Bought me a bike

[hansolo77]

So my car was broken. I was trying to save up to get it fixed, but Dad got tired of waiting for his parking spot to become available. So he called up somebody who works on cars and said "if you can make it work, you can have it". So the guys came and took my car away. As far as I know, they still haven't got it running (it was overheating after about 3 minutes of turning on the ignition) and it's been probably 3 months. Anyway, I now have to rely on transportation from Dad and their car. This is causing a lot of pain and issue because Dad has to take me to work, then my stepmom (works like 50 miles away) then keeps the car all day so he can pick me up when I'm off (usually 6 hours later, and she works 8, hence the need for keeping the car) and then her. So long story short, the fact that we only have 1 car is costing us a TON of money in gas so he can keep the car all day and drive 50 miles both ways to drop her off and pick her up. That's 200 miles A DAY. So I needed to find some way to get to work on the cheap. I refuse to take a bus. I live far enough away from work that walking is a pain. It takes me like 45 minutes to an hour to walk home from work the nights I work late and dad doesn't want to come out to get me. So I've been looking at buying a bike. Figured it would cut the transportation time down some, plus it would help me get into shape. I've been seriously considering buying a WalMart bike, but I really couldn't afford a new one for like $200. Pro bike shops want even more, in the thousands. So I've been patiently waiting for garage sale season! Well, needless to say, it's here. Our community has a special Garage Sale Festival every summer where for 3 days everybody who's selling sells on those days. The streets are literally LINED with cars and people walking around buying. It's like going to the flea market or something. So the first place we went to that had bikes, there was this little old lady like in her 90's trying to sell a Schwinn for females for like $300 bucks. The note on it said never rode, and there was considerable dust on it. I passed. The next place had a nice size bike for men, had no price tag, and was completely rusted out. The cranks wouldn't turn and the chain was busted. I passed again. Then I saw a place that had a nice size male bike next to a kids bike with training wheels on it. It wasn't rusted at all except for on the front and back frame reflectors. He wanted $30 bucks for it. I thought, OK, and asked him about it. He said it was a "few" years old, but was bought at a store for $900. They tried to sell it last year for $90 but nobody would buy it. So this year it was marked down to $30. The brake shoes looked brand new, as did the treads on the tires. The frame and rims weren't bent. Everything looked great except for the little bit of rust and the fact that both tires were flat. I only had $25 in my pocket at the time, so I told him if he wanted a full $30 I could run to the bank and get another $5 but they said it was ok, and sold it to me for that! I got it home, then had to go to work. While I was there, Dad apparently did some research (I was unable to duplicate in my quick searches). Apparently the bike could well be worth MORE than $900 based on the parts. The bike manufacturer is Raleigh and it says it's a Technium. Dad said this bike would have been made around the early 90's. No biggie to me if I can ride it work and stuff though. But it's nice to know there's some hidden value in this thing I bought for $25! We're gonna try and do some work on it tomorrow. WD-40 the SH!T out of it to make sure all the moving parts are well lubed. The tubes need inflated, hopefully they're just flat from not being used and not blown. There is also a bit of concern with the brake cables in the back, looks like it's hanging on by a thread rather than the entire cable. Dad, however, has high hopes there's nothing wrong with it. And if there is, I can afford to put $100 bucks in or whatever to get it street safe, considering I only paid $25 for it. I'm really excited!

I'll post some pictures tomorrow if I remember to take some...

[KRC]

There's nothing better than riding a bike to work, I have a Claud Butler which is about 13 years old, it was given to me by my dad when I left home, I think it gives a different sense of freedom. My only gripe is when I change clothes when I arrive at work.

I used to have a Raleigh when I was a kid, it was called a Totally Extreme and it had a colorful disc on the rear wheel.

[Draco1962]

Sounds like you got a great deal, Han! Raleigh's, no matter their build, are pretty durable bikes. Don't be put off by any repairs. If the bike was made in the 90's, I would hazard a guess that you are dealing with original tubes. Replace those. Also, if the tires are original, they may need to be replaced as well as dry rot can be a problem with rubber breaking down due to age and exposure - even if the thread looks like new.

