Our gardener rocked up at our place on his newly donated bike (an old steel Giant mtb). He was very proud of his new machine and chuffed that he had ridden from home and saved on taxi fair. Of course, being interested in bikes of any sort, I sidled over for a bit of tyre kicking... and nearly crapped myself! There was a hug tear in the front tyre side wall. the front wheel was so buckled, he had uncoupled the V brake. The rear brake's cable was so dirty, the brake hardly released. The back tyre was so worn and smooth, it was paper thin. the drive train was so dirty, the cranks barely turned. when I did manage to turn them, I noticed that the non drive side arm was loose and about to fall off, but the bolt was tight. something inside was badly worn. AND he had no helmet and no lights I got a real fright and felt that it was dangerous for him to ride and couldn't let him go home like that. I gave him an old helmet and lights and went off to the LBS for new tubes, tyres, grips and brake cables. After giving the bike a really thorough Clean Green shower, I set about fixing what I could. Luckily, the gears were working well (amazingly). LBS was too busy to look at the front wheel, perhaps I can get it sorted when he is next around. But I am still looking for a crankset. Does anyone have one that is of donate-able quality?
