Sammyboy

So.....I snapped up a really nice condition Raleigh 20 for £20. I want this to be useable to the station, and then from the station to wherever at the other end, mostly city riding. So, first off, I need to mod it for a man of my size. I'm 6'3, so I reckon I'll need a longer seatpost, and some type of bar modifications, and I want to do it cheaply. I liked the idea of the guy with the sleeved seatpost and the ape-hangers, looks like a quick easy fix. What other suggestions do we have?

In the medium term, I want to put on a cotterless crankset, and some lighter rims, suitable for highish pressure tyres. They don't have to be super hi-zoot wheels, but I won't want to run 40 psi when I'm charging through london. I reckon platform pedals and powergrips are my friends, since I don't want to carry extra shoes, and long term, an Ortlieb rack briefcase, but those cost 5 times what I paid for the bike. Short term, I've got a pannier mounting office bag thing, and I guess I'll want a bar bag at the front, for map carriage. Ideas, please?


https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...4236&rd=1&rd=1

randya

Those look like the 451 rims, you can probably put some Comet Primos or other hi pressure tires in this size on the existing rims and get them up to 75-80 psi. You should also be able to mount some inexpensive BMX pedals that will grip any shoes and keep your feet from slipping. Kool Stop brake pads will improve the braking performance.

icithecat

My 20 takes standard mountain bike diameter seatposts, so the options are limitless. An aluminum longer seatpost good for approx 36" or 37" inch inseam was $25cdn.

Standard threaded stems fit. For these you can get 6" extenders. Now any 25.4mm bars fit, so you can get comfort bike risers, racing drops, bullhorns, flat bars, you name it.

caotropheus

You can get 451 rims with 28, 32, or 36 spokes at aebike.com from 20 USD to 30 USD with eyelets for spoke niples. Go for tyres Schalbe stelvio 451 mm x 28 mm they can take 120 psi. Shimano flat pedals for BMX will be enough to grab your shoes. There are different brands that offer seatposts 400 mm for 28.6 mm. It should be enough for someone with your height.

juan162

Sammyboy,

I know this is a US based company, but check this out:

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...s%20%2D%20Rear

I second the use of a standard aluminum seatpost. You can easily find a 500mm seatpost. If this is too short, you can then start looking for other fixes.

Juan

caotropheus

Damn, I only want to But these wheels are almost at the same price of the 451 mm Answer rim that I bought ! Juan, next time get me a company that sends these wheels world wide ! Do they have also the front wheel?

Sammyboy

Damn, that's cheap for that wheel! I have a BF buddy who can send me such things (Nashbar charges your entire soul for transatlantic shipping). +1 on the Havetheygotthefrontwheel?

The bit I'm looking forward to the least is choosing a hack to sort out the BB......

Hjalti

I'm 6'3" also.

Here are the mods I did.

I recently put the original fenders back on, and chopped and flopped the drop bars. It gives a little more height, and I never used the drops anyway. The most recent pic is here.

Sammyboy

Well, that gives me hope that a readily available seatpost will do the job. I'm unsure what I want to do wheel-wise. I think I want the SA 3 speed, rather than go to a derailleur, so maybe my best bet is just some BMX rims.

randya

That Nashbar wheel looks like a good deal but it's only a 24 spoke wheel. I've been breaking spokes on my 28 spoke 451 rear wheel and I'd be looking to go to a higher spoke count, not a lower one. Plus I'd be interested to know how most SA 3-spd hubs are drilled; I've seen 28s, 32s and 40s and assume they probably produced 36s as well. My ideal wheel would be a 20 x 1-3/8 (451) in 32 hole, but I'm not seeing that size readily available (currently only available in 1-1/8 width).

edit: Looking a bit harder, I found some Alex DA22 20 x 22 mm 32 hole 451 rims at Gearlan Custom Cycles for US$24.95 and some sun CR-18 20 x 1-3/8 32 hole 451 rims at Alfred E. Bike for US$22.99. I'm not sure I'd like the look of the Alex aero rims on my vintage Raleigh 20.

LittlePixel

Ooh ooh Let me have a pair of these please!
(see how they match the paint on your new steed!)



