It's a bike I picked up at the flea market. I have a tall friend and we just happened to run into an '81 Takara Deluxe Touring with the frame and components all in good condition, just a bunch of rust around the pedal bolts and all through the cables. I'm following the age-old advice of "if you wanna know how to work on bikes, go buy a junker and get it rolling."

I'm willing to believe you guys probably know more about this than I do. I'm sure the cassette is fine and pretty much serviceable, but a look around says if I want to replace it, it's gonna cost $40. I mean, I guess I can really replace the cogs one by one, but I'm also building this for someone who is just getting into biking, and is learning to work on bikes at the same rate I am. Is it something a beginner can really do with a minimum of tools? We're both used to working on things, kind of, but I would rather ride than wrench.

My plan now is to just service the hub (for practice) and then I guess I'll mount it on the bike and see how it acts with a chain. If it's not immediately rideable, I guess I can mount another wheel.

EDIT: Here's where I'm looking for pricing...I've looked both at what they're going for at auction, I haven't seen anything much cheaper than $40. You can buy sprockets, but they're 5-9 bucks apiece....plus all that business about filing them down...am I looking at this the wrong way? I mean, I guess I'm going to replace the sprockets as the sprockets go out?