last week I tuned up the brakes and derailleurs on this 1987 raleigh mountain tour (my first vintage MTB) and last weekend it was only slightly below freezing so I took it for a spin with largely stock components, as far as I can tell. the tires are crap, the paths were crap, but I only put my foot down in deep snow and toppled over once. despite a bit of lube before I headed out, the derailleur got absolutely jammed with dirt and ice (hence the chainline in the photo) and that's when i had to call it quits lol. rinsed it out with water and then wd-40 to dry, don't worry… and yes, i will clean out the wd-40 and properly lube it.
anyways, gotta deep clean and lube a few parts and swap out tires/grips/pedals/etc but I think I'll ride it otherwise as is for a bit. the riser bars are decent and the weird mushy-indexed suntour accushift is… not as bad as I expected, when set up correctly. (when I got the bike, the first "click" did nothing and the last gear was friction-only.)
one question, how much do compressionless brake housings matter? I got the front brake feeling responsive and powerful with good modulation, but the rear feels a bit mushy and I noticed that the housing runs all the way across the top tube. the housings are probably pretty old too, not sure if that makes a big difference.
by NoExpression2268