I want to start the New Year’s off right, so don’t flame me!
I got this bike yesterday and was wanting to tune it up and upgrade it to my extent. I know nothing about bikes so if there’s any knowledge that y’all can share, that would be great. It looks like it sat out in the rain for a bit and is quite rusty on most of the bolts, chain and exposed wiring. But other than that, it looks great! Hoping to be able to ride this bad boy and thank you for any support that is given.
by stonkswithboyd
2 Comments
What a great find! This is a good video of the basics you should check and adjust. Definitely check out their specific videos if you find something that needs work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zwxgiguQw
One thing not covered in the video that I noticed is your bike is missing bar end plugs. This is a safety issue. Without plugs, your handlebar can go right through you in a crash. You don’t want to take a core sample of your body.
I don’t know too much but obvious things I’d say:
1. Simple thing just ride it around a bit and see if anything obvious jumps out at you. Check the brakes, make sure it turns alright etc.. which can be made difficult because
2. Those look to me like clipless pedals? You need special shoes to really use those they basically have a connector that allows you to ‘clip in’ so you use more energy from your cycle. I figure it’d be pretty challenging to use without those and if you don’t know anything about bikes I’m guessing you don’t have those shoes.
3. And from that this definitely looks like a bike someone had who was very racing oriented on good pavement. Those two bars jutting out on the front (Syntace?) are aero bars – basically the idea is that if you hang on to those and lean forward you create a lot less wind resistance. If you’re commuting on this thing, I’d probably remove those as they’d just get in the way IMO.
4. Looks like this bike has rim brakes – it stops the bike by pressing pads against the rim on your wheel. These can get worn out pretty easily which is why it’s important you check to see if they’re good, especially if it’s been outside. Pads can be gotten pretty easily enough as they are cheap.
5. Also looks like you’ve got very thin tires without much tread – again, great for speed but you might want to think about eventually getting knobbier tires if road conditions are a bit rough or you deal with any rain/ice but if they work for you then you’re fine.
6. As for your wiring or the chain, that I don’t know much about but if the chain’s actually rusted you may want to get a new one. Probably worth getting it checked out at a shop.
Again, just all things I’d suggest off the top of my head of someone that’s been commuting about a year about 12 miles round trip.