Mike6723

Can you rebuild a gear switcher? I have so many bikes that only one works. Or none of them work. And I don't have enough money to buy at least five sets of them because I buy and sell bikes and lawn mowers.

I had to move back home to take care of my family. My mom had five strokes. So, this is my only source of income right now. I have to find a legal hustle while taking care of her 24/7. So, if you can, can you please help me? Thank you.

veganbikes

With zero info on what matters nobody will know.Talk more about your shifters or derailleurs or whatever you need help with and leave out the other stuff unless relevant to your actual question here.

In some cases you can rebuild stuff and in others it might not be worth it or might not be possible. If you are working on Huffy or Magna or similar bikes from Wally-Mart or other box stores that do not sell bikes, you won't really make much in comparison to the work required for them.

grumpus

Trigger shifters, where you press one lever to shift up and another to shift down, often suffer from dried up grease that stops the mechanism from ratcheting. You can often get these working again by squirting WD40 or similar into the lever while shifting it up and down. Shifters often get frayed cables inside the mechanism, a new cable fixes it. Just replacing inner cables can make older bikes look, feel and work better - buy them cheap in bulk, but not too cheap because those can be nasty.

ScottCommutes

I remember reading a thread this week where the guy found the WD40 solution to be short-term and ended up running all his shifters through an ultrasonic cleaner a lot of times to get all the old dried grease actually cleaned out of there.

Good luck!

Bill Kapaun

How short term? If the bike is being used, they tend to stay good for quite awhile. Besides, the "fix" is simple enough that's it really no big deal. A little spray when the problem reoccurs. Much simpler than a bike that has sat for years.

ScottCommutes

The concern in the thread I referenced was that the bikes weren't for personal use. I recalled them getting fixed up and given away to needy riders. The poster used the ultrasonic cleaner to avoid giving away bikes prone to developing problems that their new owners couldn't resolve.

ScottCommutes

I imagine mowers are more profitable than bikes. Most probably just need fresh gas, a cleaning, and a blade sharpening. Knock the crud out of the air filter. Some new carburetors.

Mowers are also easier to sell - a buyer needs one because his grass is long. Bicyclists have time to be way more particular.

curbtender

Identify which shifter/model you have and then search the YouTube video's for repair. We can say spray it down but there are other steps you can try.

Bill Kapaun

Except the OP is the "needy" person. They are just trying to "hustle up some cash".

XxHaimBondxX

This! It's not 2020, nobody needs junk bikes. Mowers, chain saws, snowblowers people need all the time. My next door neighbor had no job for the past 15 years and does exactly that. If I had small engine knowledge, I'd try it myself. People just throw away gas equipment they can't fix.

alcjphil

If you want to flip bikes for money you have to be very careful and knowlegeable about what you buy, Buying cheap bikes for more than what they are worth can easily leave you underwater

Bill Kapaun

Even "Free" bikes can be more trouble than they are worth.
On the cheapest "box store" bikes, they likely never shifted properly and would have inadequate stopping power if they weren't so slow to begin with. Shifters aren't compatible with anything, even themselves. Brakes are thin steel stampings that have way too much flex to be effective.
They are like putting lipstick on a pig.

At the time I was flipping bikes (same reason as you) I found out you can't make money spending $30 for a $50 bike. You have various "consumables" including soap to wash your hands.
Huffy is the worst example I can think of although that was a "decent" brand 70 years ago.

ScottCommutes

Looking at Home Depot lately, battery powered mowers are really taking over, so I expect the days of gas mowers are coming to an end. The gas mowers that I see, however, are pretty expensive.

wheelreason

The better, larger and ride on mowers, maybe, the LSOs, not so much, you can get a new push one with a Honda engine for under $400
You can get a lot of used ones for little money or even free, and often, it's something mechaanical that's easy, or a gummed up or blocked carb, so if you get them running and doll them up a bit, you can get a bit of coin.

soyabean

Trigger shifters get sluggish and sticky over time as the grease in them ages and cakes up. Especially that latch that catches onto the dial teeth as you thumb it. Most of the time it can be flushed out with can spray solvents, but I can rebuild them properly as I do it so often. Experience builds confidence here.

Grip twist shiffters are less problematic as they are all plastic, many without even any metal springs. When they are hard to turn, the problem isn't the shifter, it's wire in the cables and housing.

