Bringing an old bike back to life

trigger118
Posts: 191
In the next couple of weeks I should be acquiring my dads old road bike.
My plan is to get it going and gradually upgrade it into something decentish whilst practicing my maintainance skills and still being able to ride it.
The bike is approximately 20 years old I think, and has been hanging in the garage for at least 15 of those. Everything seemed surprisingly loose and free when I had a very brief look last time I was home so I believe I could get it going without too much effort/cost.
My question is more a case of as it is an old bike, will it be hard to find parts to fit, e.g. if i were to buy some new forks for it, would they fit in the old frame or would I probably have to wait until I had bought a new frame and bars before they could be fitted? As I stated before I would like to be able to ride it whilst I am upgrading it.
I appreciate that it is possibly hard to answer as I am unaware of the make/year/model of the bike but any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
My plan is to get it going and gradually upgrade it into something decentish whilst practicing my maintainance skills and still being able to ride it.
The bike is approximately 20 years old I think, and has been hanging in the garage for at least 15 of those. Everything seemed surprisingly loose and free when I had a very brief look last time I was home so I believe I could get it going without too much effort/cost.
My question is more a case of as it is an old bike, will it be hard to find parts to fit, e.g. if i were to buy some new forks for it, would they fit in the old frame or would I probably have to wait until I had bought a new frame and bars before they could be fitted? As I stated before I would like to be able to ride it whilst I am upgrading it.
I appreciate that it is possibly hard to answer as I am unaware of the make/year/model of the bike but any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
2010 Norco Shore 2
2007 Commencal MaxMax
2013 Nukeproof Mega AM
2007 Commencal MaxMax
2013 Nukeproof Mega AM
0
Comments
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Too vague, be specific... 20 years old is not that old
Old parts can be sourced, if you are willing and patient... it might even be that the bike does not need much at all
Where do you live?left the forum March 20230 -
Send pics when you've got it! Older bikes are great, I love 'em. I especially like the fact that they all LOOK like bikes should. You know - round tubing and horizontal top tubes, no silly ergo bars, etc!
IMHO keep the bike period. By all means keep it in tip-top nick, but I don't see the point in 'upgrading'. A quality steel frame (Reynolds 531 or similar) will be a great ride, and the bike will actually be quite valuable in it's original spec. Granted, you'll have to get used to downtube gear shifters, and riding on the brake hoods is slightly less comfy than on a modern bike, but that's about it. The big downside of upgrading is the cost of modern STI shifters, and you'll have to re-space the rear triangle to accept modern wheels and cassette.
If the bike's an old clunker (e.g Raleigh 18-23 tubing) and has crappy equipment then you'll gain nothing from new parts except an empty wallet. Keep it as a fast commuter, winter hack or pub bike.0 -
20 years isn't that old and parts are readily available as it's likely to be 7 or 8 speed on the rear. Try retrobike Forum for both advice and parts.Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
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yeah I dont have the bike yet and will give more info when I can but really wanted to upgrade it to something pretty good for training rides etc as I am predominately a mountain biker.
I really want to build a bike too and I thought that upgrading this older bike would be a cheaper method as I could ride the bike in the mean time and therefore I wouldnt rush it too much.2010 Norco Shore 2
2007 Commencal MaxMax
2013 Nukeproof Mega AM0 -
Make sure your alleged upgrades are not "downgrades" instead.
Just to give you an idea, if you have a good 8 speed Shimano or Campagnolo system as you probably do, going 10 speed is not an upgrade... it will give you a couple of sprockets you don't really need and probably leave you with a lower end groupset, unless you are prepared to flog a lot of cash for Chorus or Ultegra (which isn't worth it for "upgrades").
A new light wheelset might appear an upgrade, but it will probably last a fraction of what your current wheelset will, as modern wheels are built for racing and not for durability. Rim walls are thin and wear quickly, hubs are rubbish and low spoke count means massive tension is applied to the spokes, which leads to rim failure by fatigue in many cases.
My advice is to keep it as it is and only change the essentials... tyres, chain if needed (an 8 speed chain is 9 pounds or so), pads and cables. A rag, grease and a can of 3 in 1 are your best mates.
If tyou want a bike with 10 speed cassette, get one, upgrading old bikes with new components is an expensive exercise which does not lead to any improvement.left the forum March 20230 -
My main idea was to sort out the brakes/shifters, it has shifters on the down tube which with me being a mountain biker seems really annoying although I admit I havent actually used them. The brake levers are metal with the extra bar that allows them to be operated with hands horizontal on the bars or vertical on the 'horns' (apologies for the lack of technical terms!)
These systems seemed like they would be easyish to upgrade and would be quite fun for me to do (I'm weird like that) and would probably make a decent performance upgrade to the bike2010 Norco Shore 2
2007 Commencal MaxMax
2013 Nukeproof Mega AM0 -
Earlier this year my son and I got an abused 80's Peugeot back on the road.
