I found an old Raleigh bike 1/4 mile into my commute this morning lying out with the garbage. It felt like 40 lbs as I was shouldering it back home. Being late, I only gave it a quick glance. I don't know anything about older (or even newer) road bikes. It has the Raleigh name in a panel that looks almost like the CoMotion tandems. It says Rampar on the top tube. The joints are fancy...I don't know how else to describe them...no visible welds, just tubes going into (lugs??) with squiggly edges. Can anyone tell me what I've found? Would it be a good frame to convert to a fixed gear commuter? I've wanted to try that for a while. The frame has threaded holes at both tires for fenders, and has a broken rack on it. 10 or 12 speed I think (dinn't count) with top bar friction shifters. The reflectors are huge! 4"x5" front and back, and 12"x1" curved reflectors on the wheels. I will look up specifics at home tonight if that would be helpful to identify the frame. Thanks as always.

check with the guys in classic and vintage forum. more than a few of them really know raleighs.
IMO, if it's not rusted real bad and it's got horizontal dropouts, "fix" it up!

If it fits you, its your lucky day. Old 10-speeds like this almost always have horizontal dropouts. Good cheap fixed gear or single speed conversion candidate. Just double check the frame and make sure it isn't bent or mangled.

I think Rampar was Raleigh's low end label. Probably cheap high-tensile steel. Probably 27 inch wheels. I wonder if the wheels are steel or aluminum?

With unknown bikes, check out the quality of the rear dropouts. If they are stamped from a plate it is a lower end bike (but possibly still quite usable). If they are moulded and quite thick then it is often a higher quality bike and may be made with butted quality steel.

Rampar was Raleigh's very cheap, low-end brand. It'll be "gas pipe" tubing, with stamped dropouts and all steel components (except for the calipers). Honestly... I've used one of these before, and I'm of the opinion that they really aren't worth doing much with, except maybe as a super-cheap beater.

Do a search on Sheldon's site (www.sheldonbrown.com). He has a lot of info on Raleigh 3-speeds. Perhaps there is something there about yours.