1980 Raleigh Reliant Project
 

Hey guys, just made a pretty detailed post in the Classics and Vintage section so rather than repeat everything here's a link....

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...eliant-Project

Basically, there is a 1980 Raleigh Reliant that's been sitting for 15-20 years that a friend's dad is offering for $50. I'm trying to decide whether or not to try to bring it back to life a bit. I'm thinking that if I do decide to get it that ss/fg would be the route to go for weight-savings and simplicity. Getting the original 10-speed drivetrain working well again seems daunting, although it does shift roughly and stiffly at the moment. However I've been wanting to get something lighter and faster and I'm concerned that even stripped down to just fixie gear this might be too heavy to ever be what I want.

Plenty more info in the post I linked to above but that's the quick version.

So what's the opinions of all you ss/fg folks? Keep it and convert or hold off for something lighter and faster?

I'll post all the pics again here....

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant001.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant002.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant003.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant004.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant005.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant006.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant007.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant008.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant009.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant010.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant011.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant012.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant013.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant014.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant015.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant016.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant017.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant018.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant019.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant020.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant021.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant022.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant023.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant024.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant025.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant026.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant027.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant028.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant029.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant030.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant031.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant032.jpg
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Reliant033.jpg

Awesome!

Save your pennies for something better man. If you're after a lightweight bike after your experience on your trek, this won't be it. Making it a fg/ss will lop off MAYBE a lb. It'll still be a heavy bike. That isn't to say it won't be perfectly acceptable riding, but it definitely won't be what you said you were after.

I'm having a hard time telling what we're looking at here. Could you post some more detailed pictures? :lol: jk

That bike sure looks like it's in great cosmetic shape. Cleaned up and tuned up you could probably flip it for a decent profit (to put toward a ssfg :D) but I wouldn't advocate converting this one. Too much original good condition stuff there to strip it down and that frame really doesn't have anything that makes it more desirable than any other bike for a ssfg conversion.

I agree with this person here. Normally I would tell people to do whatever makes them happy, especially if it only costs $50. But I don't think you'll be too happy down the road. Better to put that $50 somewhere safe and keep adding to it until the next opportunity comes along.

Thanks for the replies folks!

Sorry about the excessive pics, I got kinda camera happy and then just threw all the links in there, I pledge to self-edit better in the future!

I will definitely get it cleaned up at the least. Is there any issues with blasting it with water to clean it off, anything that I need to seal off or anything?

Everyone's replies pretty much confirm what I was thinking, too heavy to sink resources into for my budget. It's too bad, I got pretty excited when I heard "old Raleigh", and I really like how it looks, but I won't be happy if keeping it means I can't afford something quicker. This is kind of a trial period, no money has changed hands, so I'll offer to return it to him and cross my fingers he just tells me to keep it. I've known the family for close to twenty years and I know he's got no use for it and just moved into a new house, I think there's a good chance he doesn't really want it back. If he does just let me have it I'll save my money and just see if I can get it rolling again with just some tubes and tires and patience.

Thanks again everyone, really appreciate the advice!

Just tune it up and ride. Only way to get quicker is to ride. A few pound lighter bike is nice, but without a strong engine, it is just another bike.

Make it into a townie.

Define "decent profit." Unless op tosses drops and a ss drive train on this, its not likely to sell on craigslist for more than $100-150, unless you really luck out. If op invests in drops and a ss drive train and then proceeds to sell it on cl for $200...well, grats, you made $100-150, but what did you invest on those bars and that drive train? Let this one be, pig.

that'd be a mad fun road bike, i would just switch out the stem shifters, can't stand those things.

Those forks made of technium bro? lulz

I guess it depends on where you're from. In the Bellingham area a bike like that would go for 150-200 if he simply cleaned it up and gave it a mild tune up - much less if it was some hack-job conversion with drops. I'd take a hundred dollar profit for a few hours of labor :/