Ever since I've started writing about antiques, garage sales and flea market finds, I've met several interesting people. The person I'd like to feature in my post today is a guy named Charlie who is a whiz at fixing bicycles. Seriously - he can take a beaten up, broken, abused bike and turn it into a beautiful ride. He fixes bikes on the side right now, but in my opinion I think he should start a business specializing in used and reconditioned bicycles.
I've had a few bikes of my own that were fixed by Charlie and I even found him a few that he could fix up and paint to give the bike a new life. The two photos in this post are before and after shots of a bike he has restored. I found it broken with a sad paint job and Charlie revamped it and painted it a beautiful purple adding white pedals.
Many people throw away perfectly good bikes because they think they are broken or have just gotten tired of them. Bicycles are generally made of easily recycled materials. Often bicycle parts, such as the tires, wheels and rims, chain, handlebar or seat, are still in good enough condition to be removed from the bike and used on a different bicycle in need of the same parts.
Charlie can take these different bicycle components and match them to a bike he knows needs them. His specialty is jazzing up BMX bikes, but he knows his way around mountain bikes to ten speeds.
