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Man Accidentally Sells Wife’s Beloved Vintage Bike, Tries Desperately to Get It Back


Page Turner

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For the first 44 years of marriage, Allan Steinmetz, of Newton, Massachusetts, had a happy wife and a happy life.

Then he sold her bike.

He hadn’t originally planned to sell it,:rolleyes: but it had sat unused in his garage for about 40 years, he told Bicycling.

In those 40 years, however, he had forgotten just how special the bike was. The bright yellow, Motobecane French touring bike was the top of the line in the 1970s when his wife, Sarina, was gifted it by her father.Her father, a Holocaust survivor, had given her the bike when she was 16, and even went so far as to customize the handles to be straight, because he wanted her to “always stand up tall.” (#Nazi's)

 

Sarina had been saving the bike to give to her granddaughter on her 16th birthday. That Sunday it was sold also happened to be the fourth anniversary of her father’s death, which made the situation even harder.

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a28223820/man-sells-wifes-bike-tries-to-get-it-back/

 

 

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3 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Yes.  They publish monthly, and near as I can tell, have 4 total issues that they rotate through. 

You can kinda/sortof call it a magazine. It’s more of a catalog of expensive bikes and gear. They never saw an expensive bike that they didn’t like. It’s hard to tell which are their actual paid ads from their reviews. Last year they did actually have a couple stories about a couple riders that were interesting.

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8 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Yes.  They publish monthly, and near as I can tell, have 4 total issues that they rotate through. 

4 hours ago, Longjohn said:

It’s more of a catalog of expensive bikes and gear.

I canceled my subscription probably 10 years ago for both of these reasons.  Glad to know I don't need to second-guess my decision.

RE the accidentally sold bike  - how could this guy "forget" such a back story?  Dope.

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8 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Yes.  They publish monthly, and near as I can tell, have 4 total issues that they rotate through. 

Bicycling recently changed to 6 issues a year. Now they only need to rotate through 2 issues.

I was a member of two different clubs that gave Bicycling Magazine as one of their perks. I didn't realize that my subscription were good for 5 years into the future. I quit both of them a couple of years ago and the end was getting closer. However when Bicycling went to 6 issues, they stretched out my subscription until around 2025.

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https://patch.com/massachusetts/newton/did-you-buy-vintage-yellow-bike-garage-sale-newton

He describes his wife as a vivacious, caring and giving person.

"She's extremely charitable and hardworking, and she's a very special person," he said. "And often doesn't get the attention or consideration from me that she deserves. And this is a perfect example of that. This is a teaching moment for me to appreciate her more."

She's more than worth this embarrassing quest to find the bike and pay whatever it takes to get it back, he said. His embarrassment is nothing, he said. "It's humiliating for her to have a husband like me that did this."

Finding this bike is about making amends, he said.

"This is about her, making sure she feels whole, and special ... I'm doing everything in my power to get this bicycle back for her and to demonstrate my love and affection for her. This is about her."

If there's a lesson in here for others?

"Think three times before you make a decision that might affect other people. And be focused, don't be distracted," he said.

 

....words to live by, @AirwickWithCheese :nodhead:

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Now this doesn't add up to me.  How could he not know the bike had that much sentimental value to his wife?  After 44 years, that seems to me to be something he'd have known.

 

My wife's old Schwinn is hanging in my garage still waiting on me to figure out a wheel build for years now, but it's still there and I'd never think of getting rid of it.

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14 minutes ago, Indy said:

Now this doesn't add up to me.  How could he not know the bike had that much sentimental value to his wife?  After 44 years, that seems to me to be something he'd have known.

 

My wife's old Schwinn is hanging in my garage still waiting on me to figure out a wheel build for years now, but it's still there and I'd never think of getting rid of it.

Fix it! Have you not learned a lesson Indy??

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Just now, Dottie said:

Fix it! Have you not learned a lesson Indy??

I want to, but it's complicated and have had the time to really sit down and figure out which direction I want to go.  It's the old Schwinn proprietary wheel size.  I tried wheels supposedly for it, but I don't know if it's the lack of a grip edge or badly made tires (I think it was the tires as they seemed slightly to big) but could not get them seat on.  So I tore them apart to use the original three speed hubs, and was thinking of going 26" rims, but still not sure as they are slightly small, once that's figured out it's a matter of figuring out spoke length and all of that crap.

