Folding Bikes - Raleigh Twenty for a tall man?

I apologize if this has been asked before. I searched honest.

Would a Raleigh twenty fit someone tall like me? I'm 6'5".

I love my '62 Sports and would like to have a twenty, but not if I couldn't comfortably ride it.

Opinions?

I apologize if this has been asked before. I searched honest.

Would a Raleigh twenty fit someone tall like me? I'm 6'5".

I love my '62 Sports and would like to have a twenty, but not if I couldn't comfortably ride it.

Opinions?


You can ride a Twenty. Sheldon Brown does. Thanks to mountain bikes and oversized designs, aluminum seatposts are available in the 28.6 diameter for a reasonable price. They all you to extend a Raleigh Twenty seatpost to a comfortable height. Sheldon's old workround was to attach a smaller seatpost on top of the steel one to get the proper extension but its not necessary any more. When you get a Raleigh Twenty, take it down to your LBS. They will advise you on getting the right seatpost to accomodate your height.

That depends a little bit on if you want to keep it original or want to convert it with modern componentry. With modern componentry, I believe there is almost no limit to rider size either way.

For a really long seat post, you could use a thudbuster 27.2mm in 450mm length, with a shim to 28.6mm. But that is not really necessary - as above, there are lots of posts to choose from.

It will be difficult/impossible to find an original pipe style seat post in the length you need without creating something. I just put 28.6 x400mm kalloy post on my twenty. Check to see if kalloy makes a 450mm seatpost. Also the different seat mounting system used by modern seatposts necessitate a new seat. This will give you a few more mm of height because the seat rails sit on top of the post.

Also, if you choose to deviate from the stock configuration, you will what to explore extending the steering tube of the fork and using a long enough stem to establish the proper reach to the handlebars.
At 6ft 5inches, this is likely to be a very long stem. I'm riding a 150mm stem and I had to search high and low to find it. Whatever you do, the Twenty is a fine machine.

Thanks guys. Sounds like with some new components the sky is the limit.

I just got a 1971 Phillip's twenty and replaced the heavy as sin steel post and vinyl Brooks with a kalloy stem and brooks B17.

I'm not a giant at five foot ten but the lighter post and great saddle are more comfy and lighter to carry when I remove them after locking the bike up.