Any Other Hotrod Raleigh 20 fans here?

SamWise72

I rode a 3 speed Raleigh 20 for about a year for commuting - down to the train in Southampton, then across London from Waterloo to Newham, and generally found the little old bike excellent - only cost me £20 and a couple of tyres. However, I always wanted more, and closer spaced gears, so when it was stolen (from my shed on Christmas night!) I bit the bullet, and bought another, this time a single speed. It's getting sprayed matt black, cotterless cranks installed, and dual pivot brakes. I'm building a wheelset on Velocity Aeroheat deep section rims, with a Shimano Nexus 7 rear hub, sprung Brooks saddle and leather grips. It'll be just lovely!

I'm about halfway through the build, and whilst I post a lot on Bikeforums.com, I wondered whether I'd find Raleigh 20 fans on more local forums? I get kinda bored of hybrids, own a lot of Vintage bikes, and love hopping up older bikes with modern kit. Anyone with me on this?

Pic is my old Raleigh 20, with my Ortlieb Office Bag 2 mounted (thankfully that didn't get stolen) - couldn't quite keep up with the Carbon and Lycra crew, hopefully better tyres and gearing will change all that....



And here's the donor bike for the new build, with interesting wide bars, possibly courtesy of a Raleigh Bomber...

tardington

Is that with the Archer-Sturmey gears?

A whle back I got rid of an old rusty one that was in my spare room... Don't tell me they're worth actual money!

SamWise72

Not here in old Blighty - I paid £20 for each of mine. In the States, they fetch over $100.

Sheldon Brown (pbuh) pointed out quite rightly that they're very good bikes, compared to other folders of the period. They don't fold that smally, but they're stiff and sturdy, and quite useable. The only real drawbacks are the steel wheels in 451, which means tyres are hard to come by, and since they're not hooked bead rims, you can't run high pressures, plus the brakes are crap in the rain. Mine will have cost me around £250 when finished, but will be a match for much more expensive new folders on the road - it just won't fold as well as they do. Reality is, however, that I hardly ever needed to fold the old one; only if the train bike racks were full; then folding meant I could still bring it on board within the rules. What I really like about it is how agile a small wheeled bike is in traffic. I'd take this over my track bike any day on busy streets, and my new wheels should fix the braking, the high pressure tyres (relatively - it'll have Big Apples running at 70 psi) and improve the gearing all at once.

If you've got one, I encourage you to have a tinker. They can be a lot of fun.

tardington

I got rid of it, sorry! The gear bit was completely knackered. :x

I got my wee sis a single speed Dahon for forty quid last year (second hand) - that was great fun, mainly because it was wee enough to cycle round my flat!

Just a thought, but if you got one of the ikea folders for 50 quid from eBay, could you not just transfer all the gears etc over? I think they've got V brakes too... (couldn't promise though)

SamWise72

Trouble with those Ikea folders is they're derailleur geared - not ideal for a small wheeled bike (except the Shimano Capreo group) and vulnerable when close to the ground, or folded. I'd much rather have a hub gear. Also, transferring the V brakes would mean brazing on the mounts.

All that aside, my red deep section rims with black spokes are going to look so awesome they're worth the money, and I picked up the Nexus 7 hub for about £30 on eBay.

Here are some examples of other R20 hotrods to inspire you:

BentMikey

Nice!! I quite often see 20s coming through Hyde Park.

tardington

That... is AMAZING!

Though a folding touring bike? Heh!

SamWise72

Absolutely! Jur, the owner of that green 20 with the racks, toured Tasmania on it. Even more extreme, however, is the Downtube Mini tourer that another guy uses. Folds into a suitcase, but also carries enough kit for a full tour. Awesome.



Finally, at the bottom, is Retreau Guy's 20 with 24" wheels....

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Fantastic. The monster chainrings on some of those 20s are awesome!

SamWise72

I'll post mine as soon as it's complete, but I'm being held up by a new baby, and the fact that so far, I suck at wheel building!