Hi, I am not sure where to post this, im sorry if It shouldnt be here. I am severely depressed and desperate to get some… freedom back. I can remove this post if not allowed.
I used to ride, had a nice road bike I could use regularly, that a friends father always maintained for me. I never learned about any of it. I know there are tubes in the tires likely ruined. This is my bike that has been sitting in a partially exposed shed for five years.
It is a bit rusty, and looks in need of a lot of help. Im asking my huaband if we can repair it to working order for my gift on mothers day, but as I look at it more and more, I just see dollar signs going up and up. But I know nothing.
do any of you folks out there, know if it might be difficult to restore? Ideas for resources? Im about to look up bike repair shops in my area, but Im afraid this repair might cost more than is reasonable as a mothers day thing.
I look at this and just, metaphor written all over it. This bike is to my life.
anyhow, would it be expenisive? is a bike tune up expensive? Im terrified for some reason. please help.
I see much worse come into our shop pretty regularly. Others have it covered, tubes, chain, cables, possibly tires depending on their condition.
So knowing absolutely nothing about the bike’s history or condition beside this post, I can list some probable bare minimum to get it running again
- Chain. The chain looks like it’s dead, new 9 speed (educated guess) chain will should be less than 20 euros or dollars
- The tires look old but not terrible in condition. If the tubes are not holding air, swap them off. ~5 western currency per tube (times ten if you’re scandi)
- Cables. I see the rear derailleur cable is detached, and by the overall condition of the bike I’d guess it’d be the time to replace them to make sure shifting and breaks are working properly. The cables will likely cost you ~20-30 freedom or eurocommunism coins
There may be some bearings and whatnot rusty or loose, can’t tell from picture, but that’s what I’d start with. If you’ll bring the bike to a mechanic, they’ll probably bill 30-50 scamcoins per hour for the work, depending on where you live. With just what’s listed above, should be 1 hour work unless there’s a lot more stuff to fix
If you can rattle the bike around a little bit and tell what feels strange and what feels normal, or what you’ve felt you don’t like, please tell and can maybe try to be more helpful :)
Edit: also much love for wanting to bring new life to an old bike <3
The chain looks like it’s dead
Everybody here is so fast to replace the chain… Put some oil on it and give it a whirl! I’ve ridden on chains way rustier and crustier than this and had them work just fine.
If the chain is actually bad, it will tell you about it when you try to ride.
For a very good reason, chains tend to be a bit of catalyst for other problems. Worn chain will start eating the chainrings and cassette, causing more expensive harm if not replaced in time.
Chains wear out if you use them while rusty. If the rust has accumulated while the bike was not in use, it should be fine to just oil it well.
Chains wear out naturally, and surprisingly fast. Rust only accelerates that, as does riding in shitty conditions, not cleaning and/or lubricating the chain properly
Thank you. This is all good. Def seems doable! Were going to bring it to the shop this weekend, I was worried it would be 300 or more, and seems like it wont be this much.
thank you for easing my worry
Other people have already given good info, but I just wanted to link this old website from the late Sheldon Brown who has a lot of articles about maintenance, repair, and countless other bicycle related topics
Everyone’s idea of “expensive” is different and when it comes to bikes people seem to have a very low threshold for what they consider expensive. I’ll just give you some numbers and you can decide.
The first thing a disused bike is going to need is new tubes. Tubes are like $10 each. You may also need new tires. A tire can be like 30 or 40 bucks. Someone who does this once a year or less like myself can change both tubes and tires in a half hour. I don’t know what bike mechanic labor rates are in your area. Your husband could do it in an hour after watching a YouTube video, using a flathead screwdriver or kitchen spoons
It looks like you also need a chain. Chains can be 20 or 30 bucks and take 2 minutes to replace but you need a special chain breaker tool which are relatively common. I’m sure there’s at least one in your neighborhood you can borrow. Also easy for anyone to do after watching a YouTube video.
You’ll also want to be really sure that the brakes are working properly or you could get seriously hurt. They’re disc brakes which can take disuse much more gracefully than rim brakes. I would get a legit bike mechanic to replace the pads if they need to be and to make any necessary adjustments. But they may be perfectly fine.
