Does every cyclist boyfriend want to get their girlfriend on a bike?
I enjoy browsing Craigslist, eBay, and PinkBike for my next purchase (even when it’s not warranted), and I had been browsing for Chandler since she moved home to the Bay Area from Brooklyn in 2024. Every time I brought up getting her a cheap bike, she would roll her eyes, but I thought that there was a chance that once she had it, she would love it.
Then, on a random Saturday in May, someone listed this beautiful Orbea Aqua 52 cm complete bike on Craigslist in San Francisco for $60! $60! Wow, that grabbed my attention. Then I thought, is this worth it? Should I hold out for the right bike? I’m a firm believer that you need to like how your bike looks (a belief passed on by my dad), and while most of the road bikes for sale on Craigslist for under $300 looked like road bikes that were worth under $300, I thought this frame was a gem. The aqua blue and white is clean, fun, and nice to look at. This was the best thing on the cheap bike market (to fix up), and the deal was a steal.
The guy selling it had listed it for ~$300 earlier in the week and decided to lower it to dirt cheap to get rid of it while he was moving. I jumped on the opportunity to check it out. He had left it outside on is deck in the Richmond for years, and the thing was rusty to say the least.
The frame was worth $60 on its own since it was so good looking, and I figured everything else would be a bonus to salvage. I happily took it home from the dank coastal SF air to greener pastures.
My plan was to see what I could salvage and replace the rest. The frame was in great shape, no rust (since it’s aluminum) and needed no work. The bars, stem, seat post, brakes, and most of the drivetrain turned out to be in very salvageable shape, and the stem was at a nice beginner friendly angle. Most of the bolts were rusty, so I bought Naval Jelly from the local hardware store to soak them in and scrub them down with. The crank had some rust that came off easily with a brass brush. The cassette and chain were goners, though that was expected. The shifters and derailleurs were actually really decent Sram Rival 10 speed components. The left shifter body was cracked in half and held in place by the retaining bolt (a good reminder to not tighten shifters too tight or they’ll break instead of move position in a crash), and a zip tie was all that was needed to keep that in working shape.
The wheels were seriously rusted out, and instead of giving them a go, my dad donated one of his old wheelsets that most likely would have never seen the light of day again. A rim brake aluminum Easton wheelset turned out to look fantastic with the existing Easton branded fork. The rims that came with the bike were also deep alloy rims…who thought that would be a good idea?
The new cables and housing was straightforward until hitting the external routing mounts. The existing barrel adjusters were rusted into the frame, and despite using extensive amounts of penetrating oil, the seized bolts would not come free. I decided to drill them out and leave through holes where the threads were. Cable mounts with built in barrel adjusters worked perfectly.
The bottom bracket turned very smoothly surprisingly. However, it would not come free in order for me to grease the shell, again no matter with how much penetrating oil I put in there, so in the end, I left it in there and haven’t had to worry about it. The pedals were a little sticky, and luckily those came free with penetrating oil.
After getting rid of as much of the rust as possible, installing some new bolts, replacing the cables and housing, and assembling all the new components, including a new cassette, chain, bottle cages, bar tape, and women’s specific saddle, the Orbea Aqua was ready to hit the road. Chandler and I had done some rides together previously with C on her mom’s steel hardtail mountain bike that weighs probably 40 pounds, so the Orbea has opened the doors for some great new rides together. Chandler took on Old La Honda for the first time a couple weeks later!
Chandler has since learned to use clipless pedals, ridden up Kings, and is now taking on Golden Gate Park and routes in Marin since our move to SF.
Taking this bike from neglected to sparkling shape was really satisfying, and I love seeing Chandler ride it. It fits her great, and it looks great out on the road.
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