Buying a flood damaged bike

kester

Hi guys

After the recent floods in cumbria my LBS who were badly flooded are going to have a 'flood salvage sale' with heavily discounted prices for the flood damaged bikes in their shop.

Has anyone ever bought a flood damaged bike? do they come with any manufacturer guarantees etc bearing in mind that all the water would have been contaminated with oil/fuel/sewage.

I can't ask my LBS for any advice as they are still shut for refurbishing and sign in the shop says they will not answer any phone or email enquiries until they re-open

Is it worth buying a flood damaged bike or would the cons out weigh the pros in the chase of big savings on a new bike?

Cheers in advance

Anonymous

All you need to consider is rust and bearings. May need to strip and rebuild, with new bearing and cables and grease on threads.

Not sure if shifters rust but I guess not.

Hygiene is an issue but use a pressure spray to clean it. Otherwise it should be fine. What bikes to they stock?

Matthewfalle

If it's cheap enough I'd buy it and spend a weekend washing, cleaning, stripping and rebuilding with oodles of copperslip and grease and love. And some new cables off CRC.

Not worried about flood water as a) it's a bicycle, not the space shuttle and b) can't be ant worse than the crud my commuter/winter trainer goes through every day through puddles of seaweed/seawater/mud/animal muck etc.

wotnoshoeseh

Make sure you "dip" the headlights!!!

kester

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19780343#p19780343]coriordan[/url] wrote:

All you need to consider is rust and bearings. May need to strip and rebuild, with new bearing and cables and grease on threads.

Not sure if shifters rust but I guess not.

Hygiene is an issue but use a pressure spray to clean it. Otherwise it should be fine. What bikes to they stock?

Cheers for your reply. They stock cannondale, trek and specialized. My mum works at a primary school and one of the parents happens to work in the LBS, he was saying to her that they are probs going to re-open and have sale at end of Feb so theres a chance they may replace bearings/cables beforehand, he was also saying there would be 50% off. Whether this was off everything in the shop or just for certain items I don't know.

Budget wise I would be looking at around £1k to spend but if some bikes are possibly going to be 50% off then its hard to know what models to look at when deciding.

nicklong

Having ridden through the muck, spray, torrential rain and flooded roads for 4 hours during the RideLondon100 a couple of years back, I'd say every bike gets the equivalent of a bit of flood damage at one point! As above, a bit of oiling / greasing if necessary and the bits which might corrode (cables) are replaceable wear-and-tear items anyway. Check / clean all bolts though, you don't want the seat pin or stem bolts seizing in place though.

fenix

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19780428#p19780428]wotnoshoeseh[/url] wrote:

Make sure you "dip" the headlights!!!

Surely this pun only works if its a motorbike ?

keef66

I wouldn't mind taking a punt on a half price bike If I was saving a grand. I'd strip it right down to the frame and replace anything that's suffered corrosion.
I suppose the extent of the damage will be dictated by how deeply it was submerged and for how long, and then how quickly it was subsequently dried out.

Even if you have to replace the bearings in the BB, hubs and headset, all the cables and the saddle and bar tape you'll still be ahead.