How do I get a bike going again after years in a shed?
A methodical revival of a bike that has sat unused — what has almost certainly perished, what is merely dirty, and the point at which the bike is not worth the parts.
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Time
- 2 hr
- Read
- 6 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Work through it in order: tyres and tubes, brakes and cables, chain and gears, then bearings. Perished tyres and corroded cables are replaced, not cleaned. Everything else usually comes back with degreaser, fresh lubricant and adjustment. Budget for a set of tyres, tubes, cables and a chain — beyond that, get a price for a service before spending more.
Bikes deteriorate in storage without being ridden, and they do it in a predictable order. Rubber perishes, cables corrode, lubricant dries into varnish, and steel rusts wherever water sat. None of that is dramatic and most of it is cheap. The failures that matter are the ones that only reveal themselves under load, which is why this job is done before the first ride rather than during it.
Safety
What you'll need
- Allen keys and spanners
- Degreaser and brushes
- New inner tubes
- Chain lubricant
- A track pump
- Tyre levers
- New brake and gear cables if corroded
Step by step
- Clean it before you assess it.You cannot judge a bike under a layer of dust and dried mud. Wash it, degrease the chain and sprockets, and dry it. Now you can see cracks, rust, worn teeth and perished rubber.
- Condemn the tyres properly.Look for fine cracking in the sidewall and in the base of the tread, a flat or squared-off profile, and any bulge. Flex the sidewall between your fingers: perished rubber crazes visibly. Tyres that have sat inflated and out of the light may be fine; tyres that have sat flat, folded or in sunlight are not. Replace tubes at the same time — they perish at the valve.
- Inflate to full pressure and leave it overnight.Pump to the pressure you will ride and check again the next day. This finds slow punctures and, more importantly, gives a perished tyre the chance to fail in the shed rather than on the road.
- Test both brakes hard, standing still.Squeeze each lever firmly. It should not reach the bar, and the cable should not creak, crunch or feel gritty. Look at the cable where it enters the outer for rust and broken strands. Any of those and the cable is replaced — inner and outer both, because the corrosion is inside the outer.
- Check the pads and the braking surface.Rubber pads harden with age and glaze over, and they are cheap. On rim brakes, look at the rim's braking track for a concave wear groove or a wear-indicator line — a worn-through rim can split, and that ends the wheel. On disc brakes, check pad thickness and clean the rotor with isopropyl alcohol.
- Free and lubricate the moving parts.Work a light oil into brake and gear pivots, the freewheel or freehub, and the jockey wheels, and work them back and forth. Do not oil brake surfaces or the disc rotor.
- Deal with the chain.Degrease it, dry it, then measure it with a chain wear tool or a ruler. A stiff, rusty chain that frees up with oil is usually still serviceable; a rusty chain with seized links, or one that measures worn, is replaced. If the chain was very worn, expect to replace the cassette or freewheel with it.
- Check the gears through their range.Lift the back wheel and shift through everything. Sluggish shifting after storage is usually cable friction; index it once the cables run freely. Check the derailleur hanger is straight while you are there.
- Check the bearings by feel.Spin each wheel and listen for grinding. Rock each wheel side to side at the rim for hub play. Turn the bars lock to lock for a notch or a rough spot in the headset. Turn the cranks backwards and feel for roughness in the bottom bracket. Roughness or play means service or replacement.
- Check the frame and the fixings.Look for cracks around welds, the head tube, the seat tube slot, and the dropouts. Any crack in an aluminium or carbon frame ends the project. Check every bolt is present and tight, particularly stem, bar, seatpost and rack bolts.
- Reassess a very old or very rusty seatpost and stem.A seized aluminium seatpost in a steel frame is a genuinely difficult job. Penetrating oil, time and patience free most of them; some do not come out at all. Decide early whether you can ride the bike at the height it is stuck at.
- Ride it gently, close to home, first.Test both brakes at walking pace before you leave the drive. Do a short loop near home, then go over every bolt again — things loosen and settle on the first outing.
Tips
- Do the tyres, tubes, cables and chain as a batch. Ordering them together costs less in postage than discovering them one at a time.
- Surface rust on steel components is cosmetic and comes off with a scouring pad and oil. Rust that has pitted or flaked the metal is structural and matters.
- An old bike with 26in wheels, rim brakes and a threaded headset is entirely serviceable; parts are still widely available and cheap.
- If the bike was left outdoors rather than in a shed, add a full bottom bracket and headset service to your expectations.
Common mistakes
- Pumping the old tyres up and going for a ride — Perished tyres and corroded cables both fail suddenly and under load. The first hard braking or the first fast descent is exactly when they let go.
- Spraying general-purpose water-dispersing spray on everything — It washes grease out of bearings and off the chain, and it is not a lubricant. Use proper chain lube on the chain and grease in bearings.
- Spending a lot on a frame that is cracked or badly rusted through — Everything else is replaceable and a compromised frame is not. Assess the frame first and decide whether to spend at all.
If it doesn't work
Brake lever pulls to the bar
Cause: Worn pads, stretched or seized cable, or air in a hydraulic system — Fix: Fit new pads and cables and adjust. Hydraulic brakes with a spongy lever need bleeding, which is a straightforward shop job and easy to do badly at home.
Tyre goes down overnight every time
Cause: A perished tube, a failing valve or something still in the tyre — Fix: Replace the tube, and run a hand round the inside of the tyre casing before refitting.
Gears will not shift into the biggest sprockets
Cause: Cable friction from corrosion, or a bent hanger — Fix: Replace inner and outer cables, then index. If it still will not reach, have the hanger checked for straightness.
Grinding noise from the wheels
Cause: Dry or pitted hub bearings — Fix: Cup-and-cone hubs can be stripped, cleaned, regreased and adjusted at home. Cartridge bearings are pressed out and replaced.
Seatpost will not move
Cause: Corrosion between post and frame — Fix: Penetrating oil down the seat tube from both ends, left for days, then twist with the saddle as a lever. Heat and force risk damage; a workshop has better options.
A rusty chain that will not free up
Cause: Seized links — Fix: Replace it. A chain is inexpensive and a seized link causes a skip that can throw you off the pedals.
Questions people ask
Is it worth reviving, or should I buy new?
A decent frame with sound wheels is almost always worth tyres, tubes, cables, a chain and a service — that is usually far less than a comparable new bike. A cheap department-store bike with rusted-through rims and seized bearings usually is not.
How much should a shop service cost?
Prices vary widely by area and by what the service includes. Ask for a written estimate that separates labour from parts, and ask them to phone before doing anything above an agreed figure.
Do old inner tubes need replacing if they hold air?
If they hold pressure overnight and the valve is sound they will probably be fine, but tubes are cheap and the valve area is where perished tubes fail. On a bike that has stood for years, replace them.