Of course with moving last summer, now I have to find the hubs.  I'm to the point if I knew someone who could throw together a set cheap for it, I'd probably just let them do it.

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...those Schwinn 26 x 1 3/8" rims on a lot of their 3 speeds were a proprietary size, and tires to fit them were exclusive to Schwinn dealerships. Which was intentional, but it doesn't make your life easier now.   You can probably go with either a standard 27" wheel, or something in 700c with an IGH that will fit in the dropouts without too much adjustment if you can find something in the pre-built wheels world.

Depends on how much adjustment reach you have on the brakes to move the shies up and down.

 

It might be easiest to just find a 3 speed rear donor bike on Craigslist with a set of wheels and go from there...just pitch the rest of the donor bike in the recycling. They're pretty cheap right now in my neighborhood.  But newer alloy rims are lighter and stronger than the old stuff, so the bike will go faster with less effort with new wheel rims.

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39 minutes ago, Page Turner said:

...Not that I know of. Only @AirwickWithCheese would have the hardness of heart to "whatever" a story about a Jewish Holocaust survivor bicycle loss. The man is evil incarnate.:angry:  

A Jewish Holocaust survivor bicycle loss.

It sounds almost ridiculous, yet it surely represents something serious and enduring passed down from the wife's father.

 

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1 hour ago, Indy said:

Now this doesn't add up to me.  How could he not know the bike had that much sentimental value to his wife?  After 44 years, that seems to me to be something he'd have known.

 

My wife's old Schwinn is hanging in my garage still waiting on me to figure out a wheel build for years now, but it's still there and I'd never think of getting rid of it.

Seriously, if you keep a bike for that long without riding it, you better be yapping about it all the damn time, otherwise it ought to be sold, given away, or tossed. 

No way he should be debasing himself over this, wtf hasn’t she given the bike as planned long ago?  And that part about changing the bar to stand tall against the nazis was complete bullshit.  Lots not adding up here.

Anyway, crap taking up space and being used has got to go. 

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1 hour ago, Page Turner said:

...those Schwinn 26 x 1 3/8" rims on a lot of their 3 speeds were a proprietary size, and tires to fit them were exclusive to Schwinn dealerships. Which was intentional, but it doesn't make your life easier now.   You can probably go with either a standard 27" wheel, or something in 700c with an IGH that will fit in the dropouts without too much adjustment if you can find something in the pre-built wheels world.

Depends on how much adjustment reach you have on the brakes to move the shies up and down.

 

It might be easiest to just find a 3 speed rear donor bike on Craigslist with a set of wheels and go from there...just pitch the rest of the donor bike in the recycling. They're pretty cheap right now in my neighborhood.  But newer alloy rims are lighter and stronger than the old stuff, so the bike will go faster with less effort with new wheel rims.

Can't go pre-built, the hub spacing is also different than today standards.  Rebuilding old bikes are a challenge, especially when it spent decades hanging in a barn gathering rust.  Got everything cleaned up and working, just need freaking rims and then wheels built up.

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3 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

Seriously, if you keep a bike for that long without riding it, you better be yapping about it all the damn time, otherwise it ought to be sold, given away, or tossed. 

No way he should be debasing himself over this, wtf hasn’t she given the bike as planned long ago?

Crap taking up space has got to go. 

Along the same lines, if you've hung onto something for that long, there is probably a reason.  So probably should check before hand.

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2 minutes ago, Indy said:

Along the same lines, if you've hung onto something for that long, there is probably a reason.  So probably should check before hand.

Yeah, she should be forever yapping about so he knows when he is forever tripping over crap that isn’t being used, don’t get rid of it.  She was stupid for not talking about, and he had enough and got rid of it.  Her bad, 90% of it. 10% of it is him not saying “do something with that old POS bike or I am selling it. “

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3 hours ago, Indy said:

Can't go pre-built, the hub spacing is also different than today standards.  Rebuilding old bikes are a challenge, especially when it spent decades hanging in a barn gathering rust.  Got everything cleaned up and working, just need freaking rims and then wheels built up.

