OK, who can advise on doing up this old MTB?

[Cycleops]

Those shifters are likely gummed up which may be why they're not working, the pawls get caked and stop moving. A clean out with a spray cleaner may sort them out. Cables might have seized too.

 

[raleighnut]

If I replace the current shifter/brake units, I will need both thumb shifters PLUS brake levers won't I? And are brake levers dedicated to either V or canti, or will they do both?

They are dedicated but the model I linked to is for Vs

 

[Globalti]

The nest advice is above. Strip it all down, clean, lube, fit complete new brake and gear cables then you'll know if anything really needs replacing. The best investment you can make at this stage is a cable cutter, about 3m each of gear and brake cable outer, 4 new inners, plastic ferrules and four alloy cable end-caps. Whatever happens, new cables all round can only improve the bike.

 

[raleighnut]

Sorry, didn't have reading specs on, thought you had thumbies on it! Yeah, levers will work with cantis or v brakes, I'd still leave the cantis on though!

Those levers will not work properly with V brakes, different pull required.

 

[gbb]

Cro-Mo 4130 is pretty much gas pipe, low end but very durable so no reason you shouldn't be able to get a very use able bike out of it.
If it were me and I was planning to do the work on the next trip
I'd factor in a pair of cheap shifters anyway, even grip shifts if you were trying to minimise spend. You'll have time to find a cheap pair, whatever type you choose.
Cables...defiantly bether if you fit new ones but I've revived plenty of old bikes,some with terrible looking cables....strip and thoroughly clean with WD or similar...they usually work fine. Again...you appear to have time to find cheap replacements if you choose.

Wheels spin free ? any doubt find out which sized spanners you need for your intended return.

Good project....

 

[roadrash]

@jay clock , I think I have a set of 7 speed shifter/brake combo for those brakes in the shed, cant promise, but I will look, yours for postage costs if I can find them.

 

[Drago]

Unit for unit, 4130 is very similar in weight and has very similar performance characteristics to 531, with the added advantage that it can be TIG welded so is better suited to mass production. Gas pipe the material most certainly is not.

http://www.bretonbikes.com/homepage/cycling-article-blog/163-steel-tubing-for-cycle-tourists

 

[raleighnut]

It's funny how terminologies get mangled over time when people have no knowledge, bike frames were advertised as having 'Best Quality Gas Specification Tubing' because it was a virtue, now it is taken as an insult.

 

[Drago]

If he'd said it had been made from 531 people would have been nodding sagely and chewing their beards. Say its made from another material with near identical mechanical properties and suddenly its something Isambard Brunel would reject as too crude.

 

[Alan O]

Those shifters are likely gummed up which may be why they're not working, the pawls get caked and stop moving. A clean out with a spray cleaner may sort them out. Cables might have seized too.

I had exactly the same problem with a bike I got cheap - it was stuck in gear, small to small, and the shifters didn't work.

Thanks to suggestions here, I opened the shifters and indeed found them all gunked up and the pawls caked in crud and not moving. A thorough cleaning and relube did the trick, and no new shifters needed. (Cables were moving OK, but I replaced them at the same time.)

 

[jay clock]

I had exactly the same problem with a bike I got cheap - it was stuck in gear, small to small, and the shifters didn't work.

Thanks to suggestions here, I opened the shifters and indeed found them all gunked up and the pawls caked in crud and not moving. A thorough cleaning and relube did the trick, and no new shifters needed. (Cables were moving OK, but I replaced them at the same time.)

I had not consider that. And has had 10+ years by the seaside in a sandy and dusty siutation.

 

[roadrash]

@jay clock , found them, if I had been looking for something I needed then it would have took forever, yours for postage if you want them .they will need cleaning up , been in shed for yonks, but they do work....

 

[Drago]

Alivio shifters. Nice bits of kit to use.

 

[jay clock]

@jay clock , found them, if I had been looking for something I needed then it would have took forever, yours for postage if you want them .they will need cleaning up , been in shed for yonks, but they do work....

View attachment 367245

excellent. Ping me a PM with details and I can pay you via Paypal. Will add a bit on for charity too. Really appreciate it

 

[roadrash]

PM incoming