I’ve had a lovely old mountain bike for almost 20 years, Fiona bought it for me for my 40th. It’s a Raleigh M-Trax 1000L, which is rather basic by today’s standards with its steel frame, 26″ wheels, 3×7 gear ratios and its lack of suspension, but it is a lightweight, sturdy and comfortable bike. I’d not used it for quite a while as it is rather worn out, but its too good to scrap.
A while ago I fitted it with a new 7 speed cassette and new chain, but its gear changing was still erratic. On closer inspection I found that the rear wheel was completely worn out, the gears wobbled from side to side and the freehub was making grinding noises.
Have you seen the price of new wheels? You can pay £hundreds for new wheels.
I finally bit the bullet and splashed out £38 on a replacement rear wheel. This cured all my gear changing problems and now the bike feels as good as new so I’ll definitely keep it for the time being. I have started using the bike again, but only for the less speed focussed outings as it allows me to follow bridle ways and take the muddier tracks down to the seaside, but it is much heavier than either of my road oriented bikes.
Now, it just needs a new saddle and some decent tyres to complete the refresh, but I’ll wait to see how it goes before spending any more as the bottom bracket is rumbling a bit and that might turn out to be an expense I can do without.
Here is a picture of the bike, which I think looks good despite its age:
