I love Bicycles! Swap. Signups CLOSED. Send outs 3/12

[!b]

Swap name: I Love Bicycles!
Craftster member who is organizing this swap: !b
Sign-up date range: 1/30-2/11
Date to send item by: 3/12/08

Limited to a certain number of people? (optional): 24

Restricted to people who all live in the same country? No

All ages allowed. Please make sure you have available funds for this swap, and a ride to the craft store/post office, etc. And please make sure your parents approve of you doing this!

Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: YES
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: YES
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: YES
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: YES

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month: YES
- Has posted at least 15 times: YES
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time: YES
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps: YES
- Does not have any negative feedback: YES

Details of swap:

Do you love your bike? Do you want to ride everywhere, all the time? Anything and everything bike related is acceptable for this swap. Water bottle cozies, t-shirts, cool things made of old bike parts! As long as it relates back to bikes, go ahead and make it.

This swap is for all bike lovers- roadies, mtb, cruisers, bmx. We all pedal and that's what counts!

For inspiration I would suggest the original idea thread: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=219002.0
Or a good old google search of bike related crafts!

The specifics:
You must craft 1 large, one medium and one small item. You can, of course, discuss these limitations with your partner and go from there. Make sure that you communicate regarding quantity of items, we don't want anyone to feel cheated or feel like a bad swap partner! Besides, this is a chance to make a crafty friend who also likes bikes, hurrah!

Large item = 3 or more hours
Medium item = 2 or more hours
Small item = 2 or less hours

You must post your swag in the gallery! If you do not have a digital camera let your partner know so that he/she can snap some shots before the goodies leave their hands.

I would also like to make it highly recommended that you post a picture of your bike in this thread! Who doesn't love to show off their bikes? This also gives your partner a little insight to your bike.

Please, please, please use your communicative skills. I want to know how you are doing and if you will be sending late! Don't be afraid to pm me with any questions or concerns, I promise I won't bite.

You must PM me when you ship and when you receive.
You must ship with a DC number (with the exception of international). Please keep receipts etc. just in case something happens to your package!


If you want to participate, information to send to organizer:

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:
Name of swap: I Love Bicycles!
Craftster username:
Email address:
Your real name:
Mailing address including the country:
Would you be willing to ship to an address outside your own country?:
What kind of bike do you ride/what kind of riding are you interested in?:
Describe your bike:
What got you into riding?:
Where/when do you ride?:
Where is you bike stored?:
What would you like to/have the abilities to send? (Basic what crafts do you do question):
What kind of things would you love to receive?:
Favourite colours/patterns? Or colours and patterns that go with your bike:
Favourite bike image or quote?:
Include shirt size, wrist size, preferred necklace length if you are interested in receiving any of these things.
Shirt:
Wrist:
Necklace:
Anything you would NOT like to receive?:
Other info that would be useful for your partner?:


IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO ORGANIZER VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE AND NOT TO REPLY WITH IT HERE.


Also remember to read the Swap Info Guide to find out how to ship your item and other details about participating in a swap.

Approved Swappers!
--------------------------------------------
1) !b (organizational master)
2) half pint
3) Casstasstrophie
4) maehem
5) cindy_23492
6) boywonder
7) animegirlie
buglady




Partners - will be posted 2/12
--------------------------------------------

boywonder - cindy_23492

animegirlie - buglady

casstasstrophie - maehem

half pint - !b

Gallery
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=234679.0

[!b]

Blue=Sent
Green=Received
Purple=Positive Feedback
Orange=Late with communication
Red=Uh Oh, PM me immediately.

boywonder - cindy_23492

animegirlie - buglady

casstasstrophie - maehem

half pint - !b

[Casstasstrophe]

Yay! I'm in.

My bike is in a box awaiting another cross country move but maybe I can convince my hubby to at least pull the frame out of the box so I can snatch a quick photo. We'll see how that goes.

