I recently was given an older road bike. My plan was to strip the paint and try my hand at painting. A friend of mine saw the bike and suggested I check here first to see if that is a good idea.

I'm not looking to sell the bike unless it's outrageously valuable. I just want to know if I should clean it and ride it or if I should restore it. I would rather restore because that seems like a cool project. Also, I am a mountain biker with a few older cruisers and would like to try road riding, especially this winter.

Can anyone shed light on what this bike is and the best course of action? Clean it up, restore it (first restoration) or sell it. Personally I'm hoping for restoration but don't want to ruin the value of the bike. The bike was a gift so I would have to clear it with the giver before selling.

I have several more pictures. Basically I wanted a steel lugged frame to try to paint some alternating colors on the lugs and the frames. some of these lugs are painted, some chromed.

Thanks for any help you can give!

Mike