Hello everyone,

I recently acquired a 'good' condition Raleigh Grand Prix from CL for ~$160 (here's a link for some pics I took of it). It may have been expensive; but, I'm a tall guy and big frames (25") don't come around all that often! I planned to use it to commute to and from work and around the town as well as to do some medium-length trips up and down the coast of Lake Michigan.

Anyway, I took it to my local open shop and replaced a lot of the old and rusted cables/housing, replaced the plasticized rear brakes, and adjusted the derailleurs a bit to get them back in the right neighborhood.

After talking a bit with noglider (one of the community members), he helped me identify a few things to upgrade to improve the ride.

The rims, while very shiny, are steel and as this is going to be stopping and going around the streets here, stopping power is kind of important. Replacing the brake pads and brake cables helped out a lot; but, I'm told that aluminum rims are much better (especially when wet). My question here is: when do I know whether it's worth it to replace just my rims or the whole wheelset?

The other adjustment that was suggested was some kind of foot retention. Is it easy to find cages for these pedals (which seem original) or should I swap them out completely?

Finally, how do I know when I've put too much time/effort/expense into this bike? I realize it's a pretty old bike and has only a given amount of potential based on that. I'd love to be able to get the most return on investment whether it means finding gently used parts, 'value' end of new parts, or just leaving things as is.

Thanks all! I'm looking forward to learning and riding!

-Alex