Pulling a bike out of retiremement

[david1701]

Hi all, I kept my old bike in the shed when I outgrew it and its been there maybe 5 years without being ridden. My neice is getting a bit big for her bike and fits my old one fine so I've gotten it out for her.

I've pumped up the tyres (both inner tubes hold air fine and the tyres have no cracking), adjusted the brakes (they were too tight - no cracking on the pads) and rubbed down the chain with a petrolly rag to get off the surface rust then oiled it. Oiled all the cables and adjusted it to fit her.

I need to adjust the rear dérailleur in the morning, but I wanted the oil to soak in a little first and it was getting cold to be working outside.

What else should I be looking at doing (no suspension) I believe the hubs and bb to be sealed units but I'm not certain.

 

[TheDoctor]

Personally I'd maybe change the cables, but if you've lubed them you'd have noticed any damage anyway.
Sounds like you've covered everything else.
Just a test ride to make sure the gears change and the brakes don't stick on

 

[david1701]

brakes work properly and gears work but don't shift nice (yet).

I need to redo all the cables on my sisters bike, and when I get my tricross I'm going to do a lot of maintenance to my mtb so I think I'll do them all together (need to find out how to replace cables)

 

[gbb]

As far as the cables go, i always remove them, spray WD 40 through the outers, clean any corrosion or furring off the inners, apply a little light oil, pass them through the outers and make sure they work freely...and if they do...refit em.
If you don't mind spending cash, replace them, but ive done plently of old bikes my way, no problems. Last one was a 3 speed Sturmey Archer Dawes Diploma, probably 20 or 30 years old. The original cables were fine for a cheapie runaround for my sister in law once cleaned up (the cables, not my SIL )

 

[Davidc]

If the gears don't shift nicely it may be worth more work on the cables. If any moisture was left there 5 years ago the surfaces may have roughened with corrosion.

 

[david1701]

shifts fine after a litle tlc

will redo cables at some point soon as my sisters bike Needs them done to be rideable and my mtb I'm bringing back into use could use them too so will do a job lot

Thinking about turning my current commuter (hard tail Ali mtb) into a proper utility bike with a new rigid front fork and front cargo rack and hub gears and a new saddle and bars, enabling me to return my mtb to use and still keep this frame as a differently purposed one. I blame the ecovelo blog