like a good way to reach most of the people who mo st need a bit of help.
Best regards,
Randy