My new Twenty
04-25-09, 04:09 PM
#1
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My new Twenty
Hi guys, this is my first post here on bikeforums, I have been lurking around a bunch due to interest in getting a folder, and I was going to buy a used dahon mariner today, but I saw a 1969 Raleigh Twenty for $80 and I jumped on it. It is my first folder, so I didnt want to make too large of a money commitment. The Dahon I was going to buy was $250, so I figure I did pretty well on this. So yeah, I was making this thread in order to ask you guys, what kind of upgrades have you put onto your twenty? I definitely want some straps or bungie cords to hold this thing together after I fold it. Any other ideas? Its not the smalles fold or the lightest, but Im happy for now
04-26-09, 05:21 PM
#2
Raleigh20 PugFixie, Merc
Gosh - everyone's got Twenty questions today! 
Congrats on your bargain. The best first upgrade is to get some decent brake-blocks, and service/replace all the cabling so that it will stop you safely; you might also want to get some new tyres that hold a bit more pressure so you can get a bit more speed out of her and avoid punctures with modern innovations such as kevlar lining.
After that it becomes more involved, but most people think the best thing to improve performance (by dropping a little weight), and safety (chrome isn't known as the best braking surface) is to rebuild the wheels so as to replace the shiny chromed steel stock rims with modern alloy rims - to do this you can keep the original hubs, and is a job most bike shops can do (though some may not want to due to the wheels not being of the 26" or 700c varieties they are used to - it might take a little persuasion]. You *can* do this yourself, but I wouldn't want to presume you are game for jumping in at the deep end and learning how to build wheels!
I'd recommend having a dig around in the forums for other twenty project bikes - there are loads and no two are the same so you can get loads of ideas on the sort of things that can be done to this solid little frame, from race bikes, tourers, bmx-esque urban assualt vehicles to everyday shoppers (as they were intended!)
Mine is a bit of a crazy single-speed folly these days. But still love her (see the link to her page on the fixed-gear gallery below in my signature text, plus I enlosed a link to my site - apologies for it's unfinished-ness - but you can get a good look at some of the incarnations it's been in over the last few years, as well as finding a good few links to some of the other famous Twentys on the net (if you haven't already seen them.
gallery:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...y/Gallery.html
links:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...0Twenties.html
Congrats on your bargain. The best first upgrade is to get some decent brake-blocks, and service/replace all the cabling so that it will stop you safely; you might also want to get some new tyres that hold a bit more pressure so you can get a bit more speed out of her and avoid punctures with modern innovations such as kevlar lining.
After that it becomes more involved, but most people think the best thing to improve performance (by dropping a little weight), and safety (chrome isn't known as the best braking surface) is to rebuild the wheels so as to replace the shiny chromed steel stock rims with modern alloy rims - to do this you can keep the original hubs, and is a job most bike shops can do (though some may not want to due to the wheels not being of the 26" or 700c varieties they are used to - it might take a little persuasion]. You *can* do this yourself, but I wouldn't want to presume you are game for jumping in at the deep end and learning how to build wheels!
I'd recommend having a dig around in the forums for other twenty project bikes - there are loads and no two are the same so you can get loads of ideas on the sort of things that can be done to this solid little frame, from race bikes, tourers, bmx-esque urban assualt vehicles to everyday shoppers (as they were intended!)
Mine is a bit of a crazy single-speed folly these days. But still love her (see the link to her page on the fixed-gear gallery below in my signature text, plus I enlosed a link to my site - apologies for it's unfinished-ness - but you can get a good look at some of the incarnations it's been in over the last few years, as well as finding a good few links to some of the other famous Twentys on the net (if you haven't already seen them.
gallery:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...y/Gallery.html
links:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...0Twenties.html
__________________
My Raleigh Twenty site | foldr : A flickr pool | #6460, #5632 & #3407 on the fixedgeargallery
My Raleigh Twenty site | foldr : A flickr pool | #6460, #5632 & #3407 on the fixedgeargallery
04-26-09, 09:31 PM
#3
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oz
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Bikes: lots... even a Raleigh twenty !!!
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Well.....I did suggest a while back that we form a worldwide R20 club, with Jur as Presidenta and you as Artistic Director, LittlePixel......and me as $$$$FUND MANAGER$$$$$$ 
Maybe a website with all the Qs & As?
4444
Maybe a website with all the Qs & As?
4444
04-27-09, 03:13 AM
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Gosh - everyone's got Twenty questions today!
Congrats on your bargain. The best first upgrade is to get some decent brake-blocks, and service/replace all the cabling so that it will stop you safely; you might also want to get some new tyres that hold a bit more pressure so you can get a bit more speed out of her and avoid punctures with modern innovations such as kevlar lining.
