noglider 

I bought a 1973 or 1974 Raleigh Twenty (cheap!) a year or two ago. I don't know what to do with it. I know the bike has lots of potential for all kinds of conversions. I'm not sure I need any.

It's pretty much original, except for tires.

What are the various possibilities?

cb400bill

send it to me?

noglider 

I do consider selling as a possibility, but I doubt you'd pay top dollar for it. Plus shipping would kill you.

If I sell it, I'd like to know what I should do with it (if anything) and how to get top dollar for it. I have to reach the aficionados somehow.

Tom

sailorbenjamin

Another various possibility would be to send it to me.

pastorbobnlnh 

Convert the rear hub to a IGH DualDrive with a 9 speed cassette. Add a MTB hub to the front which will run a disc brake. Call it a Nuovo Vintage Twenty.

Velognome 

Add drop bars and go hunting "carbon fibered lycra billboards" on the weekends. Be sure to ring your bell as you pass them

sailorbenjamin

There's a 20 group;
https://www.raleigh20.co.nz/
Actually there's lots of 20 stuff on the web. considering that shipping is easier for these, I'd say Ebay would be the way to go. Top dollar would probably be for a well cleaned and polished bike that looked stock. A Brooks looks great on these if you've got one to spare.
I'd have a real hard time not monkeying with it some before I let it go though.

pastorbobnlnh 

Ben, at least you could offer to come and pick it up from Tom! Couldn't be more than a 2 hour round trip?

3alarmer 

Run away with it and join the circus? I'm
picturing it and you coming out of the crowded
little clown car, you unfolding it, and then
proceeding to the high wire for a series of
death defying aerial bicycle stunts.

cb400bill

Well, if you won't send it to me, (and who said buy? ) do something like this and have some fun with it.

Velognome 

^^^^^^^^^Where's the bell.....Tom needs a bell !!!

-holiday76

you might consider riding it?

NormanF

Raleigh Twentys are just like full sized Raleighs. They ride and feel the same.

The late Sheldon Brown even used it as an off-trail MTB before MTBs were built... people were surprised a bike could go off-road. Ah, those were the days!

Sixty Fiver

Stock... except for the headset conversion, new tyres, and grips. The 451 model has steel brakes which work much better than the long reach alloy brakes on export 406 models.


New alloy rims, brakes, brake pads, and levers to make this bike PNW worthy... and Marathons too.


Beaten, set on fire, bent, re-tapped, and re-shaped... and I am still not done.

wrk101

You are in a really good market. I would do the same as any other flip, clean it up really well, make sure everything works, replace any worn out consumables, and sell it. As always, ebay is a crapshoot, so I would sell locally. The choice is yours.

+1 Raleigh 20s have a nice following.

sailorbenjamin

Actually, it's less than an hour and I've been meaning to stop in and say hello. I just have to keep a safe distance from anyone who's thinking of selling a Raleigh.
Hey tom, when you sell that thing or make up your mind not to, we should go out for a beer or something.

USAZorro

C'mon man. How long have you been here? You know we can't give a good opinion without pictures.

How about slapping pegs on the ends of the hub axles, throwing on a mid-rise bar, and making yourself a BMX that won't endanger your chin or knees?

Get one of those new Sturmey Archer ASC hubs, and be the first on your block with a 3-speed fixie?

Front generator hub, really bright light, rear rack, and I-Bob trailer around the East Coast with your twenty tourer?

Mount a carbon fiber faring on the front, install a seat with a low back, and a bar in the front to help stabilize the lance, and use it as a jousting mount?

Do something creative.

Amani576

You could always offer it to a member *coughs* who has been looking for one for two years *coughs* and is currently without any bikes *coughs*.
-Gene-

sailorbenjamin

Actually, WRK 101 has a good point. NYC is a hotbed of foldable biking. That's probably the best market in the country. You just have to convince a New Yorker to take the tunnel into Jersey.

kingfish254

I still have plans to make a home built longtail bike from my 1973 Twenty.

ColonelJLloyd 

This is one of my favorite bicycle related photos of all time. I'd like to have a print framed. I'd have a hard time letting a nice Twenty go if I picked it up for a good price. Apparently they are foldable and as such take up less space than a traditional diamond framed bike.

noglider 

I took a Varsity on the train into NYC and sold it in Penn Station. So this is a good idea.

So are some others, i.e. the renovation ideas.

The brakes suck; we know that. Hub brakes could be excellent here. And I just got my brandy new cassette hub with "roller brake."

The bike does not ride well. It's really slow, even compared with a Sports. Thankfully, it has LOW gears, so it doesn't feel too bad. And the crappy headset is, well, crappy, and it leads to bad handling. So to get it to a state where I enjoy riding it could take a lot of work.

Meanwhile, I'm dreaming up ideas to make my Raleigh International into a super city/road bike, and I'd rather have the hub brakes on it rather than the Twenty. I have more hope that I'll enjoy riding the International than the Twenty.

Justin, who is riding the Twenty in that picture?

I paid $40 for this bike. Read it and weep.

I'll provide pictures soon.

rhm

That's Sheldon, isn't it? But he's on a Moulton, not a Twenty.

The Twenty is probably the best vintage folding bike; but that's because it has a strong frame, not because of the way it folds. It does not fold small. For a commute like mine, the Twenty would be pretty much useless.

ColonelJLloyd 

^ My mistake, Rudi. I assumed it was a Twenty because of the praise with which Sheldon showered them. I just love that photo. Look at the chainring!

I know very little about folders. I've no use for them. The only public transportation we have are buses and all of them have full bike racks on the front.

Sixty Fiver

If you are comparing apples with apples the 20 compares very nicely to the Raleigh Sports when it comes to ride quality and speed and is a quicker handling and very stable bike which makes it excellent in urban environments... and it also spins up rather quickly.

If you are comparing a stock 20 to a road bike then it's apples and oranges.

My modded out P20 compares pretty nicely to my touring bike and I plan on building a stripped down high performance version at some point.