Curb Find Raleigh Part 1 (Jan 2012)

I had read on other blogs about people finding bikes in dumpsters, put out for trash day, etc but had never had that kind of luck, until.... I was riding my bike home from downtown when I spotted a Raleigh Gran Prix in front of a pile of garbage and cast offs in the front yard of a rental house.  It appeared that someone had moved out and ditched the bike along with an number of other items and after taking a closer at the Gran Prix I could see why.

I had first thought to "ghost ride" the bike home but after pushing it a few feet I realize it wasn't exactly a smooth roller, so I decided to just walk it as it was only about a mile home.  I also realized that the paint job was a little on the rough side, like someone had put the frame in a cement mixer with a bunch of gravel, let it go for a few minutes and the result was not one square inch of the bike was clear of pits, scrapes or scratches.

Yep it all pretty much looks like this

And the head tube wasn't a whole lot better. I mean how do you manage this kind of damage?

However, there were a lot of cool Raleigh branded Suntour parts that were worth the trouble getting this bike home.

And best of all the famous Suntour power ratchet shifters.

You may notice, as I did that there was a discolored and rusty spot where the down tube intersected the head tube lug and a similar spot where the top tube intersected the head tube lug (look under the rusty broken bell in the picture of the head tube).  Hmmm that might indicate there had been some trauma like front end crash.  Better get this checked out by a real mechanic.  To be continued.....