I bought a couple of vintage English bikes-Raleigh Sprites recently and decided to restore them. My idea of restoration is merely cleaning them up thoroughly, adjust few parts such as brakes, gears, gear shifter, re-pack wheel bearings etc and if I have to, replace parts but I try to avoid it if I can. I try to find bikes that are complete with all the parts present. Last thing I need is rummage through Ebay or surf the internet for hours looking for an obscure vintage part that's missing from the bike. So far I have had pretty good luck of finding some nice clean vintage bikes that people were getting rid of at a bargain. My last two bikes are early seventies Raleigh Sprites I bought through Craigslist, one is coffee brown and the other in deep red. They are both same year and model and also same size-60cm frames with 27inch wheels. Both bikes are in great shape except the sellers neglected them and they were covered with dirt, dust and greasy grime. I brought them home and gave it a thorough cleaning and they look fantastic. The brown Raleigh came with the gears completely frozen but it was an easy fix and I sold it a few weeks ago. I am also selling the red bike through my local Craigslist. I always forget to take before pictures to compare. . . hopefully next time. (see pics below) 
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