hi im new
just as the title says, im new. i just got myself a 1972 raleigh ltd-3 bike. ok more like i reclaimed it. i found it in one of the many bike corrals of the uc davis campus. its registration expired in 1977 and it had full on spider webs connecting it to a early 90's huffy. the only reason why i was trolling for bikes was because my friend had her bike stolen a while back and this was the only lot she had not looked in to find it. i saw it and i fell in love and had pity for it. it had been sitting so long that someone had stolen the chain off of it. or it had fallen off and that was the driving force to it being abandoned. well. the bike was not locked though the huffy was. and the state of repairs on the huffy led me to believe that this bike had been sitting for at most 4 years. davis prides itself on its efforts to reclaim bikes but this was just stupid. so under cover of night 7pm 2 days ago....... i took my truck over to the closest parking lot. walked up and snagged what will be my next hobby. the bike is incredibly intact for a 1972 bike. not a dent in the rear fender, a small dent in the chain guide, some minor damage to the bottom of th front fender that i can fix but currently does not interfear with the front tire. it has the usual nicks and scrapes from being a 36 year old bike that has been abandoned. the little plastic disk guide for the 3 speed hub has almost desintergrated but can be replaced or i can just use one gear. the brakes are in perfect shape and look like they came out of a box. the rims are more true than my buddys 1500$ moutain bike. the seat needs to be recovered but i can do that myself. i like how the seat looks.. and it has a front wheel driven light. and i even like the color. sun baked blood orange is what i will call it. i think i will name the bike einstine.