Second hand advice, what's "too old"?

[jb]

Rear wheels tend to get more breaking wear on the rims in hilly areas as they are used as drag brakes on long descents.

Whether its worth it depends on your expectations, if you just want to ride it from the get-go without any changes then you need to give it a closer looking at than if you are mainly interested in the frame & ancillaries and are prepared to do a bit of servicing.

But most bikes with good frames from the last twenty years can be made as good as new for a reasonable cost.

[stampz]

Thanks everyone, I have indeed grabbed the bike from him, and it's lovely.

Handed it to my lbs for a service and sanity check. I suspect it needs some new cables and a right good greasing, but other than that she seems good. I have christened her Calli