[maehem]

my bike is sitting with 2 low tires right now...i think its time for a ride....


and time for me to sign up for this swap!! yay! 

[!b]

Guys! You are totally making me feel like a bike failure! I seem to be the only one of you with a brand new bike! I swear I have been looking for a vintage bike, but they've been really difficult to find around here. Any suggestions?

[half pint]

ain't nothing wrong with a new bike...
but, i might have some ideas(you've probably already tried craiglsist), where abouts do you live?

[Casstasstrophe]

There's no knocking the brand new bikes! I always window shop at the bike store but I love my 80's bike so much that I can't justify spending the cash on something new.

What type of Bikes are you interested in? If you're interested in Road bikes, check out Ebay. For around $250 shipped you can get some great bicycles if you know your measurements. My hubby bought two different Bianchis through Ebay and he loves them both. Some examples of what you can find there:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Liberia-Road-Bike_W0QQitemZ170189157589QQihZ007QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-ROAD-BIKE-RALEIGH-1980S-555-SL-58CM_W0QQitemZ160204264044QQihZ006QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-SCHWINN-COLUMBUS-ROAD-BIKE-CLEAN-52CM-LADIES_W0QQitemZ150211687737QQihZ005QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Check out any local swap meets. My buddy and his fiance bought two matching aqua blue cruisers circa 1970 and they are awesome. They both required a little bit of work but well worth the $25 they paid for the pair.

When the weather gets nicer, check out garage sales. I see old bikes at these things all of the time just waiting for a little TLC.

Also, buying vintage bikes that need some repair is a great way for you to learn your way around the bike. I bought an old Canondale several years ago and took a class on bicycle maintenance. Repairing that old beater taught me a lot about adjusting dérailleurs and putting on new shifters and adjusting brake cables. I am a pro now at fixing my own bike!

Just a few suggestions for you to look into.

[half pint]

wow, great suggestions casstasstrophie.
i second them all, especially the getting to know how to work on bikes from buying a well used steed. i owe alot of my present bike knowledge to working on my raleigh.
speaking of which, i'll try to post some of my bikes up, hopefully by monday...
i can't wait to start crafting for this swap, and seeing what everybody else rides...

[maehem]

i can't wait to start crafting for this swap, and seeing what everybody else rides...

Meee either! Speaking of which... and fixing up old bikes...

This is what I found in my parents garage sometime last year...





The tape just rotten away when you touched it... it was pretty gross.

But with a little TLC...





It was apparently made custom for my mother, by an italian bike genious, Franciscas Cuevas. It was given to her by a mysterious lover, who took her to England. Hmmm... thanks Mister! But I had been looking on craigslist for months, when I ventured out into the garage, and found this baby! There is even little hearts carved into the framework!! I want to make it a fixed gear, but want to keep it original too... I dunno. But gosh, I LOVE it!


Lets see your bikes girls!

[!b]

Ladies! You have fabulous suggestions. I think my main problem is finding a frame that will fit me properly. Before buying my brand new bike I looked endlessly on the internet for used bikes but couldn't find anything in a frame size smaller than 51/52ish. I will keep up the hunt though, I am certain that somewhere some short woman wants to pass on her treasures!

As for learning my way around a bike, I have been aching to take some classes but Mr.!b is trying to convince me that he can teach it all to me, I just feel so foolish no knowing anything about my own bike so that is definitely my next move on the bike front.

As for my bikes I have two pictures and neither is very recent.

The "slow bikes"


Mine is the purple one. The Heckler is the boy's.
Since this photo my shifter has moved from the handle bars, my grips are now white and so is my seat... (crackly white... I unsuccessfully tried to spray paint it!)

The "fast bikes"


Mine is the white one. And again, the other one is the boy's.
Since this photo I was gifted some sweet new clips and some awesome gold bar tape!

I will try to get some better photos, specially of the paint job on the cruiser, it has SPARKLES!