Road Cycling - I have a 35+ year old bike. What should I check/replace?

Ok, so I found my starter bike. It was my dad's when he was in college, it seems to be in pretty good shape. It's a Columbia (never heard of it before), not sure of the actual date of manufacture, but there is a Nebraska bicycle license (i didnt know you needed a license back then) from 71-72 on it, so its at least that old. Its a ten speed (i can get about 3-4 to work) and has pretty old tires, but they hold air. I sanded down the contact surfaces on the brake pads and the brakes seem to be working well now. The chain also seems to be in pretty good shape. I'm going to take it to my lbs to get new tires (i will put these on), and get the shifters adjusted so i can get a few more gears. What else should I have them take a look at? I don't really want to pay the $59 they charge for a full checkup.

If you have the tools maybe break open the bottom bracket, it's possible the bearing grease is gone/reduced/gooey.

Dave

Got to take it apart and see what it needs. The grease is likely to be gone, dried out, so you'll have to disassemble everything with ball bearings in it. Once it's apart, it's no harder to replace the balls with new ones, and they're cheap, 5 bucks or so for a bike's worth. The chain may be usable but should be cleaned and lubed. Everything that pivots, swings, slides or rotates on anything else should be cleaned and oiled or greased. Replacing the cables and housings should fix the shifting, or if money is really an issue, you could clean and grease the cables, then hook everything back up. Same with the brake cables--if you don't want to replace, pull the cables out of the housing, clean them, grease them and put them back. Makes a huge difference. Whole thing takes from a couple of hours to a couple of days, depending on details and your expertise, but it's not hard.
The license may have been an anti-theft measure rather than a real, required license. I've lived a couple of places where the police department would register bikes for a small fee, then issue a license to discourage thieves by showing that the serial number was on record.
Columbia was a large, mid- to low-end manufacturer, I think, and all the bikes I've seen have been cruiser-style singlespeeds. If you're interested, one place to check for information is www.sheldonbrown.com. You should be able to find the company's history online.

Got to take it apart and see what it needs. The grease is likely to be gone, dried out, so you'll have to disassemble everything with ball bearings in it. Once it's apart, it's no harder to replace the balls with new ones, and they're cheap, 5 bucks or so for a bike's worth. The chain may be usable but should be cleaned and lubed. Everything that pivots, swings, slides or rotates on anything else should be cleaned and oiled or greased. Replacing the cables and housings should fix the shifting, or if money is really an issue, you could clean and grease the cables, then hook everything back up. Same with the brake cables--if you don't want to replace, pull the cables out of the housing, clean them, grease them and put them back. Makes a huge difference. Whole thing takes from a couple of hours to a couple of days, depending on details and your expertise, but it's not hard.
The license may have been an anti-theft measure rather than a real, required license. I've lived a couple of places where the police department would register bikes for a small fee, then issue a license to discourage thieves by showing that the serial number was on record.
Columbia was a large, mid- to low-end manufacturer, I think, and all the bikes I've seen have been cruiser-style singlespeeds. If you're interested, one place to check for information is www.sheldonbrown.com. You should be able to find the company's history online.

where are all of these ball bearings located? from riding it around the block everything seems to roll/move smoothly. you think i would need to replace all of the ball bearings and grease? I will pull the shifter cables and clean them and grease them up. I am only planning on riding this bike for 100-200 miles total. When spring rolls around I will probably get a new one.