phillyskyline

My partner and I are looking for a back-up folding bike that's fun and on the smaller side for commuting and just tooling around the city. We saw a Raleigh Twenty at the US Brompton Championships last month and have been drooling over them ever since! We've been bitten by the Twenty bug, I guess! They're just so much fun, and we both like the smaller size. Of course, it seems they're also collector's items and might be hard to come across for a decent price, unless we stumble on one on Craigslist. Ebay seems like a bad place to shop, since the collectors get into bidding wars over them and the best prices are across the pond.

So if you happen to know anyone looking to part with a folding Twenty or Stowaway in reasonable condition (or a comparable bike, I'm not familiar with the 60s/70s/80s models), please let me know! Any advice would be much appreciated.

wahoonc

They are out there and quite often can be affordable.

Here are my two, I paid ~$90 for the first one, but knew I was going to upgrading wheels ASAP. The second one was ~$160. I did have to pay shipping on both of them which added another $65 to the price. But they were certainly worth it to me.

Aaron

phillyskyline

Aaron, those are great! Did you upgrade the brakes at all?

I found one nearby. The guy is asking $100, but it's missing the seatpost and has rusted wheels, so I'm hoping to pay less. We'll see

Schwinnsta

Stock steel rims are usually changed out any way. I needed a longer steat post and I am 5'-9". I found a cro mo stem and went with it for safety.

phillyskyline

I figured as much. We're both under 5'4", so a regular size seat post should work well for us. I'm awaiting photos of the bike, so we'll see what kind of shape it's in, the model year, etc. If it looks to be in decent shape, we will be driving to pick it up Saturday. Yay!

wahoonc

Only upgrade on the brakes was to clean and grease the cables and add Kool Stop Continental pads. FWIW in the picture above the one on the left is the one I had started updating the one on the right had just come in that day. The right hand one is the one my bride rides, I am building up new wheels for it shortly with a new polished SC3 hub, she does better with coaster brakes.

Aaron

phillyskyline

My partner and I found a Twenty in our LBS yesterday...for $325 It was complete and original with a generator light, but seriously, $325?! It wasn't in terrible shape, but not even close to mint, and they had done minimal work on it. There was no way I was gonna pay that much.

Then we went on ebay and found one that appears to be in better condition for less than half the LBS price. The bike has the original fenders, rack, decals, etc. We're excited to play around with it once it arrives. The first thing we'll do is add Schwalbe Marathons, Kool-Stop brake pads, and a nice new chain.

Thanks for all the advice and responses!

scoatw

Keep your eye on eBay. You'll find good deals on there. As long as the seller appears to be reputable, you can find a good deal on Raleigh 20's. I got one for $240. This one went for $210 w/shipping recently .

phillyskyline

Actually, I won that very auction! $210 including shipping seemed reasonable to me, especially considering what people are asking for Twentys locally.

jur

Have a look at this bargain someone snagged:

https://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....#ht_500wt_1182

Grishnak

Over here in the UK,all 4 of my Twentys/Stowaways came from Freegle(used to be called Freecycle) just had to collect `em.I can`t believe the prices they fetch elsewhere.They ride really nice though.

stevegor

I was watching that one Jur, but a nicely lugged "full size" classic road bike project takes my attention these days.

jur

Yeah, and what is this sad sack from Ballarat doing with no camera???

hartleymartin

The Raleigh Twenty really is a fantastic little bicycle. I'm constantly on the look-out for ones here in Australia. They always seem to turn up in Melbourne and never in Sydney. Do I have to keep personally chasing people for this? Take pictures and tell me about your Raleigh Twenty so I can put it up on my website: https://raleightwenty.webs.com My email address is raleightwenty@hotmail.com

wahoonc

I got a couple up on your site under my 2whls3spds alias

Aaron

stevegor

I'm not from Ballarat, I've ridden to there from here, raced there and spent my first night of our honeymoon there, (all those years ago), but......

Camera is dead, a friend will do some pics later so I will post them in C&V when it's finished

jur

Ooops Bendigo... let me know when to look in C&V. !

Dynocoaster 

Put a wanted ad on Craigslist for the folders.

stevegor

Will do, and I haven't forgotten my SWB friends, just been very busy training 'cos I've started racing again, 3rd place in 2nd race back...won $34 WOW! Also started studying for cert 4 in Disability.

BTW, Great NZ story, you make me envious.

stevegor

I know of a BSA 20 non folding bike here in Central Victoria that is in excellent original condition. I bought my wife's MAGENTA R20 for $100au ofF this guy and he looks after his bikes properly. He wants more for it than that, but it's better than what I've seen on eBay. I can check it out if anyone in Oz if interested.

gbalke

I was able to pick a matching pair of Coffee Brown Twenty's last year that were posted on Craigslist. Paid $100 for the pair with plans to restore both, sell one and keep one. Here's both is as purchased condition:



First one on the work stand waiting to be torn down: