Originally Posted by Jeff Neese

These fall into that grey area of "worth it or not?" and it really depends on condition and what it needs. It's easily possible to spend a couple hundred dollars on tires and tubes, chain and cassette, brake pads, cables and housings. It adds up. And that's assuming everything else can be reused. You start replacing shifters or other mechanicals (bottom bracket?) or replacing the saddle, and that adds to the cost even more. I always spend more on restoring a bike than the original purchase price, so I try to choose my restoration candidates carefully and consider what I'll have when I'm done.