Echo the other Darth though it's my own bike and I'm not a shop mechanic, I've done almost all the things he just said to my 2001 vintage MTB which cost about $400 back then and it's still going strong. The crankset got replaced for chain suck; the chain and FD because they got bent in the chain suck incident; the cassette for gearing with the new crank; the BB at the same time because it needed a different spindle length. All parts were slight upgrades from original but not fancy. I moved the original EZ-Fire shifters to my tandem for some reason I forget but they still work ok and I replaced them with equivalent units. It did get a nice fork upgrade and I buy nice tires for it.

This is the update-the chain and the cassette were replaced. The gears shift nicely now. The cost of the new parts was $60.00. I was on a supported ride and showed the bike mechanic the bike. He said buy the parts and he would change them for free. That was quite the deal for me.

Last weekend I adjusted the front brake cable. The brake was not stopping the bike soon enough for me so I pulled the cable just a bit. In a few weeks I will have to change the brake pads as the hill I have been going down more recently is big, so I hold my brakes going down parts of it. I also replaced the handle bar grips this weekend for $25.00.

Thank-you all for your help.

Go essiemyara go!

Thank-you!

That's how most of us learned, one step at a time.

When I first got into cycling, I spent $200-$300 turning a so-so Scott mtn. bike into a "road" bike. Within 6 months, I wanted an actual road bike.

I'd buy a new bike, the one you want, and not put money into an old bike to try to get it to fit your needs. I'm not anti-old or fixing up bikes, I just don't think it's a good idea to try and make a bike into a different type of bike. Good luck!