Sorry Bryce but that has to be the biggest load of old bollocks I have ever heard, you don't take a bike apart cos your curious and there MIGHT be a problem with the gear change, you ask around and find out first before taking the thing down to the last nut and bolt, as Drewps says offer him a couple of hundred and see what he says if he still wants loads of money then go buy one in working order even if it's rough and repair it your self, nothing like putting an old bike back into running order (providing of course that it is in one piece to start with) plus you DON'T want to be trying to rebuild a bike that somone else has already turned into a pile of scrap parts and lost interest or is to dumb to remember where all the parts go, in fact thinking about it walk away from this dog now and find something better, ask your mates and see if they might know someone who has an old bike in the back of their shed/garage/lockup that they don't want or need and buy that instead, ask your family to help out as well somone will know about an old bike that needs rescuing. good luck mate.