Chuck M 

A month or so back I was picking up my grandkids from their Sunday school class. One of the church ladies said to her husband "Maybe Chuck can do it". She described that she would like the tires fixed on their bikes so they could ride them with nicer weather coming. I told the husband if he brought me the wheels I would check out the tubes and tires. What he actually wanted was for me to overhaul the bikes like some of mine that they had seen me post before and afters on social media of. Being church family I said I would give them a going over, fix the flats, adjust the brakes and shifting, and lube the bike up. They brought me two neglected department store bikes that I have not had the initiative to work on until today. Because I feel guilty about working on the three bike restores of my own before these I haven't got anywhere on them. I really want to get my Hercules built Western Flyer 3 speed on the road so I drug the out to the patio today.

Chains, freewheels, cables, brake pads, and tubes alone are more than I would want to put into them. I won't charge them anything for labor which I'm afraid will be a mistake as it will make it attractive to others to use me for projects like this. But I'm a pushover for friends, family and people in need.

I think it is going to be best to just to free the rusty chains up and make them operational because frankly, I don't think they will ride them. But I feel like that lowers the standards of my work. I guess the Lord expects me to have a happier heart for Church family than this.

rumrunn6

ouch! get yer brush ready, eh?

Bald Paul

Sometimes you're better off just saying that the bike is in need of a lot of work, and replacement parts are (a) expensive, and (b) hard to come by now due to supply shortages. Doesn't matter if it's true or not.

downtube42

A friend of mine used to unashamedly wear a t-shirt that said "NO I WON'T FIX YOUR COMPUTER". Being the computer nerd in the family, it was a necessity. Something along those lines would solve the problem.

Troul 

put together one of them their fancy spreadsheets outlying all the parts it could potentially need & if you're up-to-date with supply times/pricing, tag that on it too. If you present the itemized parts estimate & there pocket develops a financial hole, make sure you're up-to-date with your Tdap shot & cancel plans for your next few weekends.

qwaalodge

The cassette looks like it's never been used.

It also seems dirt cheap Chinese bolts and screws have good quality because they never rust.

Chuck M 

I think if I were to include labor with a legitimate but fair rate, I could scare them out of fixing them. Then I'd be afraid they would leave them with me. I did see a bike like the black one on facebook marketplace recently for $60 that was ridable. I thought about picking it up and saving myself twice that much grief.

The cheap Chinese freewheels certainly rust. One of the freewheels has a lot of wobble from probably the cheap hubs and the other one doesn't freewheel. If it did freewheel, I'd expect it to wobble even worse.

Troul 

The rust likely came about when it was ridden the one time it was exercised & wore off the chinesium coating off. The hardware that is not rusting might be from never being touched with a tool to scathe the chinesium coating off; which would mean it never was serviced.

skidder

I've seen that happen, but not with bicycles. I was recently at a local lawnmower repair shop and the owner had (literally!) 200+ old mowers in his rear yard. Seems folks bring in the old ones, he tells them how much it'll cost to fix them, and they just leave them there and buy a new one. He just drains out the oil and gas, takes off any parts he wants to keep, then stores them in the rear yard and has a junk collector come by once a year to pick up the carcasses of the old ones.

Chuck M 

This I believe is 100% accurate. It also didn't help that they were obviously stored outside long enough to fade the red paint on the fenders of one of them and the other one has mildew on it.

Troul 

Sometimes a reality check needs to be made. Making the owners come back down to earth is what needs to happen. It's a BSO, the quality is not intended to serve generations of riders, potential cheaper comparable ready to ride solutions have already been identified for purchase.

Take away there wine cups, wafers, & show them the light!

SpedFast

I get them from the neighbors around here all the time. "Can you take a look at this for me? It doesn't shift and I see you out riding your bikes all the time so obviously you know how to work on them." And the bikes can usually be bought new for under a hundred bucks. Knowing they won't ride them anyway, I usually put on old parts out of my bins (even used cables and housings) oil everything up so it looks like it just came out of the tar pits, (black oil hides rust) adjust the seat and handle bars for them and they're usually happy with a "Don't worry about the cost. I enjoyed doing it," comment. I might not have enjoyed it, but hey,

Chuck M 

Had I looked at them before agreeing to "fix their flats", I would have probably explained that they would be better off just going to Walmart-Mart and getting a couple of replacements. But I don't think they would have done that and this way they may ride them. And I do genuinely hope they ride them at least some this summer as they both need the physical exercise.

qwaalodge

Your service will cost more than the bike! You should tell them the truth. They should get better bike because the ones they have is more difficult to maintain.