After that it becomes more involved, but most people think the best thing to improve performance (by dropping a little weight), and safety (chrome isn't known as the best braking surface) is to rebuild the wheels so as to replace the shiny chromed steel stock rims with modern alloy rims - to do this you can keep the original hubs, and is a job most bike shops can do (though some may not want to due to the wheels not being of the 26" or 700c varieties they are used to - it might take a little persuasion]. You *can* do this yourself, but I wouldn't want to presume you are game for jumping in at the deep end and learning how to build wheels!
I'd recommend having a dig around in the forums for other twenty project bikes - there are loads and no two are the same so you can get loads of ideas on the sort of things that can be done to this solid little frame, from race bikes, tourers, bmx-esque urban assualt vehicles to everyday shoppers (as they were intended!)
Mine is a bit of a crazy single-speed folly these days. But still love her (see the link to her page on the fixed-gear gallery below in my signature text, plus I enlosed a link to my site - apologies for it's unfinished-ness - but you can get a good look at some of the incarnations it's been in over the last few years, as well as finding a good few links to some of the other famous Twentys on the net (if you haven't already seen them.
gallery:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...y/Gallery.html
links:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...0Twenties.html
Congrats on your bargain. The best first upgrade is to get some decent brake-blocks, and service/replace all the cabling so that it will stop you safely; you might also want to get some new tyres that hold a bit more pressure so you can get a bit more speed out of her and avoid punctures with modern innovations such as kevlar lining.
After that it becomes more involved, but most people think the best thing to improve performance (by dropping a little weight), and safety (chrome isn't known as the best braking surface) is to rebuild the wheels so as to replace the shiny chromed steel stock rims with modern alloy rims - to do this you can keep the original hubs, and is a job most bike shops can do (though some may not want to due to the wheels not being of the 26" or 700c varieties they are used to - it might take a little persuasion]. You *can* do this yourself, but I wouldn't want to presume you are game for jumping in at the deep end and learning how to build wheels!
I'd recommend having a dig around in the forums for other twenty project bikes - there are loads and no two are the same so you can get loads of ideas on the sort of things that can be done to this solid little frame, from race bikes, tourers, bmx-esque urban assualt vehicles to everyday shoppers (as they were intended!)
Mine is a bit of a crazy single-speed folly these days. But still love her (see the link to her page on the fixed-gear gallery below in my signature text, plus I enlosed a link to my site - apologies for it's unfinished-ness - but you can get a good look at some of the incarnations it's been in over the last few years, as well as finding a good few links to some of the other famous Twentys on the net (if you haven't already seen them.
gallery:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...y/Gallery.html
links:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...0Twenties.html
I'm looking at getting a twenty. Your pictures inspired me. Great looking machines in there. Well done.
How does yours ride. I hear they are very good.
04-27-09, 04:25 AM
#5
Raleigh20 PugFixie, Merc
It rides very well. Very solid - no frame / bar flex as you can get with lighter machines. And fast, if you gear it right. And n-i-m-b-l-e in the traffic!
@stevegor: I did make a big start on a wiki for twenties which seemed like a great idea at the time. Sadly, because of the 'open - anyone can edit' format it was open to the evil ways of chinese spammers who hijacked it and added literally thousands of pages with adverts for garbage compactors (you really can't make this stuff up!) which began to start costing me in terms of server traffic. I did try to lock out the offending IP addresses and bulk-remove the non-bike related pages, but succeeded in not only deleting them, but all the good content and code that made the site work as well [these things are a hella lot more complex than a straight-up HTML site with server based databases and goodness knows what else running under the hood]; consequently I had to right-it-off as a bad job in the end.
Which was a shame, but hey - there's loads of info here and around the web for those that care to dig. It shouldn't be too easy for someone to get to Twenty Heaven. You have to work a bit for it LOL...
(a few clue keywords: sheldon, cheg, Jur, stevegor, bouchard, tariq, phatatude)
@stevegor: I did make a big start on a wiki for twenties which seemed like a great idea at the time. Sadly, because of the 'open - anyone can edit' format it was open to the evil ways of chinese spammers who hijacked it and added literally thousands of pages with adverts for garbage compactors (you really can't make this stuff up!) which began to start costing me in terms of server traffic. I did try to lock out the offending IP addresses and bulk-remove the non-bike related pages, but succeeded in not only deleting them, but all the good content and code that made the site work as well [these things are a hella lot more complex than a straight-up HTML site with server based databases and goodness knows what else running under the hood]; consequently I had to right-it-off as a bad job in the end.
Which was a shame, but hey - there's loads of info here and around the web for those that care to dig. It shouldn't be too easy for someone to get to Twenty Heaven. You have to work a bit for it LOL...
