I'm taking my usual approach to learning how to fix things - I've acquired a bike in need of repair (for free!), and am working it out as I go along. In this case, the bike got caught in a flood and spent a week or so under a couple of metres of river water.
So far, I've disassembled and cleaned everything, and so far as I can tell:
- The bottom bracket is dead, so I'm getting a new one.
- The frame, somewhat surprisingly, seems fine: no signs of rust anywhere.
- The brake disks had some minor surface rusting that came off with the mud, and now seem fine.
- The headset bearings were full of river water, so I've disassembled and de-greased, and will be re-greasing when I reassemble it.
- Given that all of the other bearings were knackered, I assumed the same for the wheel bearings, so have cleaned and re-greased both.
- The whole drivetrain seems OK, after much cleaning.
- The pedals are a bit rusty, but I'll be swapping them anyway, so I'm not bothered.
- The shifter cables seem OK.
For things that I know I'm not sure about:
- What do I do with the front suspension? Previous bikes have all been road bikes, so I've no idea what I'm even looking for here. It's one of these. I assume the river water will have done a nasty on it, but what's the best way to go about fixing it?
- This bike has hydraulic brakes (Tektro M286). What do I need to check about these? Any likely problems?
Finally, is there anything that I've not listed above that might have been damaged and not be obvious at a glance?