Saving my mom’s cheap hybrid

[jrenaut]

My little sister has just moved to a house a half block from a nice quiet bike trail. My mom wants to ride the trail with my niece and nephew, but her bike, which wasn’t much to begin with, has been sitting for quite some time. It’s in my basement now to see if it can be salvaged. My priorities:
1) Get rust off the chain and cassette. Is this worthwhile? Is there a good way to do this? Or are we stuck with replacement?
2) Re-tape the wheels. The spokes have screws at the bottom – is this normal? There was a rubber seal covering the screws so the tires didn’t pop, but it’s gone to a better place now. Re-taping isn’t a huge deal, is it?
3) The brakes are probably toast but I think I can handle that
4) Tires and tubes actually seem to be in ok shape – I put some air in them a few hours ago and they’re not flat yet so I’m optimistic.

Replacing the bike is probably the best choice, but if I can fix it up for a not terrible amount of money and learn some new maintenance skills at the same time, that’s a win.

[hozn]

Yeah, the screws at the bottom of the spokes is normal (I assume these are the spoke nipples, anyway). Probably not a double wall rim which is why you are noticing them. I assume any rim strip or velox tape will work. I once tried taping my son’s similar 20″ wheels with stans tape to see if I could run them tubeless; that did *not* work

I would think a new chain and cassette would be cheaper than your time to try to clean off the rust. (I am assuming this is not a 10 or 11sp cassette, so you should be able to get a basic one cheap.)

[Judd]

@hozn 177378 wrote:

Yeah, the screws at the bottom of the spokes is normal (I assume these are the spoke nipples, anyway). Probably not a double wall rim which is why you are noticing them. I assume any rim strip or velox tape will work. I once tried taping my son’s similar 20″ wheels with stans tape to see if I could run them tubeless; that did *not* work

My first adult bike had wheels like this. It just a really cheap rubber rim strip that worked just fine, although the cost difference for putting in real rim strip is probably negligible.

[baiskeli]

“Naval Jelly” (no, not navel jelly, you pervs) will eat rust. You can get it at Home Depot, etc.

[drevil]

@hozn 177378 wrote:

Yeah, the screws at the bottom of the spokes is normal (I assume these are the spoke nipples, anyway). Probably not a double wall rim which is why you are noticing them. I assume any rim strip or velox tape will work. I once tried taping my son’s similar 20″ wheels with stans tape to see if I could run them tubeless; that did *not* work

I would think a new chain and cassette would be cheaper than your time to try to clean off the rust. (I am assuming this is not a 10 or 11sp cassette, so you should be able to get a basic one cheap.)

@Judd 177379 wrote:

My first adult bike had wheels like this. It just a really cheap rubber rim strip that worked just fine, although the cost difference for putting in real rim strip is probably negligible.

Just an FYI, putting on a rim strip with a sticky side (like Velox or Gorilla tape) on a single wall rim might make it harder to turn the nipples/true the wheel.

[hozn]

@drevil 177386 wrote:

Just an FYI, putting on a rim strip with a sticky side (like Velox or Gorilla tape) on a single wall rim might make it harder to turn the nipples/true the wheel.

I hadn’t thought of that side effect — good point! Probably best is just get a rubber/plastic rim strip.

[jrenaut]

Will I be able to get a rubber/plastic strip at your average bike shop?

[drevil]

@jrenaut 177390 wrote:

Will I be able to get a rubber/plastic strip at your average bike shop?

Yes, you should be able to. They’re common among less expensive wheels, (which only have single wall vs better rims, which have 2). The 2 on the left are single wall, the rest are double.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17805[/ATTACH]

https://www.cyclingabout.com/the-best-rims-for-bicycle-touring/

They’ll probably want to know wheel diameter and rim width, or you can just take the wheel into them.

[Judd]

@drevil 177391 wrote:

Yes, you should be able to. They’re common among less expensive wheels, (which only have single wall vs better rims, which have 2). The 2 on the left are single wall, the rest are double.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17805[/ATTACH]

https://www.cyclingabout.com/the-best-rims-for-bicycle-touring/

They’ll probably want to know wheel diameter and rim width, or you can just take the wheel into them.

I think I got mine at REI last time.

[Starduster]

@jrenaut 177390 wrote:

Will I be able to get a rubber/plastic strip at your average bike shop?

Absolutely! But as the above posts show, there are a variety of widths for various rims. Best you bring the wheel (or the bike) into your LBS of choice.

[Author]

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