I bought this bicycle for 370GBP on ebay. He said the gears were in working order and did not mention the rust in the add. He did mention the scratches on body work.
I only saw the rust on the chain when I collected and thought it would be easy enough to clean. I took it out for a spin and the gears on the front do not work. I then cleaned the bike after taking it out and noticed rust in some of the functioning parts.
My question is: is this bike ruined? do I need to replace? what would the value be of this bike? (did I pay too much) should I ask for partial refund to take it for a service?
Edit
I forgot to upload all the pictures… there's also rust around the pedals and in all the bolts around the seats etc….
by mad_mazi
8 Comments
hard to say. It could just be a rusty chain
a waxed chain is more prone to rust, especially when its a lower end chain without good nickel coating.
In that case just replace the chain and you should be good. If there is rust in many places where none should be, you might have a bike which did come in contact with salt water, in that case… bad case.
It’s not ruined, those are prone to rust with lack of maintenance. My advice: replace the chain and the brake pads, and clean the cassette with some rust remover – that is more likely just surface rust. After that, make sure that the cassette and the chain is properly lubricated/protected.
If you’re not familiar with this stuff, head to a local bike shop, they’ll sort it out. But I’d learn this anyway as over time, you’ll have to replace these components anyway.
I’d replace the chain and clean up the cassette. The brake rotor rust isn’t going to hurt anything. The rust on the brake pads could inhibit their function, but they’re easily replaceable as well. Just make sure they work and release. If they do, I’d ride it. If they don’t I’d replace them.
Hard to say about the front derailleur without seeing it. It itself could be frozen because of corrosion or it could be the cable. Cables are consumables and the derailleur could probably be freed up with some lube.
Nothing catastrophic about any of the rust you’ve shown.
The shift cables might also need a bit of lube or replacement. The cassette rust is just cosmetic, and probably the brake pads too. All regular maintenance items, not a big deal. Seller probably stopped riding and it sat around outside for a few months.
Brand new HG-93 (higher spec) 9-speed chain is $25 right now at Jenson.
In your situation, I’d probably take it to a bike shop for a tune up and let them replace that stuff ($100-$150?) and let them check the derailleur setup/hanger alignment.
Bike is certainly fine but you will want to replace chain brake pads. Personally I’d probably do that even if not rusty unless I was told they were new and looked it. The rotors and cassette are fine you can clean off that surface rust.
It’s far from ruined. The brake pads and chain are consumable wear items. They get replaced when needed. The bike was stored outside by the looks of things. Fit a new chain or just clean the one that is on it and consider new brake pads although the backing plate is not as important as the actual braking material.
Although the advice being given in replies here to just change the chain and clean-up the cassette is good you might find you end up needing to replace the cassette as well. It depends on how much use that chain has had an how worn it is (you should buy a chain checker, they’re cheap and something you should use to key an eye on chain wear in future). If the chain checker shows the chain has minimal wear then you won’t need a new cassette. If however the chain is very worn you’ll find when you fit a new chain it will skip and not change gear smoothy – the fix being to replace the cassette.
From your pictures though it doesn’t look a very worn drivetrain so hopefully you should be good with just replacing the chain and cleaning the cassette…
Ride it and these parts will wear out and be replaced
That’s surface rust and other than the chain it’s not worth fixing it.
Bikes fine.
I’d send it (assuming it’s not stretched yet)