here's my old mid-90s Raleigh M-80 that i now use as a back-up commuter.


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i switched out the suspension fork for a rigid one, and i upgraded the drive-train because the bike originally had a 42/32/22 with a 13-28 7speed cassette and i was spinning out on the flats. i put on a 48/38/28 sugino crankset along with an 11-28 7 speed cassette. because i live in chicago (the land that hills forgot), i'm almost always running on the largest 48T chainring, the other two chainrings are almost useless to me. i run 48/15 as my general cruising gear, and i'll bump it up to 48/13 if i have a nice tail wind or drop down to 48/18 or 48/21 if i've got a head wind to battle. my lowest gear ratio is now a 1-to-1 28/28, but there ain't a hill anywhere within a thousand miles of chicago that would require anything that low.

the Vuelta zerolite wheelsets and schwalbe marathon plus tires are also recent additions in the effort to "hybridize" the bike.