Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
It's been five years since I last bought a bike. To be fair, my three current bikes tick all my boxes (road, hybrid, rigid steel MTB), and I've done plenty of happy miles on the Raleigh Max that ended up being my lockdown project. But I've still had that occasional itch for a hardtail MTB - which I finally ended up scratching yesterday.
Went to the tip to dispose of three black bags of junk and a bouquet of threadbare mops and brooms, and spotted this Specialized Hotrock in their sales area. Now most of their junior bikes tend towards your archetypal full-suspension BSO, and their prices for bicycles in general since Covid have kind of rocketed. Usually it's not worth biting - they still haven't quite cottoned on to the fact that the bottom has largely fallen out of the used bike market - but this bike was marked at a fairly reasonable £40.
So I got kind of curious and gave it the once over. Yes, it was very dirty and scuffed, the drivetrain was full of putty-like gunk, the tyres had lost all their air, the front brake didn't work and the shifter for the rear derailleur was jammed. But all the parts and pieces were there, and underneath all the cosmetic issues, it looked like a solid enough bike.
Now I didn't have enough cash on me, so figured I'd sleep on it, but got home, looked up how much these things usually go for, and noticed that the tip has extended opening hours on a Wednesday. So rustled up the readies and went back for what really was something of an impulse buy. And just by being nice to the chap in the sales area (he sold me the Raleigh Max - AND remembered!), I got a fiver knocked off the asking price. So in the end, I paid £35.
Had a bit of time this afternoon to start the fettling.
1) Tyres were re-seated on the rims, pumped up and appear to be holding air. I don't think this bike has done a stellar mileage, as they're the original OEM tyres and still have some of the little frilly bits from the moulding process. The wheels look in good condition, and there's still plenty of meat left on the braking surfaces.
2) A basic clean was undertaken. That removed a lot of the dust and dirt, and revealed a fair number of paint scuffs. Will be easy enough to fix with a little pot of touch-up paint from the car spares shop in town. Looks to me that the bike may have had some gravel-induced interfaces in its past life, as there are also stones jammed in the pedal cages. I'm betting this was just chucked on a gravel drive as a matter of habit.
3) Troubleshooted the front brake. Brakes are V-brakes, btw. The reason why it wasn't working, was that there was no tension in the cable. It had slipped in the nut (and had also frayed). All the relevant bits were re-seated and the cable nipped up. I now have a working front brake. All the pivot points were lubricated for both the front and rear brakes, and a squirt of GT85 went into the cable outers. I will be replacing the brake cables though. Not only is the front cable frayed, some bright spark has cut the rear cable just where it exits the tensioning nut. Probably to stop it from fouling Junior's clothes. But if that slips out, then there's no rear brakes.
4) Freed, cleaned and greased the seat post. It wasn't stuck, but it was stubborn, and when it came free, was covered in gritty white powder. Set it back in the frame at roughly the same height as the Raleigh (forgot to take tape measure to the garage), but that will still want a bit of adjustment.
5) Removed as much of the oily, gritty muck from both the front and rear derailleurs as I could without breaking out the peg wood and wire brushes. Lubricated all of the pivot points / moving parts. Both twist shifters now work because everything *else* is now free to move, but the drivetrain is still very dirty. That will definitely be getting a better clean and once over. Will also check the chain for wear, and then see where we're at. I suspect there won't be over much wear if the state of the tyres are anything to go by. Neglect looks far closer to the truth. Drivetrain is 3x7 btw, Shimano, but pretty basic. That said, if it works, it'll do.
An hour's fairly basic tinkering has got me to the stage where I'm confident enough to take it out on a test ride. (Note to self, remember the toolkit this time!) Will see what's what after that. I will definitely be wanting new brake cables, some mudguards, new pedals and a saddle that fits my bum, though I can borrow one off one of my other bicycular conveyances temporarily. As for the rest, we'll see what the test ride and further tinker time will reveal.
The plan, as it stands, is to leave the bike relatively stock (bright blue pedals and bottle cage might be fun though). I could potentially move over the components from the Raleigh if I really wanted to. That's not going to happen however, because I like the Raleigh far too much to want to eviscerate it like that. And I'm unlikely to be doing a total ground up build like I did with the Raleigh, mainly because I'm starting from a much better place. This one's going to be more of an oily rag job to turn out a useable and mechanically sound bike. And scratch that itch for a hardtail...
