I'm in the middle of a complete tear down and rebuild of a mid 70's Raleigh Folder, non Sturmey'd. I've been trying to fine some replacement items for it like tires and a replacement mattress saddle. I've seen some places to get the saddle, but replacement tires, complete with the red pinstripe on the wall, are illuding me.

Also, I've got some questions about cleaning chrome. I've found that a soak in Naval Jelly followed by a polish with some Mother's Aluminum Rubbing compound shines the chrome up something fierce, however the fenders had a lot of rust "puddles" on the top. The Mothers took care of it, however it couldn't get rid of the epicenters of each small area of rust. These, now, look like small black specks and are only noticeable up close. Is this exposed base metal? Stubborn oxidization? Would Oxalic acid take care of it? I'd like to keep the headbadge graphic on the rear fender intact, as it's in really good shape, so I'm worried about being too rough. If

Can I seal the surface of the fenders and the rest of the chrome pieces to keep those epicenters from re-blooming with rust?

Please feel free to correct any poorly thought up cleaning techniques I use, I'm here to learn.

This Thread needs pictures!

Need pictures!

The 20" Redline tires are available from Raleigh UK. FWIW I was more interested in rideability so went with Schwalbe Marathons instead. For protecting the chrome I use Turtle Was Chrome polish, it has some wax in it that does a decent job of protecting it after it is polished up.

Aaron

Right, we need pictures.

Sometimes the Raleigh Twenty came with 20 x 1.5" tires, sometimes 20 x 1 3/8"; if you're having a hard time finding the right ones, you probably need the latter. But you can find them, I assure you.

Yachaaa, sorry about that, I knew I needed pics and that my descriptions were a bit wordy.

Here you go:

Here's the Headbadge graphic with a fair amount of rust puddles in and around it. How can I free that area of rust without damaging the graphic? It's not like a normal decal. It's like it was screen printed right onto the fender.


Here's an attempt to show you the little black dots that I called the "epicenter" of each rust puddle. They are hard to photgraph and literally look like little black specks. The bottom right corner of the picture, on the lip of the fender, has the best shot of them. The rust around the graphic is un-touched. I used mothers on everything to the right of the graphic though and it took the rust down to those specks.


The Redline tire is a 20x1.75 on the original wheel.


Thanks for the Turtle Wax Chrome Polish suggestion, Wahoonc. I'll be looking into that.

I've had good results using Brasso on rust that was way worse than that. But I wouldn't use it on the decal/silkscreen; might dissolve it. With care, you can get really close, though.

How come it seems like every body gets one of these except for me.
Ugh... I want a Twenty so freaking bad.
-Gene-

I was just as surprised with finding this as you are frustrated they never present themselves to you. Norfolk isn't the best C&V scrounging. We have a local scrapyard owner who knows what to look for and a very high turnover when it comes to people staying in the area long enough. I got this Folder at a ghetto-ass felamarket in a pretty gnarly part of Norfolk.

On topic: I'm going to look into Bar Helper's Cleaner, and see what it can do, too. If Brasso isn't too expensive I'll pick some up too. I'm using this project as a skill-honing one.

I won't even go into how rusted the underside of the fenders are.

I bet I know what you're talking about. I've got some Wald shorty fenders where the top looks great, but the underside...
-Gene-

Krud Kutter's Must for Rust Remover/Inhibitor is not worth it, to any body reading this. I'm having a hell of a time finding Brasso and Bar Keepers Friend. Ah well, I'm going to finish this bike if it kills me.

You'll find Bar Keepers Friend with Kitchen Cleaners.
-Gene-

Amani, look into Google Alerts.

I got a Twenty a few months ago without even looking for it. My neighbor asked me about selling it, and I just bought it from him for about $60 or so.

What do you want to do with yours? I'm not sure I'll end up using it, though maybe my daughter will take it with her to college.

Turtle Wax Chrome Polish is th first product I reach for - before trying more harsh methods. I have been amazed at what it will remove. Polishing compound works great on painted surfaces. I would not apply either to decals.

Thanks for the +1 on Turtle Wax.

I have a new Question.

Is it virtually impossible to find 8mm diameter axle hubs anymore? I really don't want to grind out the dropouts on this frame for fear of misalignment, and I don't want to grind down a 14mm axle for fear of compromising the integrity of the axle.

I have looked all over the internet for any sort of sniff of an 8mm hub (I've given up on finding an entire wheel, and will just have to build my own). Even modern day Strumey's ofnly go as small as 9mm.

Any suggestions? Am I going to have to wait for something to pop up on Ebay?

Brasso , etc. is usually available at Ace Hardware stores.

You may not exactly like what I'm gonna tell you for fear of price shock...
I remembered that the Phil Wood front hub have on my Panasonic has really small axle ends. So I went and measured it for you and...

That hub alone was right at $100 for me. It's really nice, and GORGEOUS, and spins very well, but it's your dollar and your discretion. It's also spaced to 100mm so that's probably an issue too if you have the stock fork, but I'm not sure about that.
Hope this helps.
-Gene-

In my exhaustive search for this specific sized axle, I went to Harris Cyclery to see about having a hub made (they don't do 8mm hubs) and saw the Phil's they had for sale. The smallest axle they had was 9mm. It's begining to look like I'm going to have to take the Dremmel to the dropouts and take off a millimeter of spacing to get a newer wheel in there.

Thanks for taking the time to measure and post a pic, though! I couldn't spring for a Phil if I wanted to. They are hellishly nice, though, and are on my list of makers to use when I make my dreambike. The 100mm spacing on it would have meant that I would have had to pinch the Chain/seat stays together 7mm's each and I don't know how that would have affected the frame. I don't like to cold-bend the frame like that.

Thanks again

Ryan

Great job on the fenders. Show us some photos of the rest of the bike. I look forward to seeing your progress.

I just bought a 1973 Raleigh Twenty today from an old Englishman that thought it was from the 50s. It is pretty good shape, I just need to clean it up a bit first and see what needs to be done then. Mine actually has the working air pump, but it is missing the chain guard.

Here are two photos of mine on it's first day of life after 15 years on non-use.

Gah! Lucky! You already have a Sturmey on it and yours looks more dusty than rusty. And you have a pump! Luckily my pegs are in tact so I only need to find a pump that'll fit.

I just got a new matress saddle, and rear reflector, to replace the damaged/missing ones, and Cudak helped me figure out my axle problem, so when I procure a new hub I can put mine back together. Picutres are forthcoming.

Here's 10mins after I bought it:



It came with Spokey Dokes.

I see we're both fans of White Office Wall backgrounds.

Nice looking ride. It looks like you work in my same office (same carpet, basboard, and wall color).

Thanks. I'm sure that all of us, in some wierd way, have a part of us working in the same office with the same walls, baseboard, and carpet.

I have to say that while working on this bike I've may have cought the "Twenty" bug. I'd love to get one of those little Bianchi twentys in the future. The Dahon's don't peak my interest as much. I'd like to get a straight Twenty, too. I like the clean line of the crosstube without the folding joint.

You'll enjoy reading this article, I'm sure. He also has links to other articles about the Twenty.

I met the author, John S Allen, in 1980, a year after this project of his began.

John S. Allen is still riding that Twenty.

His most recent website is here: https://john-s-allen.com/

Oh, I was measuring my front wheel. That's from my Panasonic.
My rear is spaced at 126mm, but has the same type of axle.
-Gene-