Is it worth putting some money (maybe 200€) into upgrading one of these shitters? It's the only bike I have but it's not very good to ride.Rear wheel needs truing and cassette needs to be changed. Brakes are also shit.
you can true the wheel for free and a 7 speed cassette and chain is like 30 bucks
>>2024672Just sell your gaspipe shitters and scratch some money together + the 200€ you have planned to invest and look at the 500-800€ range of bikes. Bought my gf a brand new mtb last year for under 600€ in a sale and its bulletproof for her. Aluminium frame, shimano groupset and even decent wheels.There is currently a focus whistler on sale at decathlon for 550€. You cant really beat that.
>>2024675It also needs a better seat and the chainring has damaged teeth. BB is ancient and it would benefit from removing the from derraileur and install a 1X drivetrain.>>2024678To by something even reasonably decent I'll I've to fork 1000€, and this all it gets me is 105 groupset otherwise I'm stuck with microshift lmao. 5 times as much for what is essentially an entry level product.The coof ruined the bike market and as a poorfag you have very limited options. But I need to figure out something because I'll be without car for at least 3 weeks.https://www.decathlon.pt/p/bicicleta-gravel-triban-rc520-gravel-caqui-shimano-105/_/R-p-337677?mc=8902304&c=SEM%20COR_VERDE
>>2024682>It also needs a better seatThat's just you being judgemental and elitist. Saddle looks like the rider is fat and doesn't know what they're doing. But it also looks to be in fine condition, at least from this one picture, so as long as it works for the owner then there's no reason to change it except to satisfy the aesthetic sensibilities of random internet strangers.
kys>>2024321>>2010595
>>2024672Basic truing at most bike shops if you want to go that rout should only about 20 or if you are patient you can probably do it yourself. Cassette or freewheel honestly is a super easy home fix. If that's a HG200 cassette you are looking at replacement being between 15 and 20 USD, plus maybe 10 bucks for the specific tool head. Easy work on the floor or someone's garage. For the brakes if it's how responsive they are just spend a little time dialing in the brake tension. Unless the levers are shot just make sure they are actually moving the pad into contact with the rim. You can also spend 20 bucks for a full set of decent koolstop pads and the better rubber compound is a noticeable improvement. Given the age of the bike I would also consider looking at the hubs and bottom bracket. If any of them are cup and cone instead of sealed bearing it's probably time to service them. Most of the time you just need a set of cone wrenches, grease, and some rags to clean stuff. Final note is that while the XR4 is a decent trail tire, it's also a pretty aggressive tread and may not roll very quickly if you are mostly riding streets and paths. When they start to wear out I would consider swapping to a faster rolling tire. Billy Bonkers or Gravel Kings if you still want trail, Kojaks or Marathons if it's all paved. Tbh the frame is nothing bad but also nothing special. If you intend to ride it for a while I would not feel about about new brake pads or some drive train clean up because that's just maintenance. But I would not spend big bucks changing this frame to some wildly different set up. It's a good candidate for local sales, bike co-op, ebay, etc. But I wouldn't throw hundreds at this bike in a resto-mod.
>>2024699>Basic truing at most bike shops if you want to go that rout should only about 20What? I broke a spoke and went to the lbs asking what I should do. They said that replacing the spoke would cost about as much as buying a new wheel.I ended up buying a new spoke, nipple and spoke key and some zip ties for ~20 bucks, went home and fixed it myself.If I were truing other peoples wheel professionally I'd definitely charge more than 20 buck for the effort alone.
Truing a wheel is not needed unless you either crashed, or your wheel is shit. If your wheel is shit you should buy a new one instead of spending all your time and money trying to maintain the shit one. This is on the same tier as buying a narrow wide chainring instead of fixing your derailleur
https://www.reddit.com/r/xbiking/comments/j8aznt/picked_up_this_raleigh_m50_unsure_of_what_to/
>>2024672cromo rigid mtb is worth it, yes, and i quite like that style of cable routing. It's a decent frame, although the colour is hideous and the components are quite heavy. Actually I would try to service the hubs first and gauge their condition. If the hubs are worn out then maybe it's not worth it. The bike can be made to work better but it's never going to roll smoothly or be particuraly efficient. You'd be looking for new wheels and sourcing decent 26" wheels will push your budget past the point where you should probably get something nicer. Considering this is a complete basket case and you're gonna spend ~$200 on it, you might find something much nicer to start with for ~$100, and my preference would be a similiar era road bike. It depends on if you like cruising or you want to go fast. for parts:11-28 shimano or 12-32 sram cassette depending on if you imagine riding it fast on the flat or not (~$20)Sram 850 / 870 or KMC X8 Chain (for 7 speed) (~$20)UN55 if you can find it or UN300 bottom bracket (~$20)kool stop eagle pads (~$20), or, just run those pads along a sandpaper block/ file to reveal fresh rubbercables (~$20)oury grips ~$20chinese pedals, fooker, myzrh etc ~$20$200 budget is easily doable. I would also try find a nicer, longer, quill stem and some bars with a bit of sweep / rise. If you run bars with sweep you can get room to zip tie a small basket on them. Do this when you're re-cabling and it can all integrate together nicely. There are lots of different solutions for your cable stop, ideally, a stem with a stop/roller and you can delete the stop from your headset. Those canti brakes are quite nice and functionally identical to higher end ones. When you go to service them take them completely apart and clean everything. Do one set at a time so you have a reference on how they go back together, it's not that complicated though.
