I am always on the lookout for cheap frames to tinker with. A good example is this Raleigh Capri, which originally had a bent fork. I found a nice chrome fork that was the right size and built it using my preferred components, including some Campy stuff I had sitting in my boxes of parts. As always putting on good wheels is the best improvement one can make, so this bike is an enjoyable ride (despite the Gatorskins, which are not the most comfy tire around.)

Noting your sig line...
I have rebuked Recycled Cycles for 2020 Cycleworks at 2020 Union.
R&E is still propbably the best, IMHO

I have thousands of miles on a Capri frame nothing cheap about it, Solid touring frame

I live up north so I rarely get to the shops south of the ship canal. I do make it to Bike Works on occasion.

My $20 Raleigh Olympian is one of my favorite rides. I put 650B wheels on it, a good rack, and horse saddlebags from Tractor Supply. I can take a good ride with it and bring stuff home.

Raleighs from that era are beautifully proportioned, aren't they? Just gorgeous frames; very underrated...

-

OP’s example looks nice, but Raleigh Capris are heavy and dull riding in my limited experience. The Olympian is a step or two up from the Capri.

"I'd rather look good, than to feel good."

It looks very nice, OP! Here's an '85 Raleigh Olympian I got as part of a $140 package deal with a Bianchi Sport SX - I wanted the Bianchi (which is too big for me), but not the Raleigh (which is my size) - I still haven't decided if it should get the full overhaul treatment or what. It's a sharp looking bike though.

-----
[MENTION=426813]Aubergine[/MENTION] & [MENTION=336348]dweenk[/MENTION] -

what calipers did you end up using to reach doon to those six five ohs?

-----

That's awesome! I'm currently working on a Capri as well. With a few upgrades such as alloy wheels they really do ride pretty nicely! I also have a similar Marathon that's up next once I finish the Capri.

I used inexpensive Tektro's, as I recall the model is 559. They have plenty of reach and work very well. The levers are VO city levers.

Believe it or not, those fat tires are 700c x 32 mm Gatorskins.

-----

Thank you!

Those are some looooong reach calipers for 700's.

Frame must have been constructed with jumbo brake centers...

-----

-----

thanks very much

-----

I have never ridden an original Capri, given that I bought the frame and built it up with my own parts, including new Mavic Open Pros laced to Nuovo Record hubs. My Capri actually feels very lively, possibly due in part to the replacement fork, and as I said is rather fun to ride. It was certainly fun to build!

In my experience building up cheap ol’ bike frames, it’s not the frames that hold them back. It’s wheels and tires, and it helps if the gearing is a bit lower because the bikes seem to ride best at a slightly slower speed than bikes with high quality steel frames.

Blasphemer! All hail Recycled!

Honestly, I haven’t been in 2020. You’ve just given me a reason to partake in my favorite pastime, visiting bike shops. My order of preference:

Bikeworks
Recycled (close second)
Backalley Bike Repair (close third)

Granted, I skew towards the dirtbag side of bike culture.

Oh yeah, nice build OP. I hope to see it at a C&V seattle ride sometime soon.

Note that the pads are at the bottom of the slots. :-) The tires are actually about as large as can comfortably fit under fenders.

The bike is buried in the shed right now but as I recall those brakes were Dia-Compes of some sort. They are definitely stiff enough to work well.

Dave, stay off the reality TV. You are being affected by the Kardashians.

Cool! Here's mine, a commuter. How have you been thinking about building yours up?

I do like the way these frames look. At the moment everything is working on mine so I'm pushing aside thoughts about upgrades, especially aesthetic ones. But I have thought about a nice set of wheels, upgrade the derailers and put on some bar ends or clamp on downtube shifters in place of the stem shifters. I have a 7 speed freewheel I think I'm going to put on it eventually as well, it should add a couple nicer mid-range gears (basically trading the 21T cog for a 20 and a 22).

Mine has 52/40 front chainrings - for a long time I thought it was 52/42. The 40T makes for some near-duplicate gears with a standard 14-28 6sp freewheel so I want to swap that 40T for a 42T as well. You might see which type yours has, if that is important to you.

I did put 700c wheels on it for a while but the rear one proved to be problematic, so the 27s are back on, but there's enough brake reach for an uneventful conversion. Many people claim that the obselete wheel size makes for a poor tire selection but I disagree. If not running fenders, there are dozens of types available for most common purposes, some of reasonably high quality as well. I'll probably use 27 x 1 Paselas unless I can fit the 1 1/8", but it will be tight. This photo is actually with the 700C wheels, 7 sp freewheel, and 25mm tires. I think all the Marathons used alloy QR wheels of decent quality from the factory.

I think they're nice solid middle of the road bikes and will do most things pretty well. The stock brakes work fine but I installed some with quick release tabs when I put the aero levers on, as a functional enhancement.

Spoken like a true '20 mile max' kinda rider.

JK, of course.

17.

With suspension, maybe a 'break-out' year for you. I've got the stem for cheap. Squeeky cheap.

Very Nice build