Darn cool 451 wheels at Aebike

Re your seatpost - I had to fit a shim on my UK Twenty but that opened up the choice of posts enormously—which is good considering the amount I've had stolen. Currently got a nice carbon affair that goes long enough for little me at 5'5".

Sammyboy

I don't think low spoke count wheels are wise on me, I'm a natural clydesdale! Furthermore, it looks like all the wheels posted so far are single-speed only, which is not really what I want. I want to stick with a hub gear, either the existing SA, or later perhaps a 7 speed with a hub brake.

jur

Get some Rhinolite rims from Sun Ringle. They are very strong - see the reviews at mtbr.com. I have such a rim on the back wheel with the 8 speed SA hub. A real touring beast.

Sammyboy

Hold on, it takes a 28.6 mm seatpost? That's a decidedly odd size, if you don't mind my saying so!

Fear&Trembling

Wiggle do a System EX Seatpost in the 28.6 size - 400mm, for about £12, but that may/may not be long enough!

stevegor

My R20 also has an 8 speed S/A xrf hub,(Sheldon's idea!!), laced into 36 spoke Velocity Aero rims with Schwalbe Stevlios. They seem to be quite strong and as I can also can mount front and rear panniers for touring/shopping they need to be.
Can anyone tell me what they're done with the bottom bracket?
Phil's cost an arm and a leg.

James H Haury

If the rims were 406 instead of 451 the whole world of bmx tires would open up to you.I fitted 20 inch by 2.10 inch bmx tires to my BF metro last night cost was about 28 dollars on sale with tax. They are inflatable to 120 psi and should offer some serious suspension effect.

caotropheus

I am also little and light and I am also willing to accept a pair of these from a sponsor

'72 superbe

Hi. I recently bought a Twenty and working on various tweeks and upgrades. Maybe some of my running into's can help, maybe not. I bought a 400mm Kalloy seatpost it is cheap but works well and gives the height I need ( I'm 6'0 ). My Twenty is equiped with 451 wheels. I decided to go with 406 wheels due to the number of choices in both rims and tires. I bought 406 wheels, Alex DM24 wheels for less than $50.00 on Amazon. They are built up already but I will replace the rear hub with a 3 speed Sturmey Archer AW or maybe AWC? Nashbar has Maxxis Hookworms for $10.00 in there latest sale. I like the hookworms due to their high pressure and tread design. I still need to find an inexpensive 406 fork with a long steerer tube so I can switch over to a real headset. I did find a new 10" stem for cheap also. With the right handlebars I think I will be fine size wise. I find all the Twenty info on the web a great help and any of you that have Twenty websites- thank you! If I have not used your ideas it has helped with my own.

norfolk bolt

re: bottom bracket: I wish i had done this myself...from https://www.rhizomes.nl/twenty.html (an excellent step by step guide)

Philipsen recommended installing a BSA *** Bracket with standard 24 TPI threading and a 137 mm axle. He knew from experience that the bracket would go in just fine and that the plastic threading of the shells might be mangled a bit (it is only 2 turns of threading per inch difference after all) but my bikes metal threading would be just fine (meaning that in the future i could always install other brackets, even with 'proper' threading if desired). Not the most elegant solution. But importantly the end result was a cheap (way cheaper than most alternatives) durable bracket replacement that feels very stable and smooth.

stevegor

Thanks for that, now all I have to do is find a bike shop in Oz who stocks *** BB's or at least one who is half interested and doesn't look at me like I'm a loony when I say "Raleigh 20".

juan162

stevegor,

I don't know about how easy it will be to find the *** BB, but the shop won't be that hard. There's always an LBS guy that loves interesting projects. You'd be surprised. The LBS guy I went to mostly sells high end stuff, but loved the challenge of making things work for me on my Twenty,

Good luck,

Juan

caotropheus

And what about YSM bottom brackets?


https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/bottombrackets.html#yst

Are they any good for the R20?

juan162

If you're going to modify your bottom bracket, I would suggest simply having it rethreaded to a standart TPI. Others on this site doubt the strength and reliability of such a procedure in the long run, but my LBS has been doing it for 25+ years without any failures in the bottom brackets that he has rethreaded...and he has rethreaded quite a few. I opted for rethreading and now I can use any standard BB I chose,

Juan

caotropheus

Juan

Have you also resized the bottom bracket from 76 mm to 73 mm?