Folding Bikes - The Wasp on tour

Just back from a 6 day rail trail tour on the Wasp, loaded with panniers front and back.
I know I'm biased, but...... What a blast to ride a R20 fully loaded, very easily to control at speed down hill, comfy climbing even with a 48t chainring, stable and sturdy and the comments from other cyclists was the start of a few great conversations. I thought I was hooked before this tour...but now...I'm hoping to finish my next R20 soon for next year's tour with my son, www.greatalpineroad.info

I will upload some pics of our ride on my flickr site soon.

BTW,I've found a bike shop in a small town that has half a shed of NOS parts from the 1930's onwards, including genuine R20 parts such as front and rear racks and fenders etc, but unfortunately they're too busy to work out what's what, so I can't get anything off them....What a waste :(

Hells, offer to inventory it for them in exchange for your pick of parts.

I'm curious about your pannier choice and what fits the R20, especially the front?

Brainrider,

Check out www.flickr.com/photos/stevegor (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegor) for F & P rail trail and view pic 12, it shows the front rack and also scroll down to pic 1010077, that shows the bracket that is attached to the steerer which holds the top of the rack in place, to secure the hooks for the bottom of the panniers we welded on 2 small bits of tubing...it's not flash, but hey..it works. As far as I know the front rack is original, as is the rear rack. To secure the rear panniers, I fix the top hooks over the rack and for the bottom hooks I installed picture washers to where the rack attaches to the frame of the R20. Later, I will modify a modern rear rack to fit my R20 for better use. The rear panniers are Deuter, front are Avenir.

Hey Steve,

I first saw your pics of the Wasp from the link in the Bsa 20 thread. That yellow and black bar tape compliments the seat and frame well. I chose the same stuff for my Speed, I'm hoping it does something for it's pea-soup green frame.

May I ask how you got the gripshift around the bends on your drop bar? I ground out a bit of the clamp to get a trigger shifter into the same position - but I don't imagine that's possible with a gripshifter...


Mokaimo,
I bought a set of 70's steel drops which have a narrower diameter than modern drops, ( it will not fit them), then cut the bar near the start of the curve of the drops, installed the shifter, then mig welded the lot back together and filed it smooth and clean, a bit "backyardish", but..... Sheldon Brown wished me luck with it as he was worried about fatigue failure, but so far so good and that includes commuting, this tour and a challenging bunch ride with the boys.
As I've posted before, my next lot of mods will probably include removing these bars and using a set of MTB flat bars with Origin 8 bar end drops so I can remove the shifter more easily, unlike now 'cos I will have cut the bars to remove it :eek:

I have them on my tandem, so I'll take a pic and put it on my flickr site 4 u 2 c :)