About a week ago I noticed one of my neighbors had put a bicycle next to their garbage can on trash day. Being the bicycle enthusiast I am, I decided to take the bike to see if it was worth fixing. It was in pretty bad shape, the brakes were unaligned, wheels were pretty out of true, tires were cracking and flat, bar tape ratty and not even covering all of the bars, cables were all kinds of messed up, etc. Clearly this bike is really old, it has stem shifters and suicide brakes. I notice a badge on the head tube that says Sears & Roebuck. Oh great. It's a department store bike. An OLD department store bike. I decide to fix it up anyway, I need the practice.

A couples days ago I was interneting it up and come across a discussion about old bikes and the name Sears-Roebuck comes up. I google the name and find out that these bikes are actually a little collectible, not as much as the older Schwinns, but not the piece of junk I thought they were.

Here's a pic of the bike:


The top tube and the name on the head badge say 'Free Spirit'. It has ten speeds (2 in the front, 5 in the back).

I'm still waiting on the new wheels in the mail, as well as some clamp on cable stops before I can get test riding it and stuff. So is this bike a piece of junk, or a nice usable bike?