(a few clue keywords: sheldon, cheg, Jur, stevegor, bouchard, tariq, phatatude)
__________________
My Raleigh Twenty site | foldr : A flickr pool | #6460, #5632 & #3407 on the fixedgeargallery
My Raleigh Twenty site | foldr : A flickr pool | #6460, #5632 & #3407 on the fixedgeargallery
Last edited by LittlePixel; 04-27-09 at 04:28 AM.
04-27-09, 06:38 AM
#6
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Gosh - everyone's got Twenty questions today!
Congrats on your bargain. The best first upgrade is to get some decent brake-blocks, and service/replace all the cabling so that it will stop you safely; you might also want to get some new tyres that hold a bit more pressure so you can get a bit more speed out of her and avoid punctures with modern innovations such as kevlar lining.
After that it becomes more involved, but most people think the best thing to improve performance (by dropping a little weight), and safety (chrome isn't known as the best braking surface) is to rebuild the wheels so as to replace the shiny chromed steel stock rims with modern alloy rims - to do this you can keep the original hubs, and is a job most bike shops can do (though some may not want to due to the wheels not being of the 26" or 700c varieties they are used to - it might take a little persuasion]. You *can* do this yourself, but I wouldn't want to presume you are game for jumping in at the deep end and learning how to build wheels!
I'd recommend having a dig around in the forums for other twenty project bikes - there are loads and no two are the same so you can get loads of ideas on the sort of things that can be done to this solid little frame, from race bikes, tourers, bmx-esque urban assualt vehicles to everyday shoppers (as they were intended!)
Mine is a bit of a crazy single-speed folly these days. But still love her (see the link to her page on the fixed-gear gallery below in my signature text, plus I enlosed a link to my site - apologies for it's unfinished-ness - but you can get a good look at some of the incarnations it's been in over the last few years, as well as finding a good few links to some of the other famous Twentys on the net (if you haven't already seen them.
gallery:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...y/Gallery.html
links:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...0Twenties.html
Congrats on your bargain. The best first upgrade is to get some decent brake-blocks, and service/replace all the cabling so that it will stop you safely; you might also want to get some new tyres that hold a bit more pressure so you can get a bit more speed out of her and avoid punctures with modern innovations such as kevlar lining.
After that it becomes more involved, but most people think the best thing to improve performance (by dropping a little weight), and safety (chrome isn't known as the best braking surface) is to rebuild the wheels so as to replace the shiny chromed steel stock rims with modern alloy rims - to do this you can keep the original hubs, and is a job most bike shops can do (though some may not want to due to the wheels not being of the 26" or 700c varieties they are used to - it might take a little persuasion]. You *can* do this yourself, but I wouldn't want to presume you are game for jumping in at the deep end and learning how to build wheels!
I'd recommend having a dig around in the forums for other twenty project bikes - there are loads and no two are the same so you can get loads of ideas on the sort of things that can be done to this solid little frame, from race bikes, tourers, bmx-esque urban assualt vehicles to everyday shoppers (as they were intended!)
Mine is a bit of a crazy single-speed folly these days. But still love her (see the link to her page on the fixed-gear gallery below in my signature text, plus I enlosed a link to my site - apologies for it's unfinished-ness - but you can get a good look at some of the incarnations it's been in over the last few years, as well as finding a good few links to some of the other famous Twentys on the net (if you haven't already seen them.
gallery:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...y/Gallery.html
links:
https://littlepixel.info/twenty/Anoth...0Twenties.html
Hey there littlepixel, Ive actually had quite the trip around your site. Your twenty is a pretty slick machine. I do in fact kind of want to work on this thing a bunch, but the only thing that makes me hesitate atm, is the fact that this is my only folder, and I already feel like I need something better for commuting. I just made a bus trip on a greyhound and it was a blast - I rode to the train staion, folded it up, carried it into the bus station, put it into the bottom of the bus, and I was off. I love the commuting part of a folding bike (as in, being able to take it with me all over the place), but unless I can shave some serious pounds off this beast, I think upgrades will actually fall on the backburner for now. I do want something that folds a little more compact, and a lot lighter. But I kind of have a soft spot for the twenty already, as do a few of my family members, lol. I like the fact that people have done so much with it, and it inspires me to give it a whack too.
The upgrades you suggested are definately in the direction I wanna go, thanks. Im gonna look into a bunch of stuff today. I dont know how far I'll get though, because I think I might just have to get something lighter and smaller, unfortunately.
edit:
Also, on the subject for building wheels, Im already almost dead set on the skyway mag/ Spin wheels. I LOVE the look of them. From what ive seen though theyre so expensive. Just something that looks like these wheels
https://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005...dker_adker.htm
Last edited by Elkodust; 04-27-09 at 07:21 AM.
04-27-09, 01:42 PM
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I've also been lurking and got bit by 20 bug. The one I got was not in very good shape when I got it, so I bead blasted it and spray canned it and a few other changes.
