Raleigh status: rideable.
To my surprise, this bike is in pretty decent condition. My hypothesis seems to be right in how I figured that this bike was ridden often enough, it just sat for a while and whomever had it just threw it out once their lease was up.
Sucks for them, awesome for me.
Basically all that needs to be done are a full tune up and new components. The rear wheel needs to be trued badly because it rubs on the brakes a whole heck of a lot and when walking the bike, the back wheel tends to lock up and just skid. Riding the bike however allows it to run as it’s supposed to but you can feel it hitting the brakes which is annoying and inhibiting me from seeing the true speed of this bike 
My plans for this bike as of now are to just tune it and ride it as is until I can get the parts I need to fix it up properly. Here’s a quick list of what I need so far:
- New wheel set I put a newer front wheel on the bike but a matching pair would be better especially with matching tires…
- New chain Though the existing chain is in pretty decent condition, I don’t want to have to trust it when I’m riding around town, especially with idiot drivers who hate bikers.
- New brake and shifter cables I might even get new break levers and try to go for bar end shifters but the old school look and feel of the respective systems now are keeping me from doing so as of yet.
One of the reasons why I’m just going to ride the bike as is for a while is so I can become more comfortable using friction shifters, seeing as how I’ve never ridden a bike with them before. Overall, I can tell this bike is going to be a lot of fun and definitely a great commuter bike. I’ve decided to just use my ‘cross bike for joy rides, adventures, and other bicycle shenanigans
Total bike build cost: $0.00
Until next time,
Have fun riding!