Just to add to this, a pair of bolt cutters is an excellent rusty chain removal tool (if you have some laying around) and with the replacement chain 10 and 15 speed chains come with quick connects so gettin the new one on is literally a snap. Make sure to lube everything that’s supposed to move (worry less about rust unless its bad enough that it compromizes integrity i.e. things bending and flexing that shouldnt), bearings (pink grease is good), cables (shoot some wd 40 in at the top, it runs down hill), there are bearings under that little cap where the handle bats meet the frame. Disc brakes let a bike mechanic handle it. Parts you’re looking at $50 (just tubes and a chain), to worst case scenario maybe $150 if you picked out puncture resistance tires and shopped around. Brake job, I think my last one ran ~$80, but mines hydraulic so a cable system is likely cheaper.
Honestly, if you’re trying to pick yourself up out of a funk, picking up a cheap set of wrenches and Allen keys armed with some youtube videos may be just what the Dr ordered.
I just checked the breaks and they stop, both front and back work. Im worried the plastics in the shifter look pretty degraded however.
Im hoping it will be $200-$300 dollars max. My husband agreed we can fix it. His father rides and… probably knows the guy who owns the bike shop, he knows half the county, so I expect him to ask his father for advice. I struggle to learn from youtube sometimes tbh.
Thank you for giving me some perspective, From what you listed, it absolutely seems doable!
could I get my bike back this weekend!?!? oh boy :) Would be the highlight of my year, and more!
Thank you so much akilou!
I’d see if your area has some type of group that does bike maintenance workshops. It’s really useful stuff if you don’t know much about mechanical stuff or just about bike maintenance. They’ll run you through doing tire/tube changes, cleaning and changing chains, adjusting brakes, and usually will have all the tools you may need on hand.
At a glance, that bike doesn’t look like it needs too much money put into it, but it may need a good amount of time.
That’s a sweet bike, I’d have a lot of fun getting it back in working order. Park Tool (bike tool manufacturer) have amazing video guides on how to do nearly every bicycle repair yourself.
What you should definitely do first is put in new tubes, for which you’ll need nothing more than tyre levers (5-10 bucks online) and the tubes. You’ll need to know your wheel’s diameter and valve type (Presta or Schrader) before ordering them, but it’s easy enough to do yourself.
You’re also gonna want to replace that rusty chain(20 bucks), for which you’ll need a chain tool (10-50 bucks, avoid the super cheap ones because they’ll just frustrate you and might damage the chain links) to shorten your new chain to the same number of links as your old one, some master links to make future chain removal easier, and master link pliers. When ordering the chain and master links make sure you get the correct ones corresponding to the number of gears on your rear cassette (if it has 10 gears the chain and master links will say “10 speed”). How to Size a Chain
Order a basic cheap bike cleaning set with some scrapers and brushes to clean the cassette and front chainring, some chain lube/oil to lubricate the chain, and you should be good.
The derailleur may also need to be set up again so it shifts properly, which can be a bit of a learning curve, but other than some hex wrenches and replacement shifter cables you shouldn’t need any specialized tools for that. Rear Derailleur Adjustment
If you cannot get the derailleur set up/indexed correctly the little piece of metal it’s attached to the frame with (the derailleur hanger) may be bent. In that case you can either replace it (10-30 bucks) or get a derailleur hanger alignment gauge (around 50-100 bucks for a good one) to bend it back into shape. Derailleur Hanger Alignment
This should get your bike running again for under 200 bucks. Maybe throw in some silicone oil to lubricate the front suspension.
Seth from the mountain bike centric YouTube channel Berm Peak also has a ton of pretty good and fun videos on doing your own repairs and general maintenance. Here’s a great overview on getting your shifting diagnosed. https://youtu.be/UzXPK-Zednc
Aliexpress has lots of great deals on cycling products, but knowing which ones are decent and which ones to avoid can be a little overwhelming at first.
