Classic & Vintage - Is this Raleigh frame salvageable?

I have an opportunity to pick this up for $25. That's cheap, but I'd rather not throw money down a drain. What do you think? (And if you know what it is, speak up!)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7223/7166957756_46e8023842_b.jpg

This one concerns me... Is that a deformed top tube? What's up with the headset?
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8022/7166956486_a27557a7ab_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5032/7166958220_6577246078_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5040/7166958578_2dcfb19409_b.jpg

Looks bad. Run your fingers along the underside of downtube to feel ripples in metal. Lack of fork usually makes this scenario a lock. Medium low end Raleigh if indeed it is one. It the tube is rippled, move on with a $25 learning experience...oh, you haven't paid. Don't.

To quote Monty Python: Run away!

Raleigh Grand Prix - looks as if it was once Carmine Red. On a good day, a nice all-original GP frameset should run you no more than $50.

Whether this one has been hit or not, the brass penetration is lousy. Not a good example even in decent shape, and that green paint job over everything screams of a once-stolen bike - either that, or a hipster got to it.

-Kurt

See, this is why I love this forum. It serves as both my enabler AND my voice of reason. Thanks all.

looks like it was wrecked, hence no fork. The headtube looks trashed due to the wrecking.

Don't do it. If you want a lowish-end project Raleigh frameset, PM me. I have an unpainted but primed one that I will never get to.

Now If I had that frame....

the frame is toast, and not a valuable one...but it is now yours.

why not find an ox acc torch and warm up the lugs and see if you can pull apart the damaged areas?
I mean take off the lugs.

you could make one of those shop seats out of the back triangle ....or....
keep an eye out for some tubes long enough to try your hand at replacing them.

its a learning experence...might as well have some fun with it...right?
you got nothing to lose (the 25 is long gone!)

mike

Didn't buy it yet. My Spidey-senses tingled in time to avert that mistake :)

It's scrap metal. If it were mine, I'd save the BB, crank, and pedals; and perhaps the headset bits.

It's scrap metal. If it were mine, I'd save the BB, crank, and pedals; and perhaps the headset bits.

yes- the bits mentioned might be the 25- but then again nobody in there right mind is going to pay for it.

tell him 10 bucks and pull the bits-pedals might be worth that?????

yes- the bits mentioned might be the 25- but then again nobody in there right mind is going to pay for it.

tell him 10 bucks and pull the bits-pedals might be worth that?????

Selling stuff like that is a gamble. Imagine someone who needs one of those pedal dust caps for whatever reason... what's he willing to pay? And bits like the adjuster in the brake bridge, and the seat post bolt, are hard to find. You could easily get $25 parting it out. Not that it would be worth your time.

Selling stuff like that is a gamble. Imagine someone who needs one of those pedal dust caps for whatever reason... what's he willing to pay? And bits like the adjuster in the brake bridge, and the seat post bolt, are hard to find. You could easily get $25 parting it out. Not that it would be worth your time.

I could ask double for the custom paint job on the brake adjuster and dust caps. That's a deluxe option. Maybe I should buy it after all.