Same goes with thumb shifters, it's almost always just the cable and housing.

Can a novice DIY all the above?

Sure why not.

If they screw up and break stuff, can always downgrade to a pair of all-plastic thumb shifters

These actually work. I use many to repair dumpster finds.

70sSanO

Your best bet is to search online for videos on repairing shifters, and any other component issues.

Flipping most things usually requires some consumables and a mechanical ability. Mechanical ability means knowing what to mix-n-match. Plus building a large enough stash of usable parts from donor bikes. You also have to know what you are buying.

Unless you score some highly desirable bikes cheap, it is tough to compete with Walmart and Amazon in the lower cost market. And there is no money to be made on second hand cheap bikes.

John

CrimsonEclipse

Or upgrade to all metal thumb friction shifters:

grumpus

Is it not more effective to partially disassemble them and attack the goo with brushes, solvent and compressed air?

Mike6723

Yeah I know some of them are frozen I get that I tried the WD and sometimes when you don't know they're frozen you push on it and snaps but others everything moves except when you push the levers you don't do anything you can hear it working inside but the cable doesn't move

Mike6723

I got you I was trying to be friendly and I'm new here just trying to make friends too it's the shifters on the handlebars I understand sometimes the cables are frozen that I can fix it's the problem when the cables are free and they're shifter don't do anything you can hear it click just don't do nothing or how about when the cables are broken can you put a new one in that because I don't have money to be buying sets of gears

Mike6723

Most of the time it is just cleaning a carburetor sometimes you got to do it three or four times other times there's no spark I got to take it all apart try standing it down I don't know I mean the bikes I usually deal with it's around the same price I get between 100 and 150 for a lawn mower maybe two it all depends I mean most of the bikes I get are at least 3 400 new so that's the least 75. 100 bucks some go up to 2:00 honestly I got some wonderful bikes before for like 20 bucks I forgot what brand it was I was able to lift it with my pinky and it was one of the hardest bikes to sell I get a lot of specialized treks haro mongoose if I do get like a next bike or something like that I mean it's still money depending on how it looks and some of them can go up to 300 bucks. I definitely wouldn't buy a new gear for them I'll clean them up maybe spray paint it but if it's crapping I'll take parts

Mike6723

The shifters the derailers and stuff like that and sometimes you got to soak in oil or just change them out and take them off crappy bike put it on a good one do what you got to do you know but even if it's a ****** bike which I don't get many of and only one works and if I can make 50 bucks on it you got to do it you know is it possible to rebuild them or at least put a new cable in I opened one before it was stripped one of the plastic gears inside I know that I couldn't do nothing with but have it when the cables free you can hear the gear switching but nothing happens or when the cables broken and the switch is all good can I put a new cable in it I'm better building BMX bikes but nobody wants to pay for them anymore a few years ago about maybe 10 I sold my hero I took 6 months maybe longer the guy drove up from Delaware I got almost 400 because I didn't have the original rims on it because somebody offered me like 150 for them I paid close to 500 for that bike late 80s early 90s but I got my use out of it racing raceway Park downhill Poconos then one day I had a double and handlebars went into my stomach after that that was kind of done I still got the scar

veganbikes

No worries, friendly is good but more important is information on the bikes. Which is unfortunately still missing. There are multiple types of shifters out there and lots of different bikes and that info will really help you get help. Talk about the shifters you have or post pictures or both and that will give us what we need to say "ok do this or don't do this" or whatever else we can provide.

Sometimes oil can help we use Triflow at the shop on cables to help them move more smoothly when they are not worn out. I have also used Rock 'N' Roll Cable Magic which is a bit more like a wax chain lube which works pretty nicely. $50 is always nice but if it is $50 from multiple hours of work that is actually a loss unfortunately. I mean at minimum wage it is a little money but average pay for a mechanic is probably going to be $17-25 per hour.

BMX is a lot of fun but it is not a huge money maker generally unless you are a focused BMX shop and have some following. Pure specialized shops like that are tougher and selling just on your own can be a bit tougher still.

choddo

Almost all shifters are on the handlebars these days. I’m guessing you mean thumb shifters that are attached next to the grips on flat bars, but they also come in multiple flavours so manufacturer & models is useful.

Mr. 66

Some punctuation would definitely help.