I seem to be addicted to small wheelers

Anyway I have just given my 26" ATB away free to a good home, so one out one in I guess.

It was a bit of an impulse buy off ebay, made more interesting by the Moutlon APB suspension front forks fittted

Ebay photo



These bikes were made by Pashley up to 2006 I think. This one seems to have had quite a lot of changes made to it including being fitted with a 7 speed SRAM and drum brake I am told. I am thinking of swapping that out for a spare S2C I have and maybe fitting a Marathon Big Apple on the back for a bit of rear suspension.

I purchased it on a whim, so I hope the geometry is either ok or can be easily changed to how I like it. I pick it up Saturday so will report back then.

Does anyone have one or could post some more details about them ?

Regards

Jerry

Ah so you bought it! I was watching it though I don't think I'd have pulled the trigger (too many bikes as is). Looks like a lot of fun. I don't know much about them, but as a Pashley, you can be sure it's well made and solid. I think it's a master-stroke fitting those APB forks; The geometry looks good - I think the front is maybe a bit higher than stock now but it still looks like a nice repsonsive rake.

There was a set of APB forks going a couple of weeks ago that I was interested in - perhaps as a nice Raleigh Twenty upgrade? But they ended up going for over £100GBP - too rich for my blood!

This is the Micro, isn't it ? The design passed through about four different companies before Pashley, and I think it's now being manufactured by someone else. This one looks like something that escaped from the Pashley experimental shed, as the bikes sold had no suspension and were either single speed or 3 speed hub geared. Nice buy !

Thanks for your reply. Yep though as you say the APB forks would probably pay for the bike itself. I kinda liked the look of it too. It will be fun tinkering with it which for me is one of the best things. I spent hours (and too much money) doing that with my Raliegh Moulton MK3. I learnt a lot about bike mechanics including learning how to build wheels so its all good.

Might make a good weekend town shopping bike.

I suspect the rear hub is actually the original 5 speed and not a 7 speed as listed.

I now have four bikes, all small wheelers:

1. Moulton TSR2 (Belt) - Some summer commuting and weekend/evening fun rides as I dare not leave it anywhere.
2. Brompton (used every day for commuting and just passed the 2000 mile mark this week)
3. Moulton/Raleigh MK3 (Local shopping bike)
4. Pashley Fold It (?)

I haven't told my wife yet about this recent aquisition. I do also have a second MK3 which I am about to list on ebay so ok maybe five bikes

PS in the picture the rear wheel actually looks bigger than the front wheel ?

Regards

Jerry

More information here:-

https://www.foldsoc.co.uk/micro1.html

https://www.foldingbikes.co.uk/brilliant.htm

Thanks. I think this is the larger one not the micro ?

It will be interesting to compare the geometry/wheel base length with my other bikes.

Regards

Jerry

Hi,

Another nice bike! Congratulations.

The early history of the bike is interesting. So it seems that Radnall, the original designer/producer and Alex Moulton were thinking of similar Y-frame designs in the 70's.
(Also mentioned on another thread)

Regards,loeshab

Me like.

Originally these were made by Cresswell who were bought by Pashley. They are considered one of the best folding bikes ever made in terms of ride quality.

I would recomend getting replacement forks and front hub brake as one of the things I love most about this bike is that it will stop dead in any conditions.

Thanks for the replies. Russ I plan to keep the APB forks, one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place. I picked up the bike yesterday. Overall I am very pleased.

Here are some more pictures.

This shows the whole bike. The frame condition is ok and it still looks good in the places where I have wiped the muck off so far with only a few scuffs and odd knocks. I took it for a quick spin after I put more air in the rather worn tyres. Its nippy and seems to have no flex when riding. The geometry is not quite right for me though as I suspected it might be. The bars need to come up higher and back slighty from the current posiition. I would appreciate some advice on the best way to do this (see post below).



Folded package not bad. It was easy to fold it and put it in my car. Will see what it is like when I change the stem etc.



APB forks certainly unique and seem to be fitted and working well if not a little soft maybe.



Joint



Huge rear hub



This seems to work perfectly. Its an SRAM 7 speed with a drum brake if I have identified it correctly. Living in flat Cambridge I only need a couple of gears and am thinking about fitting an S2C kickback hub. For now though my priority is to get it working with the correct geometry/ride position. I have already stripped down the front to clean all the bearings etc before I start to look at how best to change the handle bar position.

Regards

Jerry

Ok a few specifics. The APB fork tube has been threaded further down its length to allow it to be fitted. I am thinking of putting some carbon spacers on this to cover up the visable threads. I should be able to tighten them down with the top black nut shown. In fact I think that will also allow me to remove the silver lock nut shown at the bottom as the pressure of the spacers tightened between the two black nuts shown top and bottom, should keep it all locked up ?




I want to raise the bars to. I am not sure it to get a Ahead quill converter



or just use an tall adjustable quill stem like this

A short update and another pic. In the end, rather than carbon spacers, I used a bit of 1" aluminium tubing cut to size and machined at the ends to cover the exposed threads on the fork tube. Kinda matches the bike

I decided to go with a high rise adjustable quill stem to raise the handle bars.

A new Marathon Big Apple (20" *2.0) is on the back and a spare Continental Contact I had lying about is on the front. This has the effect of raising the back and lowering the front which helps balance out the slight height increase on the front resulting from the retro fitting of the Moulton APB forks. The Big Apple also adds some comfort to the rear.

My next task is to rebuild the rear wheel with a S/A S2C to replace the beast of a 7 speed SRAM hub and drum brake. Its certainly an interesting hub and is the largest I have ever owned. Too big and heavy and not needed for cycling round Cambridge though. The S2C will also leave me with only one cable for the front brake



Finishing will require a good overall clean, new chain and the mudguards sorting out. I might also swap out the main chainring with a spare Brompton 50T I have. Oh and swap out the cheap nasty pedals.

Regards

Jerry

Let me know if you are ebaying the hub, thanks

bhkyte, ok though I have to say now that I have ridden it a bit, the top gear certainly gives you some speed

Anyway a couple more pics showing it with a longer quill stem that arrived. Most my bikes seem to be set up with my bars at around 41" off the ground before I find it comfortable to ride (I am 5'10" tall). I guess its an age thing (50). Also fitted some spare folding pedals I had.

Anyway shown below together with a nice picture of an original Fold-It I found.



An original Pashley Fold-It in red.



I have been out a few times and this little bike really shifts in top with the SRAM 7 speed hub. The front suspension irons out the bumps and the Big Apple gives me some suspension at the rear.

PS ooo just noticed the bottom picture shows slight differences in the rear frame at the dropouts ? Also the seat stays seem to attach slightly lower to the seat frame tube on the red one ?

Maybe mine is an earlier model ??

Hmmm the one on the foldingbikes link posted earlier, is the same as mine though.



Regards

Jerry