My early 1990's Raleigh Serengeti

[CassidyAce]

Re:

As immediately above, really: good advice. All I would add is, if your priorities are safety, then economy, then ride quality:

1) Replace tyres if seriously deteriorated and check the brakes, looking for frayed cables that might snap and worn down pads. Replacement costs are small.

2) Forks: follow advice immediately above - little or no cost. At the worst, just go back to the rigid forks - little or no cost again.

3) Shifting: the shifters, cassette (rear cogs), chain, etc. need to be considered as an entire system. Cleaning and lubricating the shifters is good, and cheap, but the shifting is still likely to be ropey if the cassette is worn: it could skip gears, for example. If that does not happen, all well and good; if it does happen, a new chain, cassette and tools for fitting might amount to about 40GBP, but that's more of a ride quality issue than safety-critical. That said, if you're riding in heavy traffic, it's reassuring for the bike to behave as you expect it to.

 

[Takingabreak]

That's a really nice Raleigh, a definite keeper. As others have said, put the original forks back on, then I think just service / lube and ride. If you are unsure how to service it or how to fix anything, ask on here, people will be only too happy to help

 

[simulacrum]

Re:

Hi all, thanks for the great replies. So I decided by the time I found time to do stuff myself it would be worth getting someone else to do some things if it wasn't going to cost too much, which it didn't, so I brought my bike into a local shop. The forks just needed air (just a normal schrader valve in the top! ) wheels were a bit out so they trued them, needed a new chain, cleaned the shifters for me and they seemed to think everything else looked pretty good, they rotated the tires so my rear tire now has decent tread, but the front is pretty worn in the center. It will probably be fine like this, but it makes me kind of nervous how old the tires are so I'm thinking to get either both new tires, or just a new front as this seems more dangerous to have the front wheel go while in use.

I've 'decided' several different times on several different tires after doing a lot of research and reading too many reviews.

So.... tire suggestions anyone ? I'm not racing. I want to be able to ride around wherever I want. Riding down the road, see a cool hill I want to go up and down(as a requirement of having gone up I suppose). I'll probably be carting a camera in a backpack or possibly on a rack for my bike that I do not have and may never get. See something cool and need to go across some random field, or across some rocky path, gravel shoulders, and ride on roads and maintained paths to get to and from all the other places.

This led me to think maybe a touring tire of some sort would be good and durable (Schwalbe Marathon Mondial or similar type tire) but then I was thinking that maybe i need more nobs for some of the off road stuff and since I'm not racing, I don't need to go fast on the pavement really, but I am concerned a bit with being safe cornering and stopping on roads, because I'll be going faster on the road than I was off road.

So I keep going back and forth on what I should be doing with the tires. Something durable (Last thing I want is to worry about a flat tire on some gravel shoulder of a busy road). Something that can go anywhere and is safe, predictable on pavement. Less rolling resistance is good if I can get away with it.

I think I'm having trouble figuring this out because most people comment about mtb tires for off road and road tires for road, but there's not a wealth of information on how mtb tires do off road and vice versa.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Takingabreak]

Re:

You could just use the tyres that are already on there until they start to crack and split.

 

[simulacrum]

I could use the ones that are on there and I probably will keep the rear tire (used to be the front so is in pretty good shape, decent tread still). But the (now) front tread is pretty worn through (is maybe hard to see in pics), but compared to the old front tire it's very worn looking.

 

[CassidyAce]

Re:

Perhaps take a look at the Schwalbe Land Cruisers: they're reasonably priced, reasonably good on stony tracks, reasonably fast on the roads, reasonably puncture-protected, a reasonable weight but not the lightest . . . In general, a Jack of all trades that's master of nothing but good value for what it is.

 

[Takingabreak]

Re:

I've used some schwalbe cx pro tyres and found them fast on the road and knobbly enough for off road. They are narrow though

sku=140208&mkwid=qrD0Fqa9_dm|pcrid|9773914556|product|140208&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**SHOPPING+-+All&msclkid=d39669008e2d17624a473211f8efc485&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**SHOPPING%20-%20All&utm_term=1101400113982&utm_content=All%20Childseats#

 

[Takingabreak]

Re:

Link failed using my phone. Tredz are selling for about £15 each

 

[simulacrum]

Re:

Thanks for the responses. The land cruiser is an idea. I don’t know if they will be sufficient for off road stuff or not? If so they would be a good option. Not sure if anyone can speak to this. I’m not sure if the narrowness of those schwalbes are an issue or not. I thought wider was better for grip? I guess I need to sacrifice something. I’m leaning towards getting an off road tire that will be decent on the road because they will still work. But if it’s too slick then it will be unusable off road ? I’m not sure which side I should sacrifice on. Some tires I have been considering. Maxxis holy rollers. Schwalbe black jack center line. Smart sams. There’s too many tires lol. Every time I think I know what I want to do I read some review or find some other tire that changes my mind lol. Are off road tires unsafe on roads ? Or just slower. Thanks again.

 

[Takingabreak]

Re:

The cx pro are marketed as cyclo cross tyres. They give a firm ride off road because of lack of volume but are capable tyres.
Also, they are not heavy