Be careful of using too much WD40. Only grease made for the pedal shaft should be used there as well as within the actual wheel axles and bearings. WD40 can cause that to break down and the parts to wear faster. Use it only on the surface rust and immediately wipe it off. Don't get on rims or brake pads.

You can likely replace the reflectors from kit obtained from Walmart for cheap.

As for the brakes, the cables, if not broken, can be easily reattached and, with a little effort, adjusted. Same as with the tires, the brake pads are subject to dry rot being made of rubber, albeit a little harder. They should still feel like rubber. If they feel more like rocks and have small cracks, replace them.

Finally, if you will be riding at times in the dark, do yourself a BIG favor and install LED headlight and flashing wheel and tail reflectors. A helmet, while no longer required in most states, will save your life. Get one that is light colored, reflective (I have even seen them with a flashing LED attached to the back for better visibility to drivers) and a reflective vest is not a bad idea either. Sure, you may look like a dork to some people, but you will be LIVE dork!

[hansolo77]

Wow sounds like you know a bit about bikes Draco. Who would have known? I really don't know jack crap about them. I spent some time last night actually checking up on Amazon for some price ranges on parts if I needed to replace anything. To my surprise everything is actually pretty cheap. Aside from the frame and rims/spokes it looks like everything else on the bike is custom. And most of the custom parts are Shimano. Again, I don't know much about bikes, but I've definitely heard that name before. On Amazon, replacement Shimano parts are pretty easy to come by. I was expecting to pay $20-30 for the things like new brake cables if needed, but Amazon has those for like $5 bucks. Even like the chain that is pretty orange with rust can be replaced relatively cheaply where I thought it would be pretty expensive. My only problem is that I have no idea how to actually do those types of repairs. It looks to me that brake cables, shifter cables, and chains would be the hardest things to replace. Things like reflectors a pre-teen kid could do with a simple screwdriver. But I'm pretty stoked about it. I've always wanted to try to learn about bikes and customizing, and this looks like a great way to get started since most of the work is done already and I'm just doing simple maintenance on it now.

[Draco1962]

Unless the chain is broken or you have forzen links, I wouldn't worry about replacing it. Just soak it as you said with some WD40 and you should be good to go. As for my bike knowledge, I used to build my own dirt bikes when I was a kid, "Frankensteining" parts from discards, painting, etc. Being a dad and doing maintenance and repairs on the kids bikes reminded me how much things haven't changed from my youth, other than price.

Shimano is the defacto brake company for almost all bike companies in the US and probably internationally, so no surprise there. I am sure that your web search can turn up some instruction videos on YouTube on how to replace and adjust the brakes and cables. You may need your dad or a friend to assist a little while fine-tuning the tightness, but it isn't too difficult. If you can configure an emulator this will be a snap for you to learn!

[hansolo77]

Yeah I hope. I'm truly amazed at how "street dumb" I am. I know more about computers than I do about simple stuff it seems most other people would know. Like I don't know ANYTHING about cars other than how to drive them and put gas in them. When something breaks, I don't know the first thing on how to fix it on my own and instead spend way more money than needed to have some place do it for me. The same is true with something as simple as a bike. I know how to ride them and fill the tires as needed, that's about it. I don't know how to do anything else, and it seems like most people know at least something about it. I don't even really know how the gears and stuff really work. I know that some how the thing pops the chain off of one and onto another, but I don't know how it does it. Brakes seem a little easier to understand; pull the level and the tension pulls the cable that pulls close the brakes. But if I had to adjust it, or replace the cable, I'm completely lost. I want to learn, but I also don't want to ruin it and make it no longer work at all.

[hansolo77]

Just to update; I still don't have any pictures yet...

