zaroba

Help me decide.

Bit of a back story, I used to bike all the time, even did some marathons. But that was all before 2000. In 2010 I bought a new mountain bike because I wanted to get back into biking, but it never happened. Earlier this year I moved to southern Maryland and of course I brought my bikes. Live in a nice small town half hour from Ocean City MD, half hour from Chincoteague VA, lot's of huge wildlife preserves within an hours drive, lots of trails. I'm actually motivated to get back into biking again.

Now, I could take the hardly used bike that I got in 2010, inflate the tires, grease it up, and it would be good to go. But I don't want to get rid of my old mountain bike, a Schwinn Mesa that I bought when I was 12 years old in 1993 after saving up my allowance etc for probably a year. It's silly but it actually has sentimental value. It was the only bike I used until I stopped biking around 2002, trails, a few marathons, road riding. Broke and replaced nearly everything on it except the frame itself. It needs work though, pedals + sprocket, chain, derailleur, tires are dry rotted. The one nice thing about it is that it has solid rubber inner tubes so no flat tires ever, ignoring the dry rotted tires that could fall apart anyway.

What would all of you guys/girls do? Fix it up or just say screw it and trash it?

Iride01 

I upgraded an old '91 Paramount frame once back in 2017 and put 11 speed Shimano 105 on it. It was a great experience to bring me up to date on my DIY skills since I was previously delusional with the idea that friction shifters on the downtube were all anyone really needed. Boy did I find out how wrong I'd been for too many years.

That said, in 2020, I was about to upgrade my '78 Raleigh Competition GS to 11 speed 105. Bought most all the groupset. Was about to get started on the upgrade and then realized that it'd still not be as light as what a new road bike would be. So I went out and bought a new road bike and never looked back. The new bike is just too much more fun than anything else I've ever ridden. Don't get me wrong, my previous bikes were great comfortable rides. But fun is fun.

cyclezen

If you're in a mood to 'fix', have the knowhow or willing to do the investigative work to learn, have the tools, time and money to buy the needed parts - WHy Not?
Always nice to have a backup bike, which happens when they're both rideable...
but if there's a choice between 'fixing' and 'riding', time-wise - then NO, always better to ride... OK to sub repair time for TV/couch time...

tkamd73 

If it has sentimental value, then fix up the old bike so you have 2 rideable bikes. I did that with an old Schwinn Sports Tourer, that I wish I had never sold, and now ride it quite a bit. No one on this site is going to think having 2 bikes to ride is a bad idea, a lot of us have more.
Tim

Ironfish653

I’d say fix it up. It’s always nice to have a spare bike; and if you do a lot of different kinds of riding, you can fit the bikes out to be better for certain kinds of rides.

Here’s a few of mine; 1997 SoftRide for “sporty” road rides; the black ‘96 Cannondale is my dedicated trail MTB, and I just picked up that red-orange ‘88 Klein to build a “knock-around” city bike

One benefit to using “nice” older bikes is that you can build a stable of different bikes for about the cost of a single new bike.

RH Clark

I have 5 bikes in various states of repair on my front porch, 4 good bikes on my enclosed back porch, and 2 great bikes in my bedroom. What do you think my advice would be?

zaroba

Glad to hear it's not silly to consider fixing up the old bike and keeping it
Thanks everybody

zaroba

yay, that was my 10th post. can actually post a picture of it now.
Did take it for a little ride yesterday for the sake of it (just around the block, really tired my knees after not riding for +10 years), it rode ok despite it's condition after oiling the chain and gears.
Still needs the work done though, teeth on the derailleur gears are half the size they should be due to wear so the chain doesn't ride correctly on the lower gear, teeth on the pedal sprocket are similar, and nearly knife sharp from wear.

Derailleur and chain are easy, it'll just be a matter of measuring to find a properly fitting pedal assembly. Maybe a new fork too, don't remember why I needed those zipties around it, think the bolts holding the shocks together broke.

1964Supersport

I can relate to your story, mine is similar.I have the bike I got when I was 10, I'm 67 now. My bike has a lot of sentimental value, I would never sell it. I have recently decided to start riding again primarily as a health benefit. After being in storage for many years I got it out and started getting it ready to ride. Replaced the brake pads with new Koolstop pads. Replaced one tube to get the old dry rot tires to hold air. I've lubed everything I could find to lube. This morning I ordered a new Brooks B17 saddle. Soon as I decide what tires to get I will be ordering them along with new tubes. I also want to rewrap the bars hopefully with padded tape. I've enjoyed the short rides I have taken, distance will increase once the tires are replaced. Enjoy your old bike I know I'm going to enjoy mine. I forgot to mention mine is a 1964 Schwinn Supersport.

csport

Is the headset 1 1/8"? Something like rigid Surly Troll fork and convert it to threadless. Drop bars a possibility as well.

livedarklions

If you want to do it because riding that particular bike makes you happier, it would be silly to let someone talk you out of it.

ClydeClydeson

I would get the old bike into ridable condition and do a few rides on it and the newer bike back-to-back, then decide which one you like more. You should keep them both, though - either the less-preferred one as a loaner for guests or friends, or put fenders on it and make it a rain/bad weather bike. Or put road tires on one and nice aggressive MTB tires on the other (putting the tires you are likely to use the most on the bike you want to ride the most).

I promise the day will never come that you say 'I wish I didn't have two bikes'.
As the BF wisdom goes: If n is the number of bikes you currently own, then the correct number of bikes to own is n+1

caloso

I've owned a lot of bikes, but sometimes I wish I still had my old Schwinn World Sport that my parents gave me as a HS graduation present. I rode it all through college and law school, did a few triathlons, and commuted to my first job. I'd fix it up as a single speed city bike. Miss that old steel.

gorillimo

Was faced with that recently. I'm on a Surly Crosscheck pretty well set up to my liking. Was in a local thrift shop and came across a very nice vintage Specialized Expedition in my size. Bought it. Very highly thought of bike. Great frame, well outfitted. Cleaned it up, started making plans for where it was going. Started a few things and rode it. Realized my CC is just as good, and already set up for me. Why do a lot of work to end up with what I'm at already? Sold it to an Eroica person.

james89

Fix them up if you like the bike! My wife and I each have nice road bikes and I have a decent mountain bike. But I still went out and found a Trek 7500 from 1999 to fix up and ride haha!

Eric F 

My stable of bikes includes machines from 1977 to 2019. Some get ridden a lot. Some not very much. All of them are in good condition and rideable right now. For me, the building/restoring is an enjoyable part of the cycling hobby. If you have the space, keep all the bikes you can. After all, N+1.