A place to ask bicycle repair questions, and for bike shop monkeys to share advanced non commercial wrenching resources (no YouTube self promotion). This is only for repair related topics.
I never repaired anything in my life, but could be a fun way to learn how bikes work. Breaks don't work. Chain and gearing is rusted to hell. Is it too far gone to bother with?
If you got the money and time, I say go for it. Your goal to have fun learning about bike repair ought to be fulfilled. Also, steel is real babyyyyy
From a purely economic point of view, it's a write off. But if you're in it for the learning experience and enjoy fixing stuff, it's a good start. I assume you found it in the trash, so in the worst case all you lose is time. Then you can use the experience on your next project. I'd try to use second hand or free spare parts wherever possible, though. It's not really worth putting a lot of money into.
Yeah ok. I wouldn't know where to source 2nd hand parts. Prolly Facebook marketplace or something. But that'll extend the life of the project too far for me.
Start with eBay
For the amount you would spend on parts and tools you could get a better bike and just repair it as it breaks
You will spend a lot of time and hundreds of dollars just to end up with a Walmart bike
Old 26'er with a rotted chain, quill stem, rim brakes, and the break lines are probably rotted in the tubes? Honestly go for it, my "first" bike was an old hand-me-down just like it and it got me through dozens of miles of trail once fixed up. There are probably much better bikes for a few hundred on fb marketplace, but if your goal is to learn on a budget then you're already halfway there! I would recommend some penetrating oil though..
Edit: curious about the bright pink sprocket, also we can't see if the crank or cassette are badly shark toothed, but if they look like Jaws you may want to consider another bike
It's not a great bike, but it looks easily repairable and any working bike is a good bike. Tonnes of info out there on fixing bikes. Sometimes there are annoyingly specific tools you need (like in this case you likely need a chain-breaker), but allen keys and spanners do most things.
Here's a bit of a guess at a shopping list you might need.
If the things that shift the chain on the gears (derailleur) look rusted to shit or broken it might not be worth it. Those can be fiddly to set up even when in good condition.
Wouldn't bother. It's a very basic bike and it seems to be in really rough condition so you'd need to replace almost every component and expect the rest to be stuck pretty bad. The frame looks like it could have serious damage from corrosion, steel is real but so is rust and when a bike looks this rough on the outside it's likely that the frame is in bad shape as well from the inside, chainstays and the welding near the bottom bracket will usually crack first.
It will probably be quite expensive too, so only good for a learning experience IMO.
I bought a mountain bike (1998 Specialized), a bit old but in an a very good state, a real beast.
Cost me close to 300€ to maintain it first year, breaks (parallax breaks are awesome), 2 rims, chain & cassette and some small stuff IIRC.
Chain looks like a goner, but the rest looks fun. get a decent penetrant spray, not just oil and get messy working it in.
Go for it. Repaired stuff is more fun to use afterwards.
Chain is toast, chainring might also need to be replaced. The brake cable probably needs replacing if the brakes don't work. The brake pads might also need to be replaced, and both tire tubes probably either need to be replaced or patched.
If it's purely just for learning, go for it. But that might be a lot of money in tools / parts and a significant amount of time. I'd probably buy a bike that is less thrashed.
Fwiw, you can have a perfectly normal bike and still spend lots of time learning to fix it. I'd lean towards that, I think.