We took the wheels off today. Apparently the axel's were modified with some type of quick release and they were much easier to remove than I was fearing. The front was easy enough but the back was more difficult because of the chain. The biggest problem removing them was getting the tires through the brakes. But since they were flat it was a simple matter of squeezing the tire skinny so they would slide through. We took them to the gas station and filled them up with 40psi air. The tire said 35-80 but we didn't want to over fill since there's no telling how old the rubber is. Granted, the tire looks brand new though, and was very pliable. Once the tires were refilled we started to tackle the chain. It's a hit or miss. The chain was in great condition for the most part. I mean, it's a 20 year old bike, probably still had the original chain. It wasn't as orange as I remembered. The first thing I did was crank the pedals and spray the WD40 on a continuous stream for the whole chain, then worked it around 5 or 6 to get everything well lubed. I then sprayed everything else gently that had moving parts, like the pedals, brake caliper hinges, turning wheel, etc. Once that was done we went inside and had some bratwurst patties for lunch. Then we went back to look at the chain some more. There are like 3 links that were frozen but the rest seemed pretty loose. We tried for about 2 hours working the links that were stuck and were able to get them moving, but once the chain went around the gears they locked up again. Regardless, I went for a test run. Drove it around the block and confirmed the chain was slipping after every 8 pedals or so. We still had the gears on their lowest/smallest setting so it was really only 1 spin on the chain. After that I tried to change gears. I can only get the back gears to go up 3 spots. The front ones I can get up to the 2nd gear rather difficultly and then again to the 3rd difficultly. I still couldn't get the back to go past 3. As it is right now though I had to take a break for the day. It's too hot to mess around with this thing for TOO long. Especially without any shade. But on the positive side, it looks like the tires are still inflated (we'll confirm tomorrow) and the bike is ride-able for the moment. Still some work needs done on the chain and possibly adjusting the shifters some how. But's it's a work in progress moving the right direction.

EDIT - Before I forget... its a Raleigh Technium E9. Good luck finding information about it though. The best I can come up with is expired auctions and people talking about owning it, but nothing like manuals and stuff (which would be nice). I can't even find a picture of what mine looks like. I found a few that matches the frame, but I think that's the best I can find. I really think this bike was customized.

[Draco1962]

Sounds like you are on the right path. You may need to soak those sticking links overnight in some WD40. Worse case you may need to get a replacement chain. You may be right about customization or at least repair/replaced parts.

[hansolo77]

Well that's the problem. We don't know how to remove the chain. Dad was looking for a "Master Link" that you take apart so you can remove the chain but we couldn't find it. He later learned through the power of Google that you need some kind of tool to push the a link pin out before you can remove the chain. We don't have that. Even if we did, how do you get the chain submerged in WD40? LOL

[Draco1962]

Besides the link chain, if you can get the back wheel off, then you can slip the chain over the crank in one piece unless you are dealing with chain guides. In some cases, the outer part of the chain guide can be removed by removing a screw or two. Even if you can't get it off, if you can remove the back wheel and droop the part of chain with the frozen links into a shallow bowl filled with some WD40. You can also saturate a rag with WD40 and the stuck links themselves, then wrap the links with the saturated rag.

[hansolo77]

Yeah this has chain guides. We thought about taking it off in one piece but it's not going to come off that way. I'll mention the soaking part with the rag. The problem is, the 3 or so links are actually spread apart, not together. We got the toughest one loose and can move it back and forth with some work, so they're getting better. It's just going to take some time. Dad might have given up though. He just came up to tell me we should look into maybe calling a bike shop to get a new chain, but mostly because of the shifter's not being able to change past the 3rd gear. He doesn't feel ready to try and work them and I don't blame him. So we may end up just going that route.

[Tempest]

They make special penetrating oil for rusty parts. I googled a bit and PB Blaster seems to be a favorite.

This looks like a good read for you

Draco - I've been using white lithium grease in a spray can for lubrication. I think that is better than WD40. What are your thoughts?

[Draco1962]

They make special penetrating oil for rusty parts. I googled a bit and PB Blaster seems to be a favorite.

This looks like a good read for you

Draco - I've been using white lithium grease in a spray can for lubrication. I think that is better than WD40. What are your thoughts?

Not bad but WD40 is good for initial neutralization of rust and degriming. For longivity it is better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViExJrTu_Kw

[hansolo77]

Lol I was thinking about that song too. Interesting read there Tempest. Thanks for the find. Dad said he ran the chain around about 10 times today and it never slipped once. I think I might still invest in some of that PB Blaster though. Dad also said he found that nowadays manufacture's make chains to be user maintenanced and replaced regularly because they 'stretch' and can than cause wear on the teeth of the gears. So in the long run I might be ahead to just seek out a bike shop and have somebody put a chain on it for me. My biggest concern is the gears now because it won't shift up past 3.