Too much porridge....

I was on my way to work the other day - an had a bit of a problem, the drive on the bike broke. I could turn my legs but the back wheel didn't turn. I assumed that I had broken the 3 speed hub. I took the back wheel out and found that I had broken sproket! I must have had a second portion of porridge for breakfast that morning!

100 psi tyres

Bought some high pressure tyres from ebay (8.oo UKP!!)for the Raliegh 20.They are called IRC Roadlite EX Skinwall Tyres and it has transformed the bike, I'm at least 2 to 3 MPH faster and really enjoying using the bike. Not as nice as the Reach but still a nice winter bike. Watch out if you are on a mountain bike - your going to have to be fit to keep in front of me!!

The Raliegh 20 update

The first few posts of this blog are from text and pictures that I've had around for a while and haven't got around putting on the web until now. The raliegh 20 has taken me though the winter. I have put a smaller spocket on the back wheel, but still have the cheap tyres on it. We now have a bike to work scheme at work so you can get a bike for just very half price, So I've now got a summer bike, the pacific Reach

A Cheap Folder for £60 + bits

After 2 years hard commuting the frame on my Dahon "Speed 6" finally broke. There is a growing crack in the frame at the point where the seat pin enters the frame.

So I have been on the look out for a cheap alternative to commute on rain or shine. I ride/train to work, so folded size isn't my biggest priority. Surfing around on the net I have found a number of articles on converted Raleigh 20s, however they are looking to be the "Ultimate 20". I wondered how much it would cost to turn a standard 20 into a decent low cost folder....

The finished low cost folder as described in the article

The conversion

Before building the bike up, it was stripped down removing all the bits that I didn't want on the final bike, I removed rack, mudguard, chain guard, pedals, seat, brake callipers and cables.

The handle bars where where far to high for me - I like to be low when cycling into the prevailing westerly winds, also there isn't much room on the bike for me (I'm 6 foot tall) I want bars low and further away , removed all fixtures off of the bars. Then I removed bars and replaced them back to front and rotated. I added brake levers from donor bike, replaced original 3 gear controller and bars end etc from donor bike.
Added offset callipers to improve braking performance. Front was OK, however back doesn't have the required reach to get to the rim, so I've remounted the orginal 20 back brake for now. I'll have to extend the hole in the frame so that the new back brake can reach the rim.
I then finished off by added pedals and seat and replaced the tyres and replaced with low pressure tyres '40PSI typical' and run the front at 40PSI and the back at 60PSI.

Costs

Raleigh 20 (EBay) 20 pounds + 15 postage
Offset calliper (EBay) brakes 10 pounds inc postage
Low pressure tyres 15 pounds (from a friend at the cost he got them at)
One donor bike for std parts brake levers, pedals etc.

The bike as I brought it off of Ebay

Ride

The bike as it stands is feels a little heavier than my Dahon Speed (I've not weight it yet) however there is no flex in the frame, seat post or handle bars. Gearing is about right - I'm in top on a flat wind free road. Braking performance is quite good. The seat to bar position for me is right - certainly for me (6 foot) throwing the bars forward was needed to give me a comfortable riding position. I think this folder is faster than my mountain bike (which has fairly narrow street tyres). I've had fun chasing guys on mountain bikes - who generally don't like being over taking by a folding bike!! Also the bike is getting some attention at the train station from both the folding and non folding community

Latest

So starting with a donor bike which could be a mountain bike, folder or BMX and 60 pounds and a couple of spanners you can end up with quite a nice folder.

I've now added a standard plastic mudguard over the back tyre as May was really wet, and I sure I'll continue to fiddle with bits on the bike, but it now working and in daily use toand from work.

Now the question is do I splash out on some good tyres and tubes (50 pounds) and a smaller back sprocket as it feels that I could go quite quickly on this bike .... Have I caught the 20 bug?

The start of the blog

Both my bicycle have 20 inch wheels, but not the new 406 wheel size, they both have the old 451 size wheels....