Picked this up for free from the side of the road, as someone had left it out to be taken as garbage. It caught my eye as I drove past and I brought it home. Its got a bit of rust on the frame though so not sure if its worth restoring?
by Substantial_Carob647
13 Comments
All the rusty parts have only surface rust for what I can see. You can clean the wheels with vinegar and a metal sponge.
I would poke the rust spots of the frame with a screwdriver to check if the metal is still rock solid.
You might need to change the drivetrain completely and of course do a complete maintenance.
Other than that it looks salvageable.
Id say it’s probably far more hassle than it’s worth as it’s a pretty low quality budget bike. I would grab those bars if I were you though, they’re probably pretty heavy but worth grabbing because others in that style aren’t cheap to buy.
It’s looks like a low tier model which will cost much more than its worth to fix up. Steel rims doesn’t provide very good braking and these are really rusty. I’m all for salvaging old trustly stress but personally I’d pass on this one.
There’s no way it’s worth doing anything at all to this. It was a low-end bike when it was new. I don’t even see any parts worth salvaging.
NVJO. Not Vintage, Just Old.
If I had all of my bikes and spare frames stolen and just needed *an bike for riding* to get going with, because I’m particular about everything I bolt to my framesets I’d choose this over a new Kona or Surly, and immediately order a SONdelux Wide, a 135mm VO freehub, a pair of Simworks Standalone rims, some Tektro calipers, Swiss pads, Jagwire cables, SunTour drivetrain, Sugino crankset, etc. and build it up.
If I were looking for a restoration project, this bike would not interest me at all.
Frame would be fine for a fun “parts” bike. Maybe toss the rusty derailleurs and chain rings, get a single speed rear cog/hub and chainring, and throw a Surly Singulator (tensioner) on the to make it a SS or fix…..or toss it back in the bin.
If you have basically all the parts sitting around your shed and can keep the cost down to the bare minimum consumables, it would be some fun to get that thing rolling again. After that, what would you do with it?
Ride it? It’s probably not the most fun bike to ride. It’ll just take up space.
Flip it? Get $50 to cover the cost of repair, if you’re lucky.
Give it to someone who needs it? Noble. But now it really has to work well or else you just saddled someone with more problems.
Send it back to the curb? If you really enjoy fixing crusty bikes, this is the right way to go. Continue the cycle of trash bikes, make someone else’s day.
Idk if it’s worth saving honestly.
I’d take the bars and scrap it
If you don’t have a bike and need one, you can make it work.
If you just want to fix it up, not really. It might be worth learning to take it apart, clean up, and reassemble, or to grab some parts – but even then you have some epic level rusting going on and some stuff might not come apart very easy.
That headlamp is cool
It’s not beyond saving. Frame is not broken, but will it be worth the few hundred if you take it to a shop.
If you want a project and learn bike repair, it would be a fun summer fix
I’d work on that. Do some DIY . As a bike mechanic, I encourage everyone to learn bike repair. It’s a good skill to have.
So yeah, if you have time and $$, it will be a fun project.
decent basic bike. clean, oil and use. The front forks look a little bent but if it rides all right i wouldn’t let that worry me. I remember when those front lights were introduced, they were such an improvement on the previous metal ones that would jump off the bracket if you hit a bump.