>>1237204Its a pretty cheap bike, but not absolute bottom tier and i think it's worth upgrading a bit if you like how it rides. It certainly looks quite nice. Above is mostly right, but the poor braking is also possibly due to steel rims, which will be especially bad in the wet. Prioritise servicing it over upgrading it, if any of the bearings aren't smooth, service them, friction in the cables etc.
obvious things to definitely do
>modern brake pads. any new road rim brake pads basically will fit >some nice modern flat pedals like pic related, nylon/plastic bmx pedals are my preference. they will all fit >a new saddle unless that one is comfortable for you, don't go full squishy >a front or rear rack and zip tie a metal basket to it to carry stuff >new chainYou're not married to drop bars, I'd convert to a more cruisery bar on that bike, and change brake levers, and change the shifters to thumbies or bar ends, and an alluminium wheelset would be nice, a modern seatpost makes a tangible comfort difference, maybe new brake calipers, and a crank with smaller chainrings for lower gearing would be nice. doing all of that on this frame would be a bit nuts without a great partbin already but you could do some