Author Topic: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy  (Read 7667 times)

eil

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rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« on: November 28, 2013, 12:39:12 AM »
Many years ago when I was a young lad (maybe 12-13), my father bought me a 10-speed Huffy mountain bike as a birthday gift. I rode the crap out of that thing throughout my teenage years. It is, you might say, well-loved. Today, the bike sits in my garage. A few times a year I dust it off, air up the tires, and go for a spin.

Cosmetically, and functionally, the thing is a piece of garbage. The brake levers are soft plastic that threaten to snap off at any moment, the shift levers require constant retightening, the stickers are peeling, the paint is scuffed, the wheel bearings are shot, both wheels are badly bent and missing spokes, the brakes barely work, the tires are literally crumbling away, the kickstand is non-functional, the hand grips are torn to shreds, and the rear gear selector only gives me three gears to choose from.

And yet, every time I hop on the thing and pedal down the street, I fall in love with it all over again.  Crazy, right? There's something about this bike... it fits me like a glove. Every bicycle I've ridden since, no matter how expensive, is uncomfortable and difficult to control.

So now I'm at the stage of my Mustachianism where I want to make a more concerted effort to ride bicycle on a daily basis. Work is currently too far away, but I can get to the grocery store, post office, and a few other places by bicycle easily. I even recently purchased a good used bike trailer for $30 off craigslist the other day.

I considered buying a new bike for awhile, one that is lighter and made of better parts than Ye Olde Huffy. But I'm scared silly that whatever I buy will be uncomfortable or otherwise leave me with nothing but pangs of buyer's remorse.

So what about fixing it up, then? Really the only things salvageable on it are the handlebars, frame, crank, seat, gears, and maybe the chain. At first it took some doing to find parts online that weren't for multi-thousand-dollar athlete bikes but I finally managed to find a selection of wheels, tires, brakes, and shifters on Amazon that didn't cost a mint. Haven't done any detailed cost analysis yet, but I'm estimating that rehabbing the Huffy will probably cost around $200 in total. It will still be cheap parts on a heavy steel frame, but at least it will be, more or less, my old bike.

So my questions are:

1) Has anyone done this before?

2) Is this totally nutty? (I'm not afraid of the mechanical aspects, I'm fairly handy with this kind of stuff. Just wondering about the general parts compatibility and whatnot.)

3) I have a 2x5 gear arrangement, but the only good deals I see for shifters on Amazon are for 3x7 gear arrangements. Are those going to be usable on my bike?

TygerTung

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Re: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2013, 02:09:59 AM »
You shouldn't have to replace the shifters.

Online mail-order bike shops are always really good.

I've completley rebuilt several bicycles, it's a good learning experience.

Check out Sheldon Brown's website for how to do ALL bicycle repairs, it's really good.

kendallf

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Re: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2013, 08:15:58 AM »
Check out the Classic and Vintage forum at wwe.bikeforums.net. Many people restore old bikes, including cheap sentimental favorites.

I often turn cheap old road bikes into fixed gears.  Higher end one I'll restore. Even with all new rubber, cables, fresh powdercoat and repro decals, you can have a beautiful classic bike for a fraction of the cost of a new one.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2013, 07:03:21 AM by kendallf »

GuitarStv

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Re: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2013, 05:08:52 AM »
Before you get into buying new parts, see what 200$ will buy you on the used market.  You might pay less for a much nicer bike.

TygerTung

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Re: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2013, 01:05:20 PM »
Singlespeed is always good.

timothy

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Re: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2013, 04:07:52 PM »
Restoring old bikes is a fun and inexpensive way of getting a nice utilitarian bicycle for transportation or recreation. I've restored dozens of bikes for personal use, and worked as a mechanic at a shop for a while.
While it is important that your bicycle fit you well and that you are in love with it, it is also the case that some bikes are better left alone. I can pretty much promise you that if you set about fixing a huffy mountain bike, you will be climbing into an bottomless dumpster of misery and a money-sucking black hole. You can read at the previously mentioned forums about the difference between cheap, heavy, and bombproof old bikes and cheap, heavy bikes that were made to never be repaired.
For well under the cost of replacing the components of the Huffy, should should be able to find a used old, cheap bike with all functional components ( not to say that it won't need any work, but rather that the original components would be designed to last and be overhauled again and again -- built sturdily and to much more precise tolerances ). You can find more about how to identify these cheap, old bikes of the mid-or-better quality construction on the previously posted bikeforums or Sheldon Brown.
As far as fit and comfort go, you might do well to take some measurements on your bike, read up on sizing and frame geometry, and look for similarly sized used bikes.
If you currently have a Huffy mountain bike, and like its upright position, you might do well looking for a mid-1980s mountain bike made by Schwinn, Nishiki, Miyata, Trek, Univega or Bridgestone, to name a few. Bikes from this era make reliable and affordable commuters. Be careful, as some of these names have been applied to department store bikes in more recent years.

anastrophe

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Re: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2013, 11:05:22 AM »
+1 Timothy. It could cost you $200...but it won't. I've built many bikes and while I understand you're sweet on it, this is a road of bleeding cash and frustration.

If you still want to do it, admit to yourself that it's a hobby that you're in for sentimental reasons and you won't save any money. Then read up on bikeforums and Sheldon Brown. Make sure you actually understand how the sizes of different components work and what you can substitute safely and what you can't. Then visit the local bike shops to see if they have used part bins you can buy stuff out of cheaply, or buy old bikes off Craigslist to swap parts off.

But really, just don't do it. There are thousands of great bikes out there.

fodder69

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Re: rehabbing a cheap old Huffy
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2013, 07:38:39 AM »
Yeah, it's just not worth it. Measure your bike well and get something that you can make fit. Or by some used bike in halfway decent condition and steal the parts off of it. New parts on that bike don't make any sense.

And sometimes change is just plain good, you might be surprised to find yourself getting used to the new bike and like it even better.