sickmtbnutcase

When I was pulling onto our street today, this Reliant was sitting out by the road, asking to be trashed. Walked over to my neighbor's house and asked for sure if that was garbage. She said she should pay me to get rid of it....so I walked home with it for the cost of a friendly chat with my neighbor.

Now...what to do with it? I was planning on getting a new road bike this fall for non-commuting use and delegate my Marathon to commuter duty. But, this bike would be capable (with some TLC) of being a commuter. I've also been toying with the idea of a fixed/single for some training variation. What would you do? Obviously it needs work, but I have all the original parts off my Marathon sitting in a box in the basement - all in mint/like new condition. I'd really only need some wheels to have a fully useful bike....

pics of the free find...yes, it does fit me. Serial # for those who know more about this (I know next to nothing) is M10213558.

wrk101

I would make sure seat post and handlebar stem are not stuck before embarking on rebuild. Assuming they are not stuck, you need to tear this bike down to the frame, and rebuild it. Since you have most of the parts you will need, a few decent tools and you are ready to go.

Park tool site has all the info you will need on maintenance. You found a good project (if you do it yourself). If you take it to a shop, you will spend more than the finished bike is worth.

sickmtbnutcase

Yeah, haven't checked the post and stem yet. Won't have a problem with rebuilding it myself; built a few bikes from scratch and fixed many others. Got all the tools I need.

wrk101

Sounds like you are ready! Enjoy!

385xza

looks like an oxalic acid project to me, keep it simple, just strip, clean de-rust, and replace tyres ,cables, brake pads, its never going to be worth a fortune but will still serve you well for years to come.

mkeller234

I like it! I would make a nice city bike out of it, some north road or mustache bars, fenders and a nice bell. That'd be sweet. Is the frame cro-moly?

sickmtbnutcase

Thanks for the info guys - oxalic acid - will give that I shot. I thought I had seen that mentioned someplace before in this forum as well for stripping rust. Hopefully the hardware store has some. I believe it's cro-moly. It's definitely steel...can't remember what the stickers said, but I'm 95% sure it's cro-moly. It's not that heavy of a bike, even with steel wheels. Stem and seatpost were not stuck. No problem getting them free.

She will need at least new spokes. They're awfully rusty and I'd never trust them, and if I decide to flip it, I wouldn't sell a bike with spokes like that anyways. And, with the steel wheels, I think changing out to alloys would be a better bet. The hubs, IMO, would look sweet when cleaned up.

As for a city bike, well, I kinda live in the middle of farmland...so...not sure how that would work out

I'm thinking restore but make it fixed/single for a different workout - but keep it as true to original looking as I can (of course I wouldn't chop anything off it and it could go back to geared easily). I really won't need another geared road bike if I add a new bike to the stable in the fall. I know, that's crazy talk around these parts I also would like to keep my Marathon's original parts unmolested - I don't know why though, maybe since I'm terribly attached to it

I've got time to think and options. Thanks for the ideas guys!

385xza

If it needs new spokes i would suggest getting new alloy wheels complete s it will save much time and in the end will be a better job than re-spoked steels ie lighter and safer (better braking)

sickmtbnutcase

Yeah, wheels were ordered this morning. Stripped the frame down last night - frame is in great shape, but paint is really awful. Rescued some of the chrome on the fork, but some is too far gone and the rust has destroyed it - thankfully the lost chrome is on the inside of the legs. If I get ambitious, I may have that bit rechromed.

Seeing that the bike/frame overall isn't worth much; I'm not feeling bad about a respray or powdercoating. I'm not hurting a valuable bike by any means. Time to make it mine I guess

rhm

Agreed, not a valuable bike. But the Raleigh branded parts are cool!

cudak888 

Except for the crankset. I don't know what type of aluminum they made them out of, but it's soft as a banana peel. Rarely have I seen one that isn't bent.

-Kurt

sickmtbnutcase

I love the looks of the crank, but the previous owner decided to cross-thread the left pedal. Once cleaned up it'll make some nice wall art

The rest of the crank/rings are perfect though!

sickmtbnutcase

Figured I'd bump this with the (almost) end result. Just a few more tweaks and she's good to go. Right now she's single speed with a freewheel (46/17) - just gotta throw the new 16t fixed cog on the other side. Rides nice, fast, light. Glad I gave it another life (yeah, yeah, shoulda kept it geared )

IMO, the pics don't do it justice - I can't stop looking at it. I'll get some better ones later and put some effort into the photos

treebound 

A very nice job, well done, I like it.

JJPistols

looks great - hope she treats you as well as you've treated her

noglider 

Very nice indeed. Did you paint it yourself, and if so, would you be willing to tell us how?

What original components remain, if any?

JAG410 

One of the best before/after conversions I've seen, great job!!!

sickmtbnutcase

Thanks for the comments everyone! Guess I must have done something right

Not sure why the double eyelet setup....new to me, but I haven't been through many older bikes (yet).


Paint, well, I was gonna tackle that myself, but a local powdercoater did the media blasting and coating for $75, so I figured I'd stimulate the local economy a bit. I had a coworker coat the stem since he could do small stuff and he's new to coating, so he wanted some experience.

Original parts left that you see are the frame, stem, and headbadge Some pieces taken off are still usable with a bit of cleaning, so I'm going through those as well. Derailers are ok, hubs seem fine, shifters and brake levers are still good. So, if a case comes up where I could use them, they'll be ready for some future project. Most everything else was too far gone with rust - but I think what's been salvaged is reasonable. So, it'll keep living on

love2pedal.com

Not sure why the double eyelet setup....new to me, but I haven't been through many older bikes (yet).

My guess is 1 pr of eyelets for the fenders and 1 pr for the rear rack.

Redo looks great!

Dan

noglider 

That's correct.

sickmtbnutcase

Thanks Dan! Makes sense for having double eyelets then - appreciate the info!

chas79

Just rescued a Raleigh Reliant from the ashes - no wheels but a good frame. I really like what you did with this Reliant and now I have an example. Hopefully I can do half as well with limited parts and budget, Thank you for posting and sharing with us novices!