...an olde steel Schwinn like that was constructed from (relatively) mild steel. It's not a big deal to string it up for reference measurements, and then to spread and realign the rear dropouts.  But if an IGH is what you (your wife) wants on this for her riding pleasure, it probably will be difficult (but not impossible) to seek out prebuilts on the internet machine using the Google tool. SRAM got out of the IGH  bidness (a tragedy for the modern bicycle world), but there are plenty of them around from the new and improved Chinese Sturmey Archer.

@Rattlecan knows more about this than anyone really should.

 

Back before I started constructing my own wheels, I would routinely spread and realign  a frame from 120 to 126, or 126 to 130, depending on the used wheels I had to work with from my personal collection. A frame like that won't take much force to spread it in the back, and even if the fork is an older standard (not 100mm), it's not a big deal if you measure carefully as you go.

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3 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Yeah, she should be forever yapping about so he knows when he is forever tripping over crap that isn’t being used, don’t get rid of it.  She was stupid for not talking about, and he had enough and got rid of it.  Her bad, 90% of it. 10% of it is him not saying “do something with that old POS bike or I am selling it. “

...#Nazi.

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5 hours ago, Indy said:

My wife's old Schwinn is hanging in my garage still waiting on me to figure out a wheel build for years now, but it's still there and I'd never think of getting rid of it. 

You probably should.

4 hours ago, Kirby said:

I can only imagine the discussion in the house when the wife found out

He probably just shouldn't have mentioned it and in another 40 years, someone could get it in the estate sale.

17 hours ago, Page Turner said:

In those 40 years, however, he had forgotten just how special the bike was. The bright yellow, Motobecane French touring bike was the top of the line in the 1970s when his wife, Sarina, was gifted it by her father.

It seems cycling isn't very important to the woman, surely her father gave her other things of more importance to her as well over his lifetime with her? Giving a bike to her granddaughter seems a big stretch and would likely just be another thing sitting on flat wheels in her child's garage once the granddaughter left for college in two years (with a car, but not the bike).

I say give the granddaughter the $50 or whatever the hubby got for the bike and call it a day.

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28 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

You probably should.

He probably just shouldn't have mentioned it and in another 40 years, someone could get it in the estate sale.

It seems cycling isn't very important to the woman, surely her father gave her other things of more importance to her as well over his lifetime with her? Giving a bike to her granddaughter seems a big stretch and would likely just be another thing sitting on flat wheels in her child's garage once the granddaughter left for college in two years (with a car, but not the bike).

I say give the granddaughter the $50 or whatever the hubby got for the bike and call it a day.

I agree with all of this. Plus, the granddaughter probably doesn’t even ride a bike. 

Anyway, after having lived with someone that has hoarding tendencies, my policy is to use it or get rid of it.  Simplify whenever possible. 

I think this whole thing is a hoax to score free stuff, attention, and/or sympathy.  

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1 hour ago, Page Turner said:

...an olde steel Schwinn like that was constructed from (relatively) mild steel. It's not a big deal to string it up for reference measurements, and then to spread and realign the rear dropouts.  But if an IGH is what you (your wife) wants on this for her riding pleasure, it probably will be difficult (but not impossible) to seek out prebuilts on the internet machine using the Google tool. SRAM got out of the IGH  bidness (a tragedy for the modern bicycle world), but there are plenty of them around from the new and improved Chinese Sturmey Archer.

@Rattlecan knows more about this than anyone really should.

 

Back before I started constructing my own wheels, I would routinely spread and realign  a frame from 120 to 126, or 126 to 130, depending on the used wheels I had to work with from my personal collection. A frame like that won't take much force to spread it in the back, and even if the fork is an older standard (not 100mm), it's not a big deal if you measure carefully as you go.

Nate helped me a lot with some advice and rather unorthodox techniques for working old bikes when I first tore into it.  Seat post was rusted in, handlebars were rusted in, just sad shape.  All cleaned up and lubricated.  Hubs rebuilt, cranks rebuilt, just need to get back to getting wheels built.  Nate was also really knowledgeable about the old bikes if you good him out of character and actually talking bikes.

