Bicycle Mechanics - Useful life Span of Frames/Components

I am about to embark on the updating of a 1988 Schwinn Circuit road bike. The bike has sat dormant for years and has about 40,000 miles on all it's major components. I would like to spend as little money as possible and update the bike and keep it at an uncle's house and use it solely while I am there. (Usually about two weeks per year.) My main objective is to eliminate having to trudge my newer road bike around while on vacation thereby saving on the airline fees and eliminating any chance my good bike will be damaged in shipping.

The terrain where we vacation is very hilly coastal southern CA so I need to make the old Schwinn roadworthy without going broke.
I want to replace the 7 speed rear hub and the downtube shifters with used STI 8 speed stuff probably bought off ebay. (cheap).

My questio is regarding the steel frame and Cinelli XA headset and bars. Have slightly rusted Columbus SL-tubed frames ever been known to break? I'm also concerned about the aluminum Cinelli stem and bars breaking while decending. The safest thing would be to replace everything questionable, but I will be using this bike for two weeks a year maximum, so I want to keep it cheap. Any suggestions at all? thanks, Gino

I would say replace the stem and bars if you are in question of it's breaking. Whatever you spend on new bars/stem will be alot cheaper than a visit to the emergency room.

The bike sounds like it's ok and a bit of superficial rust wont do anything. If it's more serious, maybe someone familar with older bikes can comment on it. Steel bikes are pretty durable though.

I own a steel bike made in 84 and it has over 80,000 miles on it with no signs of rust; but the hubs and brakes have over 100,000, the headset only has about 40,000 even though it was bought in 84 but I used an older lighter headset and stored the new one; the derailleurs have over 80,000 and its a friction system, the crank and bottom bracket have about 90,000. So things can last longer than one might suspect, and your stuff with 40,000 miles on it is nothing, they may need to be given a good overhaul but not a replacing of parts.

First of all if you want to use the bike only 2 weeks out of the year and you want to keep cost down then why switch the 7 speed hub and downtube shifter for STI? Just use the friction stuff, it will last forever, you won't have to worry about it going out of adjustment and it's far easier to work on. As far as the headset is concerned if it still moves smoothly then the most you should have to do to it is regrease it! The handlebars...well that is a tricky question that without seeing it who can say if they should be replaced; take it to your LBS and have them look at it, but I would venture to say that the bars would be just fine for 2 weeks out of the year type of use; if the bike was never raced then the stress on the bars is minimal, plus I don't think their original anyway since I cannot recall a Schwinn like that coming new with Cinelli bars-they used mostly Japanese stuff. And most bars don't break while decending they break while ascending; just for the record, I used a Sakae AL handlebar when I raced and it had over 20,000 miles on it before I replaced it-due to a crash not fatigue!

The rust on the frame will probably take 20 years or more before it ate enough of the metal to cause crack to form, so no worries there.

So there, how's that for cheap? Keep everything, overhaul everything, buy new tires and tubes. The only thing I would question more than the bars (but take to LBS to have them check this if your not sure) is the rims and spokes.

Just so you know, I too live in southern (now central) California and (use to live) raced in Santa Barbara and those mountains into Santa Ynez; Los Angeles and the San Grabiel mountains, Big Bear, Angeles Crest hwy etc. Point I am trying to make is that I did some serious riding in mountains and did not have any problems associated with any part on the bike. I now live in Bakersfield CA and still ride in the mountains around here on the same bike I describe above, and once a year (started last year) I ride 158 miles to Santa Barbara over the Los Padres National Forest mountains through Ojai and Carpintera and on to Santa Barbara. And guess what? I am not the least bit worried about my old parts just crumbling away while I'm riding, I'm worried more about my aching butt!!!

Check out my for sale post, I have everything you need. I also had a Circuit, I put many races on that frame.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll have to think it over and decide what to do. I may just leave it alone and lube everything up a bit. Thanks again, Gino