Chuck M 

Not if they don't maintain them.

Honestly I'm not too upset about this and I do want to help them. I'm just letting off a little steam with this thread because I have put off working on three of my bikes because I didn't want to work on these. I have nobody to blame but me for trying to be a nice guy.

Troul 

Usually, if the owner is willing to ante up for a decent chunk of cash & is investing some of there own other resources (often it's time laboring for getting parts) they would be more likely to mash those pedals & take more care of the bicycle.

I don't expect the bicycle to have a better second chance at life...

Chuck M 

Again, probably 100% accurate.

Troul 

I disagree. You can be a nice person & not be blindsided volunteered to take on other's responsibilities. If those that truly know you, know you, they would respect you by not putting you out by signing you up for projects that are not any of your business.

70sSanO

I helped out a neighbor on a bike that was left outside. Replaced a front wheel (pretty cheap), chain, brake pads, cables, and shifter. I did tell him that he had to keep it inside out of the weather or the same thing would happen again. But it was an old Nishiki hybrid, so there was at least some value.

I am kind of surprised more people don’t ask me to work on their bikes. It must be me; something I can be thankful for.

My pet peeve is bikes left out in the weather when there is a garage to keep it from rusting.

My advice, should you fix them up, is to stress, and I mean stress how important that a bike absolutely must be stored inside. That all the damage could have been avoided if the bikes were stored out of the weather.

And for good measure throw in wanting to be a good steward with what has been provided to them. That should keep them from coming back a second time.

John

SkinGriz

Maybe negotiate terms?

Is the dad good at grilling? Does the mom bake a good pie? Can the kids mow your lawn or drop off used motor oil for you?

Just some ideas.

Are the kids the type to always be on the video games or something?

qwaalodge

All good then. We probably should trade luck. I sometimes offer to fix people's bikes and they would say NO.

Chuck M 

Ironically, I've often been told I appear unapproachable. Yet I seem to be the go to guy to fix things in a couple of other organizations I'm involved with.

What is funny about that is he is the one to do the grilling at church cookouts and she organizes the kitchen for church dinners.

Bald Paul

There is, unfortunately, one additional thing to think about before becoming the local 'I'll fix your junker bike up' guy.

A lot of these gems were barely safe enough to ride when they were brand new, with questionable brakes, etc. Should you decide to bring back one of the rusty, previously non-maintained beauties to a state where someone would actually not be too embarrassed to be seen riding it, and something go very badly (that brake cable you didn't replace suddenly snaps, causing the rider - who most likely isn't wearing a helmet - to go butt over teakettle after striking the object he/she was trying to stop for) don't be surprised if the same person who thought you should be nominated for the Nobel prize for 'fixing' the bike suddenly decides you're the reason he/she has brain damage, and sues you for perpetual care.

"I see you riding your bike all the time, so you must know how to work on them, right?"
"I see you driving your car all the time, so you must know how to overhaul my automatic transmission, right?" Just direct them to the LBS. Usually the shop owner will give them an estimate that will solve the issue right then and there.

Kai Winters

"No good deed goes unpunished"
I've wrenched in shops for 30+ years and...sigh...the vast majority of bikes I've had the "pleasure" or servicing have been dept store bikes.
I also was the person everyone in the neighborhood went to when their bikes needed repair. I always fixed the kids bikes...made sure they were safe and rideable, but when it came to lazy ass adults that wanted me to fix the pos bikes for free I drew the line. Upon realizing I was being taken advantage of I always state I charge $50 per hour plus parts, paid in advance in cash before I'd touch their bike. This quickly got rid of the "users" that just wanted something for nothing. Those that agreed got great service and I rarely charged for labor, usually just a few bucks depending on the condition of the bike and the quality of the person. A holes paid through the nose. If someone complained I never touch their bike again no matter how much they offered to pay.
While I pissed off some people, those that take advantage of others...good riddance...I also made some quality friends and acquaintances that are worth their weight in gold.

rumrunn6

a friend asked me to look at her new bike to make it rideable. that was the 1st clue. her husband bought her a cheap bike online but it "wasn't working". I couldn't say no. I mean how bad could a new bike be? she brought it to my home offered to leave it. I thought it might need some minor adjustments. what a pice of cr*p it was. I don't know know how some of the parts were manufactured. I told her the truth & sent her away, with the bike