aralessi

Hello everyone! (I'll apologize ahead of time for being long-winded.)

A thief took my Raleigh Record Ace mixte off my hands a few months ago and I bought this Raleigh Sprite 10-speed on CL to replace it (images attached).

I'm having trouble deciding how much I want to do to it. I originally thought I wanted this to be my beater bike for rainy days and grocery shopping. I already replaced the steel wheels with aluminum for breaking in the rain and ordered some fenders. Now I'm considering 3 other options:

1. It’s in really great condition and everything appears to be original (as far as I can tell… the seat, the tires, etc. all say Raleigh on them). I had built my Record from a frame so the minty-ness of this one is novel to me. Is there any value in keeping it original (although I think it’s supposed to have fenders)?

2. I am tempted to make lots of improvements. I think I was inspired by the "show us your mixte" thread and a collection of pictures on flickr. Now I think my poor Sprite is a comparatively ugly mixte. When I start thinking about what I would do to make it prettier, the potential cost and workload gets big pretty quickly! The bike works fine as is, but if I buy one thing to make it look better, I don't think I'd be able to stop until I thought the bike looked perfect. Do you think this particular bike is worth it, considering it was bottom of the line when it was made? Should I look for a higher quality model to improve upon?

3. Finally, I've never, ever wanted a single speed before, but the gearing on this is pretty wimpy and I've discovered that I can do my entire commute without changing gears (which is only 2 miles and has a several of low-grade hills). Now the extra gears seem like unnecessary weight. I could, of course, give it more appropriate gearing. Or maybe, just maybe, I could make it a single speed (NOT a fixie). I do think it would look a lot better. I haven't got a clue if it would be expensive (or if I already messed up... did I buy the wrong wheel?). It would probably make it a less able grocery-getter. Opinions?

PS A lot of people spend a lot of money customizing their bikes, but I'm just warming up to the idea. My first two bikes were free, this one was $100 and I spent $75 on wheels. It scares me that the resale value won't come close to how much money it costs to buy new parts, even though I'm not likely to sell it soon.

vincev

Nice find.Heres a pic of my raleigh sprite.its a nice solid bike and kind of heavyI picked it up at a christian second hand store for $20.I just left it as is.You are right about putting too much money into it.I would save that money and use it on another bike somewhere down the line.

aralessi

Thanks for the advice! And nice bike! I really wish mine had the matching fenders...

Is there any quick advice you can give on what mixtes are out there that are more worth the effort?