Originally Posted by
CliffordK
Assuming the bike was cheap, best to "return" it to the owner before investing a lot of time, energy, and money into restoring it.
Yes, that's how I'd do it, Clean and lube as needed, but not buy anything for it; sell as-is or give it to the guy who makes a claim.
Low end bikes I'm flipping, I get them functional but don't fix them up nice because they don't get you anything back. It's more recycling than flipping, really, since I give away as many as I sell for cheap.