I recently bought a 10speed blue '78 Schwinn Le Tour III for $10 at a yard sale. It has been living outside for some time and has rust damage on some components, but the frame itself is in quite good shape.
How possible would it be to repair/replace the brakes, pedals, shifters, tires, seat, and cogs? I can do simple bike repairs myself, but would it be more cost-effective to just buy a different bike?
bikeworks
Favorite Answer
Rust does not necessarily mean the parts need to be replaced. Take some time, clean them up and lubricate.
I would suggest that you replace only the chain and all the cables and housings along with the tires and tubes. If you like how it rides then go ahead and replace the saddle and the other stuff if you want.
You can buy cables, housings, and chain at any bike shop BUT you will need a special tool to replace the chain. Figure $40 for the lot.
If this exceeds what you wanted to spend to fix up the bike to riding condition, then another bike is in order.
jm c
In some respects, I disagree with M R: This is a classic bike made by Schwinn, back when Schwinn made good bikes. It is heavy and you would never use the thing for a race, but it has value to those Schwinn collectors (and there are a few of them).
The cost will be in replacing the pedals, shifters and seat. This could be a grand restoration project that will cost a little but could net a nice return in the long run.
Plus, as another poster put it, you can learn some invaluable wrenching skills.
scyrocco
Anything is possible, but it sounds like a project. The park tools website will walk you through any repair. You can get $5 tires and other dirt cheep components from niagaracycle.com. If you're handy with a wrench, go for it. It sounds like you'd pretty much be building a whole new bike though. Maybe get a couple other bikes for parts and make one good one.
Anonymous
It's best to either keep the repairs minimal and cheap or just rid yourself of the bike. The bike has no particular value and you can buy a much better used bike that needs little to no repair for under $100.
?
Buy another bike, as it is foolish to put 10 - 20 times what you paid into repairs.