squirtdad

the first leaning is to take that bike all the way apart, lube everything and put it successfully back together


I think you should have and end vision for you build......not just do something funky to do something funky. I have learned the most by having and end vision and then dealing with the issues as they come up.

What do you want to do with the bike....just ride it around, commute, do errands, go fast, train, etc.********** then build to that target and budget

here is are examples

I have a 83 nishiki that a number of years ago my vision was to turn it into an upright utility/commuter bike.

The end result was is that the bike has 2 original parts, the frame and the seat post

The vision was simple and clean. I reacted as I went because I didn't know what I didn't know

I went from 27 to 700 c wheels. learned about brake reach and fitting recessed nut brakes on a nutted frame

I bought some wheels on ebay....turned out they were built on deore hubs (135 width) so I learned how to cold set the frame.

Wheels were freehub so I learned about those (had only done freewheel before that)

I painted the frame so I learned what a pain that is.

because i painted I took the headset out.....and learned how to put a new one in

I dealt with indexed shifting installs.....even though later I went to a thumb friction shifter

I got a new used crank and cassette and learned about cassette BB.

the wheels had some issues so I learned how to build a wheel.

but it call came out of target vision.....

you also have to think budget.......when you start changing all the parts out it gets expensive even if you can source used.