Spacecoaster

Last week I picked up a 1986 Raleigh USA Grand Prix. I graduated high school back in '87 so an 80s Raleigh has always been a desire. Before I bought it, I had been scouring the ads and I guess that's a hard habit to break. Last night, I found an ad for a well used Gary Fisher Big Sur for $50. I own a 2003 Wahoo so I figured this was a good deal. I met the owner. He's a really nice guy that owned it for quite a few years. It rode really nice so it was an easy decision to pick it up for $50. My son sometimes uses the Wahoo and I've offered the Wahoo to him but he's a little apathetic to it. I don't know if he would be more interested in the Big Sur but either way, I would like to tune it up and clean it up and let him make a decision. Even though it rides nicely, it looks like a survivor from a dystopian landscape. Per the owner, he's tried cleaning it but it doesn't come clean. I figure it's a good bike to try get it running great and looking great, (or at least better). Any tips, tricks or advice? Thanks.

P.S. No pics yet as I haven't met my minimum post total as a newbie.

PugRider

Gary Fishers are great bikes, Big Sur is really nice, ones I have worked on have been 9-speeds. As for where to start, look around the Classic & Vintage forums for a while. Cleaning isn't a big deal; start easy, with Dawn dish soap and water, wash it like a car. Then see what didn't come off and get some soft bristle brushes, WD-40, Simple Green, or whatever. Older bikes that have been well-used deserve a full tear-down and rebuild. Check all bearing surfaces (wheel hubs, bottom bracket, headset), clean, repack, rebuild. Check chain, if it's worn (a chain-checking tool is the only way to know for sure) really bad, then you probably need new cassette and/or chainrings. Definitely worth the effort on a bike like this. Good luck!

PugRider

I should add that if it's a 9-speed, it's probably a cartridge bottom bracket. If it feels nice and smooth, leave it in. If not, replace it.

Spacecoaster

Thanks, I have it a good bath on Friday. I used simple green, meguiers car wash liquid, and something called pink stuff that we use for cleaning. I also hit it with a scrub brush. It definitely didn’t look new afterwards but it went from looking like a black/blue colored bike to a bright blue bike. Just looking around the Internet, I think I’ve figured out this is a 2001. That seems to be the color scheme for the 2001 Big Sur. Unfortunately the Trek catalogue that I found online only went back to 2002.
I'm going to start checking everything this week and getting it up to snuff.