Frunk has a shed full of old bikes that whips ANY other collection of bikes I’ve seen anywhere.. and that includes the Bicycle Museum at Evandale(?), any tip shop on the planet and the Human Powered Cycles yard that I raved about so much last week. There is some real gold in Frunk’s collection.. A Massey Harris track bike from the 1890s, a mint 1950s Kenny Self town bike, a multitude of 1970s girls cruisers and bmx’s blah blah blah etc etc.. but this isn’t the point I wanted to get to.. the point I wanted to raise is that Frunk rescued every single one of these bikes from the tip face! Frunk told us that about 40 years ago he was at the tip dropping off some garden waste when he spotted a discarded kids bike that had nothing wrong with it.. Frunk picked it up, took it home and washed it off for his kids.. and that’s how it all started. He rescued 100s of bikes. Every type of bike you can imagine found a new home in his shed. Long after his kids had grown up and the excuse of ‘I’ll take it home for the little ones to play on’ had worn out, he was still pulling trikes and scooters off the junk heap. Back in those days
there were no ‘tip shops’ or recycling centers.. it just all got ploughed into the landfill. Frunks obsession in saving old bikes is a godsend to the biking community.. our heritage has been preserved and stored. Occasionally, for a fee, Frunk will let one of his charges go to a good home where it can be rebirthed and ridden. Now I would tell you where this treasure trove is.. but, nah fk ya!
* We changed ‘Frunks’ name to protect the innocent.. or our own interests anyway..
Any more pictures of ‘Frunks’ shed and maybe you could share it with our sheddies?
As a ex-local who buggered off close to two decades ago I maybe perusing through “Frunks” shed at some point, especially in search of Ken Self frames, as a sibling worked there many years ago. Although Tolosa Street had nothing on the old Northcote tip, which got me started again with bikes after a verrrryyy long absence.
Let us know how you go with tracking down more Ken Self frames, I’d love to get my hands on another one.