One year ago I moved to Boston and my father-in-law gave me his old Specialized mountain bike. He is a road bike guy so this bike was left aside for the longest time. It was in a decent shape. The only money I spent on it was for some lights, one tire and two tubes. I commuted to work (3 miles total) every single day: with sun, rain or snow. But (unfortunately) I didn't take care of it at all. And now the bike is in a really bad shape. Chains, front/rear derailleurs and cassette are all SUPER rusty. And both breaks are also gone. For my birthday I bought a new bike (Specialized Sirrus Comp) but I don't want to ride it in the snow.
So I decided to restore the old one. The idea was to slowly restore this bike with decent parts, ride it during the winter and take care of it, and after that, I'd have a spare bike that my wife could use.
First step: brakes. They were REALLY bad, so I bought new v-brakes from Amazon (Shimano Acera Mountain Bicycle V-Brake / $23) and I tried to install them. It didn't go well because I also need new cables. Because of that, I got really frustrated and I completely disassembled the bike and there's no turning back.
Here is my question: should I do that or not? This is the list of parts I will probably have to buy in order to put the bike back in the streets:
- Shimano Brake Cable and Housing Set - $14
- Shimano Stainless Steel Shift Cable - $9
- Shimano Tourney 6/7-Speed Mountain Bicycle Rear Derailleur - $13
- Shimano FD-TX50 Tourney Front Derailleur - $11
- Shimano Tourney Shift Lever SL-RS45 - $16
- New chain - $10
Am I missing something?? I should probably buy new wheels but I can certainly wait.
So the total cost would be: $96. The (ideal) final result would be an old but decent Specialized frame (it's the only part that's not rusted) with brand new entry-level Shimano parts. This sounds better than a department store bike.
Is it stupid to do that considering I have no idea how to put everything back together (Youtube will help me)?