My son just learned how to ride a bike. Was talking to a colleague, and he said he has a 20-25 year old GT bike that he doesn’t use anymore, and gave it to me to ride with my son. Wondering if anyone can help identify the model? I took a picture of the serial number stamped underneath. Couldn’t find any other model sticker/stamp anywhere on here.
I know absolutely nothing about this stuff besides how to ride it. For an older bike, what sort of preventative maintenance should I do before going out on rides with my son? Tires look old, and showing early signs of cracking, so I was going to replace those, and the tubes as well, especially since I’m a heavier fella that has perfected the dad bod. Do I need new valves too, or those ok? Was going to clean/lube the chain with WD-40 or some sort of silicon spray. Bike seems to shift decently (a little clunky), and stop ok when I rode it up and down the block. Not sure what I can adjust/lube to help with the shifts. Sounds like the bike has been sitting for about 3-5 years.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated for this green pea!
by Mikealicious2k5
2 Comments
[video of the bike](https://imgur.com/a/L4tseuP)
By today’s mountain bike standards it’s quite an old bike. If you are planning on just riding around with a young kid, that’s not an issue. You’re on the right track for maintinence.
– With regards to the valves (I assume you mean valve stems), those are part of the tubes inside the tires. If you replace the tubes they will have valve stems built into them.
– Make sure the brakes are functioning correctly (it sounds like they are). On an older bike like yours you should be able to stop pretty quickly on flat ground with two fingers on the brake lever. Most of your braking power is going to come from the front bike. Learning how much brake force to apply on dirt and not slide is a skill. Never apply lubricants to the brake or braking surface.
– Hard to tell on the tires from the photo. Cracking is generally bad. High performance tires can get up to $100 USD each. You probably don’t need that if you are just cruising with the kid. However, I’ve found that the Kenda tires you find at Walmart that look like mountain bike tires aren’t very good when you actually try to mountain bike with them. They slide a lot.
– Lubricate the chain occasionally (if you live in a dry climate, purchase dry chain lube but this requires you to reapply the chain lube when you spray the bike off).
– Learn how to properly shift on a bike (so you don’t break things, don’t shift under load. Basically during shifting, gently (can still be fast, just gentler pressure) pedal the bike, which may require you to speed up before shifting if you are going up a hill)
– Consider adjusting the derailleur and the shifters – the poor shifting might be due to the shifting not be properly tuned. Next step would be to replace the cable and housing between the shifter and deraileur, assuming nothing else is wrong.