People saying just buy a $500 bike or just buy a chinese groupset are not wrong but it's not about which is better, don't look at it that way. It's about whether you -want- to learn to wrench on bikes and want to get your hands dirty or not. This is the best way to learn those skills and those skills will make your life better in the future with newer bikes. The idea of 'wasting your time' from people who post here about bicycles is absurd. Remember it will be frustrating. People saying it's easy, (it is easy) are just forgetting the time they spent learning this stuff. It's not easy when you start, but it is doable, and you have practically infinite handholding available to you online and in person. Finding a co-op might be really useful for access to tools and advice. If it was me the first thing i'd do is fully strip the bike, cut all the cables, clean and wax the frame, but you might be better off keeping it riding and doing it in stages.
>>2024702you're grasping at a valid concept but wrapping it up in nonsense. If a wheels spoke tension is wildly out then it's not really worth it, and will likely continue to go out of true unless you are skilled and spend a lot of time on it, which isn't worth it on cheaper wheelsets. Or if one spoke breaks, they're probably all fatigued and they will keep breaking. Not worth it. impacts that send a wheel out of true don't have to be crashes, you could just hit a pothole. It's perfectly normal for that to happen within the lifespan of any wheel, and it's rare to see any wheelset, nice ones, new ones even, that are -perfectly- true. Actually nice new wheels, meaning handbuilt, are WAY outside the viable cost of an project like this. Anything 'cheap' (ontrack etc) is not relatively cheap and not particularly good. Machine built wheels are not tensioned properly. It's an enormous waste of money. If he needs new wheels, especially 26", he'd be sourcing different old wheels.
>>2024729It's an aluminum frame, but you get a pass for your parts list being solid and being an oury grips enthusiast like myself.Bars with sweep+rise are just more comfortable too since your hands aren't flat
Shimano recalled those cranks 1997 ,FC-MC12. People have sucsessfully getting replacements to this day: https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/1217722-shimano-recall-success.html
>>2024734oh what so it is. I just saw the cromo on the fork and the 'c' on the seat tube sticker and thought that'd say cromo too>>2024736lol the ones they give you are hideous cheap shit though it's cool they give a chain and bb too, definately try that
>>2024729The colour and the cable routing are the only good things about that bike.
>>2024685Why so mad though
>>2024733I hit potholes all the time and my wheels have never needed truing. And I am pretty sure I've never even ridden a hand built wheel. The only times I've needed to true a wheel was after an encounter with a large automobile.
>>2024734it's chromolly. >>2024729I can fuck around with a wrench decently well. I just finished truing the rear wheel and is looking much better now. The cassette is still worn out and need to be changed but I don't have the right tool.
>>2024742>I can fuck around with a wrench decently wellstrip it and fully rebuild it then. just throw away all the cables. The lengths of the housings you have are not perfect
>>2024742>it's chromolly.you sure? the shape/ size of the tt and downtube especially where they join looks allum. Try a magnet
>>2024743That's a stock image from the internet. This is mine.>>2024746100%
>>2024750for fucks sake cunt... honestlyi change my advice. It's not worth it. You clearly somewhat know what you're doing and should have chosen a higher spec project. 'Sport' in bicycle terms means entry level and the colour is awful. The market is off a cliff right now and you should be able to get something really nicer for less than $100.
now that you're doing it, do it, but you fucked up You also should have cracked the bb before tearing it down. It's much easier to do with wheels on because you can stand on the tool. Hope it's not siezed.
>lbs doesn't have a bottom bracket tool Wtf
>>2024807lmao what? not only that but it's the most generic one possible hard to believejust buy it dude, Park BBT-22 is like $20. A shop would probably charge you that. They're nicest to use with a socket wrench. If it's seized you also want a M8 x 1mm (fine thread, most are not this) bolt that's long enough to bolt the tool to the bb (with washers / sockets if it's too long). Then you can stand on a spanner over it.
>>2024834>hard to believeIt's true, it's a boomer owned shop that existed for 40 years and it shows, all they have is old stock and feels like they are just letting the time pass until they eventually retire or die. I like to buy from them when I can but mostly tubes, cables and brake pads since there's not much offer there, even simple stuff like grips is unironically all 90s or early 00s leftovers lol.There's a second lbs but sells nothing but high end fredsleds I don't give them my business.
>>2024841i can understand the parts thing but like... do they do not repairs? that's a pretty fucking basic tool and MORE relevant if they're an oldschool shop the actual fuck
>>2024844>do they do not repairs?No, they sell bikes and parts. There used to be a couple oldtimers that had a garage that did that but one has died and the other simply closed doors. As a kid I used to go to the former and the only tools I ever saw him using regularly was the hammer and screwdriver kek.Then there's the fredsled shop that does indeed do repairs and maintenance but no one is taking shitters there since it's not cheap service. Honestly I've taught before of start doing small repairs but I don't know where to start or if there's an actual market for it since the town is only 20k population.
>>2024845*thought
>>2024845>Honestly I've taught before of start doing small repairs but I don't know where to start or if there's an actual market for it since the town is only 20k population.I do this, my advice would be try to just do tune ups, don't take on complete basket cases, and don't try to comprehensively go over anything. Don't suggest doing bearings unless it's something you can quickly swap out. Don't open cans of worms, first 'do no harm'. Most bikes can be improved with a clean, chain lube, bolt check, air, and a pad/ gear adjustment. Charge like $40 an hour. 30 mins or 60 mins on a bike is enough. You might also do chains and hydrualic disc pads for e-bikers. Or grips / bartape, or offer nicer pedals / saddles you source from china. The other way to go about it is to specialize, probably either in wheelbuilds or servicing suspension. But you'd have to get good at those things before you start asking money.
