Replacing components on bikes unused for a few years

[Magik_]

Hi all,

I'm also wondering about your opinion on what bike components should be considered for changing on a bike that hasn't been used for about 2 years.

So far I know I'll be replacing all the gear and brake cables, and in the process adjusting the derailleurs. Is there a specific kind I should buy that you would recommend or does it not make much of a difference?

Other components I'm not sure about and looking for checking methods to decide if a change is needed:

-inner tubes and outer tyres
-spokes
-cassette (I suppose if the teeth aren't sharp it's okay?)
-chain
-bottom bracket
-wheel hubs
-brake pads (not disc brakes)

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

Damjan

[Brucey]

Hi all,

I'm also wondering about your opinion on what bike components should be considered for changing on a bike that hasn't been used for about 2 years.

So far I know I'll be replacing all the gear and brake cables, and in the process adjusting the derailleurs. Is there a specific kind I should buy that you would recommend or does it not make much of a difference?

Other components I'm not sure about and looking for checking methods to decide if a change is needed:

-inner tubes and outer tyres if worn or perished
-spokes if they are breaking
-cassette (I suppose if the teeth aren't sharp it's okay?) change with the chain if the chain is worn more than 0.5%
-chain change at about 0.5% wear if you want to keep the cassette, change chain and cassette between 0.5% and 1% if you want not to wear the chainrings
-bottom bracket if worn
-wheel hubs if worn; otherwise service the bearings
-brake pads (not disc brakes)if worn

the best cables to buy might vary with the gear system you have.

cheers

[NUKe]

Depending how you stored it. 2 years is not long blow the tyres up, check the brakes, lube the chain then see how it rides.

[thelawnet]

So far I know I'll be replacing all the gear and brake cables, and in the process adjusting the derailleurs. Is there a specific kind I should buy that you would recommend or does it not make much of a difference?

There are various bits - cables can be plain steel, stainless steel, stainless steel with PTFE (Teflon), then you have housings which are either PTFE or not (now virtually standard), and brake cable housings can be compressionless (rare, but preferable in some cases) or not.

You will want to replace both housing and cable.

There are more bits than you might think. This is a complete set:



£30 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jagwire-Road ... 2257640072

You do get different cable ends on 'road' and 'MTB' and in some cases you might find that what's already fitted is a bodge of some kind.

Do get the best cable cutters you can, you don't want them fraying when you cut them, and you also don't want el-cheapo 20p cables either.

[The utility cyclist]

Depending how you stored it. 2 years is not long blow the tyres up, check the brakes, lube the chain then see how it rides.

Do this before anything else.

Unless you know the components aren't functioning or functioning very well then there's no need to replace. Even gear/brake cables can be tidied up, pull through the outer sleeves, rub down with a bit of sandpaper and a bit of lube, re feed back through outers and trim the end as near to the end as possible.
Shabby cosmetic does not equal non functioning.
good luck.

PS, inner cables that cost 50p-£1 each are just fine, no need to spend £30.

[thelawnet]

PS, inner cables that cost 50p-£1 each are just fine, no need to spend £30.

It isn't 50p for a cable Vs £30 for a cable, it's £30 for a set of outers, inners, housing ends, cable ends and so on.

There are good reasons to spend more on cables, i.e. rust resistance , lower friction and so on, but it's certainly not necessary.

A low friction PTFE cable is about £4 (or more if you wish), multiply by four for of them gets you to £16; you could get away with spending 4*£1 instead but I'm not sure why you would unless your budget is very restricted, and even then I'd probably want stainless as a minimum?

[tatanab]

Depending how you stored it. 2 years is not long blow the tyres up, check the brakes, lube the chain then see how it rides.

Exactly. I have machines I've not used in 5 years, but I would not think twice about taking them out right now with little more than pumping up the tyres. They were all very well maintained and stored dry, a different issue if you put away a piece of poorly maintained and abused kit in a leaking shed.

[Brucey]

IME if you assemble some index systems (eg original shimano 10s with underbartape routing) using '50p cables' then you can expect '50p performance' too. It'll be finicky if it works at all and if you actually use your bike much, it'll soon need doing again.

