Hey...I just went thru the same thing a little while back with a '63 Huffy Sportsman.
I originally thought..."Hey, I'll just clean this up and ride it around the neighborhood"...I then proceeded to rebuild the wheels with Sun CR-18s, stainless spokes/brass nipples, and fresh Schwalbe Delta Cruisers...added a Nitto Technomic stem, Nitto Albatross bars, Brooks B67 on cheapo Kalloy post, new Tektro 800A calipers with VO city levers, and VO cable kit.
I also ended up scoring a Phil Wood BB for a really good price, so I bought the raleigh rings and installed a Spidel 106 crankset I pulled out of the bin at the local co-op. Unfortunately I only got the driveside so I'm running a mismatch Tourney arm on the leftside...threw on a nickel Wipperman chain, a 48T Salsa chainring, and a 20T SA sprocket and the thing rides pretty darn nice.
Overkill...sure...but I had fun building it as the winter approached.
I say if you enjoy the build-out then go for it...otherwise just fresh rubber, cables, and grease and ride the heck out of it!
My 2c
Mark in St. Louis
All right, in Catch of the day I posted this bike I picked up for $20:
It's a Raleigh-built Triumph 3-speed. I thought I would just use it as a beater bike, or clean it up and flip it, as I ride a Raleigh Sports, but now I'm toying with the idea of updating it with newer, better components, as
this gentleman did:
The spoking is 36/36, so that helps if I want to relace the hubs to new rims. Would you suggest going up to 700C, down to 650B, or stay with 650A?
At the least, I could get new brakes, rims, stem, and bars and save a bunch of weight. Any suggestion of how to update the bottom bracket? If I could find a spindle that fit the old cups that would be my choice.
What do you think?