nilpil

Hi

I recently purchased lemond Chambéry road bike on craigslist. The bike frame is good condition. I am planning to use this for the first Olympic triathlon in July. I took the bike to the shop to tune it. Shop essentially asked me to change everything except frame. This is my first foray into any bike racing. Wanted to check if I can replace the chain wheel/chain/gears from some other bike on this. If yes, what information I need to look for?

luevelvet

If you're not sure about all of the bits and bobs that go into restoring a used bike into workable condition, then you're really at the mercy of a local bike shop that will recommend and do the work. Some things you can ask to save on costs are, which pieces can be salvaged and which absolutely need to be replaced? It's not uncommon to need to replace cables, brake pads, tires or chain and cassette. You *should* be able to keep the wheels which will save you a great deal if you don't want to break the bank but they may also require a truing which will cost whatever your LBS charges for that routine service (typically nominal compared to a new wheel set).

Ask them what's the minimum they can do to get it road worthy and see what they come back with. Replacing everything except the frame may cost you about as much as a brand new bike these days, if not more!

gorillimo

Was that the one on SLO CL? If it was, it was a nice deal.....

63rickert

A Chambery is simply not that old. Built for quite a few years in a lot of variations so I don't know what exactly you have. But a quality bike and a serviceable bike. Yes, parts ditribution has become a nightmare and an LBS may have limitations on what they can do. If their only strategy to cope is throwing away everything and starting over you need a new LBS. And perhaps if you have no mechanical ability yourself it would be better to purchase new bikes.