I'm a poor student and I bought a used bike. I don't have experience with bikes and I want to make sure that the bike is safe for me because actually I found the bike in a garbage container and the owner offered to sell it for 15 euros. Now I really need to be sure that it's safe!
I saw some videos on youtube to understand what gears are and so on and I found that the gears are working and the chain is switching correctly between the chainrings and the cogs. I also checked the breaks handles and I saw that the bike stops correctly when I press them. The rear breaks need a little adjustment to better stop the back tire.
The only thing I did so far is cleaning the bike. Actually I'm so happy about it that I go outside every few minutes just to look at it. I never had a bike when I was a kid but I know how to ride them :). But anyway back to subject!
Here are what I'm planning to do:
0- One of the breaks handles are not so tight, so it is safe to leave it?
1- Remove the rust from the chainrings, cogs, screwdrivers and other parts. (actually i have no idea how to do that and no idea how to do that in a cheap way, so I posted a question Restoring the original color of metal and chainrings)
2- Change entirely all the cables in the bike because I found them rusty.
3- The tires are completely damaged and I need to fully buy new ones. This is the most expensive thing ever to me since I realized I need to spend 25 euros on that.
So that is basically what I thought of for safety check but I wonder if there are other stuff I need to check or buy/change.
Here are some pics for my bike:
More pictures here: Painting a bike with minimum cost