FWIW I have no great love for coated cables; in those I have seen to date the coating seems to come off too easily. But 8s/9s systems which I have cabled up using polished stainless steel inners have usually carried on working until something has broken or worn out. Of currently available (uncoated) polished stainless inners, Jagwire 'ultimate' and Fibrax ones seem to be OK and seem to work (for longer than five minutes) with 10s shimano underbartape systems. Shimano 11s and 4700 10s systems seem to be more tolerant.

cheers

[NickJP]

I keep one touring bike in my sister's attic on the other side of the continent (about 4000km away) and another in my brother's attic on the other side of the world, so that when I visit them I don't have to bother with transporting bikes and have a bike ready to ride. After a two year hiatus nothing should need replacing if the bike was cleaned before storage and stored in a dry location. I once went almost ten years between visits to my brother - after that length of time I replaced the tyres, but everything else on the bike was still in good condition.

[The utility cyclist]

PS, inner cables that cost 50p-£1 each are just fine, no need to spend £30.

It isn't 50p for a cable Vs £30 for a cable, it's £30 for a set of outers, inners, housing ends, cable ends and so on.

There are good reasons to spend more on cables, i.e. rust resistance , lower friction and so on, but it's certainly not necessary.

A low friction PTFE cable is about £4 (or more if you wish), multiply by four for of them gets you to £16; you could get away with spending 4*£1 instead but I'm not sure why you would unless your budget is very restricted, and even then I'd probably want stainless as a minimum?

Well £3.79 buys you this, these are Jagwire galvanised brake cables btw.

2 x Inner Cables For Brakes: Front 110cm + Rear 170cm
1 x Outer Housing Brake Cable 250cm x 5mm (Enough Cable For Both Front & Rear)
1 x Outer Housing Gear Cable 200cm x 4mm (Enough Cable For Both Front & Rear)
4 x Alloy Cable End Crimps
4 x Black Alloy Brake Cable Ferrules
10 x Black Plastic Gear Cable Ferrules
1 x Triple Doughnut Ring
add on 2 gear cables for a £1, that's £4.79

For those working to a budget were absolute efficiency isn't required then less expensive cables both inner and outer work perfectly fine.
funny but if you grease a cable it doesn't go rusty, so add on another 2p for grease

[Magik_]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

PS, inner cables that cost 50p-£1 each are just fine, no need to spend £30.

It isn't 50p for a cable Vs £30 for a cable, it's £30 for a set of outers, inners, housing ends, cable ends and so on.

There are good reasons to spend more on cables, i.e. rust resistance , lower friction and so on, but it's certainly not necessary.

A low friction PTFE cable is about £4 (or more if you wish), multiply by four for of them gets you to £16; you could get away with spending 4*£1 instead but I'm not sure why you would unless your budget is very restricted, and even then I'd probably want stainless as a minimum?

Well £3.79 buys you this, these are Jagwire galvanised brake cables btw.

2 x Inner Cables For Brakes: Front 110cm + Rear 170cm
1 x Outer Housing Brake Cable 250cm x 5mm (Enough Cable For Both Front & Rear)
1 x Outer Housing Gear Cable 200cm x 4mm (Enough Cable For Both Front & Rear)
4 x Alloy Cable End Crimps
4 x Black Alloy Brake Cable Ferrules
10 x Black Plastic Gear Cable Ferrules
1 x Triple Doughnut Ring
add on 2 gear cables for a £1, that's £4.79

For those working to a budget were absolute efficiency isn't required then less expensive cables both inner and outer work perfectly fine.
funny but if you grease a cable it doesn't go rusty, so add on another 2p for grease

Where did you find it so cheap? Not that I care about 1-2 GBP, but I got the set https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008X3H8SS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for 5.99 GBP!

Also, I'm looking for bolts and screws (planning to replace all of them) and couldn't find anything cheap on stainless steel online. I'm thinking of just taking all of them out and bringing them to a store to find matching ones. Do you think Wilko's would have them?

Cheers

[Brucey]

IIRC wilkos don't have stainless screws. Best bought in screwfix or toolstation, usually

cheers

[alexnharvey]

Why are you replacing all the bolts and screws? Was it stored outside or in a very damp place?

[gbnz]

Depending how you stored it. 2 years is not long blow the tyres up, check the brakes, lube the chain then see how it rides.

+ 1. I've had a look over the road bike I stored away in 2012 and won't be replacing anything. There's simply no need (NB. Though it'd had a full rebuild prior to being put in storage)

[mercalia]

I would only suggest a new chain