Edited for brain fart regarding brake type.
Went to the tip to dispose of three black bags of junk and a bouquet of threadbare mops and brooms, and spotted this Specialized Hotrock in their sales area. Now most of their junior bikes tend towards your archetypal full-suspension BSO, and their prices for bicycles in general since Covid have kind of rocketed. Usually it's not worth biting - they still haven't quite cottoned on to the fact that the bottom has largely fallen out of the used bike market - but this bike was marked at a fairly reasonable £40.
So I got kind of curious and gave it the once over. Yes, it was very dirty and scuffed, the drivetrain was full of putty-like gunk, the tyres had lost all their air, the front brake didn't work and the shifter for the rear derailleur was jammed. But all the parts and pieces were there, and underneath all the cosmetic issues, it looked like a solid enough bike.
Now I didn't have enough cash on me, so figured I'd sleep on it, but got home, looked up how much these things usually go for, and noticed that the tip has extended opening hours on a Wednesday. So rustled up the readies and went back for what really was something of an impulse buy. And just by being nice to the chap in the sales area (he sold me the Raleigh Max - AND remembered!), I got a fiver knocked off the asking price. So in the end, I paid £35.
Had a bit of time this afternoon to start the fettling.
1) Tyres were re-seated on the rims, pumped up and appear to be holding air. I don't think this bike has done a stellar mileage, as they're the original OEM tyres and still have some of the little frilly bits from the moulding process. The wheels look in good condition, and there's still plenty of meat left on the braking surfaces.
2) A basic clean was undertaken. That removed a lot of the dust and dirt, and revealed a fair number of paint scuffs. Will be easy enough to fix with a little pot of touch-up paint from the car spares shop in town. Looks to me that the bike may have had some gravel-induced interfaces in its past life, as there are also stones jammed in the pedal cages. I'm betting this was just chucked on a gravel drive as a matter of habit.
3) Troubleshooted the front brake. Brakes are V-brakes, btw. The reason why it wasn't working, was that there was no tension in the cable. It had slipped in the nut (and had also frayed). All the relevant bits were re-seated and the cable nipped up. I now have a working front brake. All the pivot points were lubricated for both the front and rear brakes, and a squirt of GT85 went into the cable outers. I will be replacing the brake cables though. Not only is the front cable frayed, some bright spark has cut the rear cable just where it exits the tensioning nut. Probably to stop it from fouling Junior's clothes. But if that slips out, then there's no rear brakes.
4) Freed, cleaned and greased the seat post. It wasn't stuck, but it was stubborn, and when it came free, was covered in gritty white powder. Set it back in the frame at roughly the same height as the Raleigh (forgot to take tape measure to the garage), but that will still want a bit of adjustment.
5) Removed as much of the oily, gritty muck from both the front and rear derailleurs as I could without breaking out the peg wood and wire brushes. Lubricated all of the pivot points / moving parts. Both twist shifters now work because everything *else* is now free to move, but the drivetrain is still very dirty. That will definitely be getting a better clean and once over. Will also check the chain for wear, and then see where we're at. I suspect there won't be over much wear if the state of the tyres are anything to go by. Neglect looks far closer to the truth. Drivetrain is 3x7 btw, Shimano, but pretty basic. That said, if it works, it'll do.
An hour's fairly basic tinkering has got me to the stage where I'm confident enough to take it out on a test ride. (Note to self, remember the toolkit this time!) Will see what's what after that. I will definitely be wanting new brake cables, some mudguards, new pedals and a saddle that fits my bum, though I can borrow one off one of my other bicycular conveyances temporarily. As for the rest, we'll see what the test ride and further tinker time will reveal.
The plan, as it stands, is to leave the bike relatively stock (bright blue pedals and bottle cage might be fun though). I could potentially move over the components from the Raleigh if I really wanted to. That's not going to happen however, because I like the Raleigh far too much to want to eviscerate it like that. And I'm unlikely to be doing a total ground up build like I did with the Raleigh, mainly because I'm starting from a much better place. This one's going to be more of an oily rag job to turn out a useable and mechanically sound bike. And scratch that itch for a hardtail...
Edited for brain fart regarding brake type.
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