You might also want to get some wrenches and a cassette tool for your type of cassette, so you can remove that for better cleaning. Goes a lot easier removed from the bike. Get some general assembly grease (5-10 bucks) while you’re at it, that never hurts.
Oh and if the brakes don’t work well, replacing the brake pads should be around 10, but the ones on your bike might still be good. You should have some isopropyl alcohol on hand to clean your brake rotors from any oil or lubricants that may have contaminated them. Brakes are important.
A repair stand will be worth its weight in gold for all this, but you can get creative and find some other way to mount your bike for maintenance. I used to use a weightlifting barbell rack for the longest time until I got a decent stand for ~250.
If you have any more questions feel free to ask me, I’m also kind of a beginner but I never had to bring my bike to a shop and have done all my own repairs these past 6 years thanks to these two YouTube channels.
You’re also gonna want to replace that rusty chain(20 bucks), for which you’ll need a chain tool
I give it about 90% chance that you could revive the existing chain by just rubbing some oil onto it and pedaling it a little bit. Maybe it won’t be perfect, but it will be good enough. It will work. Then you save money on the new chain and tools.
Order a basic cheap bike cleaning set with some scrapers and brushes to clean the cassette and front chainring
Probably unnecessary again. Some regular household brushes should be able to handle this just fine, no need to spend extra money. Hit that shit with an old toothbrush if necessary. Probably not even super-necessary to clean it in the first place.
Oh and if the brakes don’t work well, replacing the brake pads should be around 10, but the ones on your bike might still be good.
Very unlikely that the pads need to be replaced. They don’t get worn out from sitting in storage.
Possibly the mechanism might have gotten sticky or jammed up – in that case, pulling the old pads and putting them right back in should help. And, otherwise, just cleaning things and knocking things loose, oiling a little where necessary (don’t get oil on the pads and rotors, though).
A repair stand will be worth its weight in gold for all this, but you can get creative and find some other way to mount your bike for maintenance. I used to use a weightlifting barbell rack for the longest time until I got a decent stand for ~250.
Yeah … totally unnecessary for casual bike repairs. Just flip the bike upside down to work on it if necessary. A lot of these repairs can be done without even doing that.
Honestly, I’ve ridden bikes in way worse shape than this one looks to be in. Like, 10 years sitting outside kind of stuff.
If I were fixing this up, I’d pump up the tires, replace the tubes if they don’t hold air, maybe put a bit of oil on the chain and gears … and then just jump on and ride. I’m betting most of it will just already work.
I think this comes down to our ideas of what constitutes a working bike being different. I mean sure it would most likely move if you just reinflated the existing tubes and pedaled hard enough. It would likely make all sorts of grinding noises that you could choose to ignore, but all that rust would for sure wear out your front chainring and cassette fast, at which point the chain will begin to slip constantly. That’s going to be a more elaborate and costly repair in a few months, with a bike that rides like shit until then.
And sure, you can skip the 10 dollar cleaning kit and try cleaning your drive train with a tooth brush and citric acid or what have you, but having a set of stiff long bristled brushes and plastic scrapers that fit between the individual cogs of the cassette just makes the whole process a whole lot easier. You’re gonna want to keep on top of cleaning your drivetrain, so for most people who don’t already own a large assortment of brushes they also don’t mind getting dirty this is 10 bucks well spent.
oh my goodness thank you. I love all the links, wholy crap! Thank you!!
you def dont sound like a begininer aye, very resourceful!
This metaphor is…resilient. And good on you for setting it for exactly what it is.
It first needs power. You. It needs to ensure power continues. Helmet. It needs a way to handle the bumps and terrain of movement. A pump and maybe bicycle tubes. It needs a way to transfer your power to it. Chain.
You already mentioned the brakes work at least a little.
I’m probably getting a bit too caught up in the metaphor, but it doesn’t need to be restored to some mythical idea of perfection. It needs a bit of basic assistance to do what it was meant to do, and that’s not expensive.
Once the above mentioned items are addressed, then you can move with it. And then you can start figuring out how to make it move better. You won’t figure that out until you help it move.
Happy mother’s day.
Thank you :)
