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  1. The grease will be dried out, so anything that spins should be regreased or replaced.

    * Unscrew the axles, and clean out the old grease and add new. Its ridiculously easy. Usually the same tool that removes pedals also handles the axles. A lifetime supply of waterproof grease will run $10.
    * Next replace the bottom bracket and pedals. Together they will require about $60 in special tools plus about $60 in parts. At that point, it will ride like brand new.
    * Next, budget $120 for new tires and tubes. $25 plus $40 in tools for cables and cable housings. $75 more for grips and a seat.

    So for $390, and about 6 hours of your time, you have a brand new, beautiful historical bike, worth about $450, plus the $110 in tools and grease you’ll have for life.

    If you value your time at $25 per hour, it’s about a break even proposition. It kills me to say this, but you can see that the value of a beautifully preserved bike like this is really $0 when it needs all this work and parts. It’s actually worth something in parts: the stem is probably worth $30, brakes are worth $20 and maybe the derailleur could be sold for $30, but at the cost of more time to remove them, take photos and the like that would also make such an endeavor worth little more than the time they took.

  2. I was given this same bike about 11 years ago and we still ride it occasionally. It’s been modified but looks stockish still.

    Have fun with it.

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