>>1811003there was an abandoned bike in a unit in my apartment building that I took. I got really lucky because I found a sale on tires , scored the pair for $23US. tubes were fine. new chain, brake pads, barwrap, cheap rear light. scrubbed the frame and polished all the metal. touched up paint with nail polish, put a crank with smaller gearing and silver to replace the black 52/42 that was on it. but I got it from the co-op for cheap. cables and housing worked fine but housing looked like shit from uv damage so I covered it with 2 pieces of electrical tape down the length of it on either side and wrapped the ends. this worked extremely well.
trued the wheels, adjusted brakes, adjusted derailleurs.
spent about $80 on parts, sold it to a nice woman via Craigslist for $200.
was worth it to me, but if I'd had to pay for the bike, say over $20, it wouldn't have been much of a win I don't think.