Hello everyone,

I'm trying to recondition an old Mongoose mountain bike as cheaply as possible for a friend who would like a bike just for getting around. I don't know the exact year, but it is an early 90s (probably 91' or 92') Mongoose Maneuver with a solid Cro-Mo frame that is in fine shape. It does have a couple of problems after sitting around for so long, however, and I need a bit of advice.

The main problem is that, if I pedal and then stop, the chain sags (on top) and bunches up; while it isn't totally seized up or anything, my guess is that the freewheel is not so "free" anymore. The sprockets themselves are pretty rusty, too.

The other problem is that the shifters are very, very stiff. I may be able to recondition them if I open them up, clean them out and re-lube them. At least one of them moves well enough for me to test the front derailleur, which seems to work fine.

With that bit of background, my concern is thus: The bike came with SunTour gear -- SunTour XCT AccuShift Plus with X-Press shifters, to be precise. Even assuming that I can re-condition the shifters, is there any chance that I can find a new freewheel / cassette that will be compatible with the old shifters? Do I have to be concerned whether the old SunTour stuff is usable with any newer Shimano / SRAM / whatever gears, or will any old derailleur work with most freewheels? I also should point out that don't know if it is a freewheel or freehub setup or something else proprietary.

Any help or insight would be very much appreciated. Thanks!