[email protected] wrote in message news:<
[email protected]>...
> I found a bike in the garden last week and it was in a bad shape.
> ready for the skip. but i rescued a bike like that before in holland
> (only to have it nicked - cest la vie). i bought some new tubes, a
> pump, a pair of wheel rims, some metal polish , oil , wd-40, spanners
> and did some work . it looks pretty good and i removed most of the
> rust. i will now sell it for £40.
>
> it is an apollo juice MTB. 26" x 1.75 tyres. 18 " frame and shimano
> gears. steel wheels hence the rust. is that a fair price ?
Might as well describe my own experiences in a similar vein....
Moving into my new house a couple of weekends ago, I discovered 2
bikes in the outside storage cupboard. One is a fairly nondescript
hybrid, the other a Trek 800 Sport MTB. After making enquiries with
the landlady, it turns out that both were abandoned by past residents,
and I had the choice of either (a) getting rid of them or (b) keeping
them for my own use. On inspection, the Trek looked to be in
reasonable nick, until I noticed that the rear wheel had several
broken spokes. The front wheel was also slightly damaged, but this was
a less complex respoking job, so I undertook it myself. The LBS down
the road are re-doing the rear one for just over a tenner, and I'm
picking it up later this week. I've invested in new brake blocks all
round, a pair of Schwalbe 'Fast Fred' rigid-bead tyres, one new inner
tube (but also happened on a Tesco bag of tubes in the cupboard, some
of which are still servicable), and rim tapes. My spares collection
provided the seat clamp (which had been absent), a pump, 2 x bottle
cages, front & rear lights and a pair of old Time ATAC pedals, whilst
missing Q/R hub skewers came from Dad's toolshed via the Royal Mail!
Result - by next week, with a bit more tinkering and an application of
the oil can, I'll have acquired a newish MTB for a very small outlay.
Should be just the job for commuting and the odd spot of off-roading
[1]!
The hybrid is still languishing, though - haven't decided its fate
yet....
David E. Belcher
[1] Next project, as cash allows, is to revive my much-missed [2]
cyclo-cross bike for the "proper" off-road stuff....
[2] Still exists, but only as a frame-less collection of bits at Mum &
Dad's house.