The bare minimum included tyres, tubes, pedals (originals missing, so went for spd's), chain, cables, bar tape, saddle.
After a lot of unsuccessful fiddling we also replaced the original single pivot brake calipers. They wouldn't stay centred and / or kept sticking. Got some cheap, long drop dual pivot calipers that look OK, and more importantly, actually work.
And the DT shifters I think must've been missing some internals because the levers wouldn't stay put for long. Ground off the braze-ons and found some NOS band-on replacements at Spa Cycles which look more retro than the originals.
Also replaced the BB to get a better chainline. It was difficult to get the chain onto the big ring despite backing off the upper limit screw, so I eventually worked out that a previous owner must have stuck in the cheapest cartridge BB he could find, without considering the axle length.
So probably £130 to get it going, and another £50 to get it running sweetly.0 -
trigger118 wrote:My main idea was to sort out the brakes/shifters, it has shifters on the down tube which with me being a mountain biker seems really annoying although I admit I havent actually used them. The brake levers are metal with the extra bar that allows them to be operated with hands horizontal on the bars or vertical on the 'horns' (apologies for the lack of technical terms!)
These systems seemed like they would be easyish to upgrade and would be quite fun for me to do (I'm weird like that) and would probably make a decent performance upgrade to the bike
I think it's older than 20 years...
However, DT shifters, once you get used, are great. Are they indexed or simple friction systems?
As for the brake levers, you can replace them with other brake levers without the suicide bars (horizontal levers) but I doubt you will make a deal by changing everything to brake/gears integrated levers. They are expensive and require 130 mm rear spacing and 9 gears at least, which you might not have room for.
Ride it and assess what needs to be changed, be realistic, you can't fit a Ferrari engine on an old Vauxhall...left the forum March 20230 -
If you want to do it cheaply, stick with the downtube shifters. If you want to throw money at it regardless, new STI units are hideously expensive. If you find decent second hand ones you need to be sure they match the rear sprocket spacing.
The secondary brake levers you describe are affectionately known as suicide levers on account of their barely perceptible effect on speed. The fact that the bike has these may suggest it's a lowish spec machine; think carefully before you spend hundreds of pounds on something that'll only ever be worth fifty quid!0 -
The fact that it has suicide levers would suggest that it's not top-spec.Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
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If I bought a new frame for it then would it be possible to upgrade it to anything decent, not top spec, but a pretty decent machine? I'll probably spend a year or more in actually upgrading it but would like to be able to ride it in the mean time.2010 Norco Shore 2
2007 Commencal MaxMax
2013 Nukeproof Mega AM0 -
I know you probably have an emotional attachment to the thing, but sensibly you have just 2 options:
1) get it roadworthy as cheaply as possible. If it's been unridden for 15 years you may only need tyres, tubes, brake blocks and bar tape.
2) skip the thing and buy a decent road bike
You could even do 1) then ride it into the ground and opt for 2) later
There is really no point in trying to fit new components to the old frame or transferring the old components to a new frame. Things have changed in several areas and you'd likely suffer the agonies of mismatched and incompatible components, to end up with an empty wallet and a bike you're still not happy with0 -
keef66 wrote:I know you probably have an emotional attachment to the thing, but sensibly you have just 2 options:
1) get it roadworthy as cheaply as possible. If it's been unridden for 15 years you may only need tyres, tubes, brake blocks and bar tape.
2) skip the thing and buy a decent road bike
You could even do 1) then ride it into the ground and opt for 2) later
There is really no point in trying to fit new components to the old frame or transferring the old components to a new frame. Things have changed in several areas and you'd likely suffer the agonies of mismatched and incompatible components, to end up with an empty wallet and a bike you're still not happy with
+1... indeedleft the forum March 20230 -
As you're a mountain biker - what you're proposing COULD be similar to getting an early 90s low end rigid MTB with ratchet shifters and proposing to upgrade it to something more modern...
Realistically, unless you're looking to do a retro rebuild, get the thing working and ride it while you build the higher spec new bike. Building a reasonable new bike could cost more than buying a similar spec one off of the shelf - but it's a lot more fun (having just done it).
Also - it could be a candidate for turning into a fixed / single speed bike.0 -
Yeah its not so much a case of an emotional attachment to the bike (I dont even have it yet) its that I really want to build a bike and I thought this would be an easy/cheaper way to do that
Would I be better off just building a road bike or mountain bike from scratch?2010 Norco Shore 2
2007 Commencal MaxMax
2013 Nukeproof Mega AM0 -
Building a bike is great fun - but there can be a lot of research involved and it can be more expensive than buying the equivalent (either second hand or new). If you take your time and source the right parts, it's really satisfying.
Others will say just buy one and get out there - it depends upon how much of a mechanic/geek you are
Personally, I'd get your dad's bike up and running - as a bit of practice. If you get the bug, then you can always start planning a proper build. I've built a few now - from family beaters (out of scrap parts) to my road bike - expect to make a few errors along the way.0