Raleigh Clubman Mixte - selling advice.

[gerryattrick]

I bought this bike a month ago for £20, basically as a rebuild and sell-on project as I'm unable to ride at the moment. The pic shows the way it was when I bought it. It's in good mechanical condition, with no rust, just a lot of surface marks from poor parking, locking etc.

I'm very tempted to make it into a flat bar tourer/commuter with triple chainring, Deore thumb shifters and good (but old) mtb gears. Will this be worth doing or will it ruin the bike and make it less sellable.

I don't expect to make a lot out of it and have all the bits needed in the shed.

 

[Jonny69]

Mixtes make great town bikes! You know, I'm torn when it comes to modifying bikes in all-original condition but you have to think about it a couple of ways:
-It's not a particularly high-end, rare or desirable model;
-You're not actually modifying it irreversibly;
-There's nothing stopping you sticking all the original bits in a shoebox in case you want to put it back how it was.

If it was mine I probably wouldn't bother with the expense of all the extra mtb stuff - plus IMO it might look a bit out of place for no real gain. I'd just stick on some town bars, brake levers for flat bars and maybe a stem shifter which it looks like it's got anyway. Or a Sturmey Archer for fit and forget simplicity. Then lose the rack - job done!

 

[gerryattrick]

Re:

Thanks. It's quite hilly around where I live so I thought a triple front and 6 or 7 speed freewheel might be more versatile.

There'll be no cost to this as I have a pile of spare mechs and everything I might need in the shed, so it's just swapping parts from one box to another, and there'll be no extra work as I plan to first strip the bike completely anyway. The rear mech is just about the lowest quality that Shimano make so that was going to be dumped.

As you say, I'll still have the original stuff if necessary.

With a bit of luck when I sell this I may find I've worked for about £1 an hour, but I shouldn't be out of pocket. :roll:

 

[DrewSavage]

Go for it! And if modifying a bike in original condition is an issue, I have an ordinary '83 Raleigh Clubman which has gold mudguards on it, the same ones that were on a Carlton Corsair that I briefly owned last year - so either the mudguards on my bike are non-standard, or the ones on yours are...