Reconditioning a giant

[bigfriendlyvegan]

I have bartered away my k-mart bike because I hadn't ridden it since I got a real bike, an early 90s roadie. I still wanted a mountain bike to add some variety to life and in the hopes of adding an xtra-cycle at some point in the future. I bought a second hand Giant Boulder from eBay ($70 ) but it needs a little bit of TLC. As such, I have been wondering about a few things:

1. The frame has quite a few paint chips in the places a well used mountain bike usually has them. The surface rust needs to be treated, which I can handle, but the paint will need to be fixed. If I get the whole thing re-sprayed I will loose all of the sexy Giant stickers. Can I get a replacement set? If I touch it up, where will I get the paint from? Is good spray paint from Bunnings good enough for these touch ups? I was also thinking of just spraying these bits with black rust-proof paint and wrapping them with innertube. Comments on this approach?

2. The bike has generic shimano deraillers. I have a full altus groupset salvaged from another moutainbike. Should I change the appropriate parts while I have them off for paint work?

3. There is some scale on the spokes. I can clean it, but is it worthwhile getting it respoked?

Thanks in advance,
David

[Mulger bill]

With the paint David, can you source nail polish in a reasonable colour match? Cover up stone chips nicely.

Can't help with decals tho', when my MTB copped a blast and powdercoat earlier this year I got some of that CNC cut vinyl lettering made up for her, looks a treat IMO.

Shaun

[mikesbytes]

Pretty much boils down to personal opinion;

1. Frame paint. Why bother? It's a mountain bike, its suppose to have scratches, otherwise you end up looking like those 4WD's that never get taken off the tar seal.

2. Generic Shimano Deraillers. If they work then don't bother. Eventually you will wipe them out on a tree stump or whatever anyway.

3. Scale on spokes. Just clean them. If you need to get the wheels respoked then you might as well get new wheels.

In summary don't spend too much, just ride it and enjoy.

[simonn]

I was also thinking of just spraying these bits with black rust-proof paint and wrapping them with innertube. Comments on this approach?

I don't know for cycling, but, before cycling came along and distracted me, I used to do a fair amount of deep SCUBA diving. For stage tanks (tanks slung on our sides) we used to use sections of inner tube to cover some connection points. However, this can encourage corrosion because water gets trapped underneath it and take longer to dry out, if it actually drys at all. This was with both steel and ali tanks.

However, I very much doubt you are immersing your bike completely in salt water, so I do not know if this really matters all that much on bikes .

[bigfriendlyvegan]

Pretty much boils down to personal opinion;

1. Frame paint. Why bother? It's a mountain bike, its suppose to have scratches, otherwise you end up looking like those 4WD's that never get taken off the tar seal.

I don't want a pretty bike, but I don't want to kill the bike with rust (I know you carbonites don't know about that). It is mainly for preventative maintenance rather than asthetics. I think I'll go with the rust stop paint and the inner tubes. (Thanks Simonn, if I ever end up with the bike under water I think I'll have more to worry about than rust - I can't swim)

2. Generic Shimano Deraillers. If they work then don't bother. Eventually you will wipe them out on a tree stump or whatever anyway.

Fair enough. I'll keep the altus for after I kill the generics.

3. Scale on spokes. Just clean them. If you need to get the wheels respoked then you might as well get new wheels.

That solves that problem. Thanks.

In summary don't spend too much, just ride it and enjoy.

With three kids and a craft obsessed wife, money is hard to come by. I don't intend to spend anything more on the bike (aside from the paint) and yes, I will enjoy it.

Thanks for all the help,
David