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1 hour ago, Indy said:

Nate helped me a lot with some advice and rather unorthodox techniques for working old bikes when I first tore into it.  Seat post was rusted in, handlebars were rusted in, just sad shape.  All cleaned up and lubricated.  Hubs rebuilt, cranks rebuilt, just need to get back to getting wheels built.  Nate was also really knowledgeable about the old bikes if you good him out of character and actually talking bikes.

I like Nate way better than no Nate. 

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5 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Yeah, she should be forever yapping about so he knows when he is forever tripping over crap that isn’t being used, don’t get rid of it.  She was stupid for not talking about, and he had enough and got rid of it.  Her bad, 90% of it. 10% of it is him not saying “do something with that old POS bike or I am selling it. “

After further reflection, and acknowledging that I wasn’t there, I would be willing to say that they both sucked at communicating.  70% of the blame on her, 30% on him.  

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2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

You probably should.

He probably just shouldn't have mentioned it and in another 40 years, someone could get it in the estate sale.

It seems cycling isn't very important to the woman, surely her father gave her other things of more importance to her as well over his lifetime with her? Giving a bike to her granddaughter seems a big stretch and would likely just be another thing sitting on flat wheels in her child's garage once the granddaughter left for college in two years (with a car, but not the bike).

I say give the granddaughter the $50 or whatever the hubby got for the bike and call it a day.

 

2 hours ago, Randomguy said:

They make good strudel you know. 

 

2 hours ago, Randomguy said:

I agree with all of this. Plus, the granddaughter probably doesn’t even ride a bike. 

Anyway, after having lived with someone that has hoarding tendencies, my policy is to use it or get rid of it.  Simplify whenever possible. 

I think this whole thing is a hoax to score free stuff, attention, and/or sympathy.  

hqdefault.jpg

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56 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

After further reflection, and acknowledging that I wasn’t there, I would be willing to say that they both sucked at communicating.  70% of the blame on her, 30% on him.  

...if you ever find yourself wondering why you are single, you should refer back to this thread. :)

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2 hours ago, Page Turner said:

...if you ever find yourself wondering why you are single, you should refer back to this thread. :)

What kind of person forgets she has a bicycle without nazi bars out in the garage, wants to keep it for some ungrateful non-riding millennial for 40 plus years?  Moses did some wandering, but knew enough to toss what the donkeys were sick of carrying. 

Anyway, the guy got sick of looking at it while the granddaughter showed more interest in riding the whole HS basketball team than that rusty bike, he should have just owned it and said “Yeah? She should stop nagging me about it or she is next to the curb”. 

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11 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

It appears that RG has become the voice of reason in the Cafe again.  Having a steady job seems to be good for him.

And he’s showing the respect and admiration for the female members of the human race that make him date material again.

 

* uncrosses fingers *

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1 minute ago, Kzoo said:

And he’s showing the respect and admiration for the female members of the human race that make him date material again. 

Does he want to "date" women or just have his way with them and then move on?  He seems to have tried the "dating" and "relationship" and "marriage" things, and I'm wondering if the no strings attached path is more suited for a guy with so much to offer the opposite sex.  Why tie that tiger down????

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3 hours ago, shootingstar said:

And the bike might have not fit the grand-daughter anyway. To me, vintage bikes look uncomfortable..and too heavy.

Nostalgia.  There are things of mine that I want to leave for my children. They may never use them, but they’ll remember that those things were part of who dad was. 

Its a legacy thing.

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6 minutes ago, Zealot said:

Nostalgia.  There are things of mine that I want to leave for my children. They may never use them, but they’ll remember that those things were part of who dad was. 

Its a legacy thing. 

Man, can you imagine the guilt that poor granddaughter (the original guy's great granddaughter) would feel having to lug that old bike around for the rest of HER life? Perhaps hoping to soon have a daughter (or grand daughter) to pass it on to so it will be out of her hands.

Why couldn't it just have been a necklace or a ring????

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54 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Man, can you imagine the guilt that poor granddaughter (the original guy's great granddaughter) would feel having to lug that old bike around for the rest of HER life? Perhaps hoping to soon have a daughter (or grand daughter) to pass it on to so it will be out of her hands.

Why couldn't it just have been a necklace or a ring????

...the French threading alone would be enough to make the poor child collapse with a wail of despair. :(

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