Bike People - fixing / modyfying advice needed
2 watchers
Feb 2014
7:52pm, 3 Feb 2014
3,708 posts
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Kieren
Hello Bike people, I have a short commute to the train station and am thinking about getting an old folding bike. (I don't commute often enough to justify a brompton or cheap dahon). I don't have far to go, about a mile each way and was thinking of getting an old beater of Ebay for up to £60, perhaps something like a Raleigh 20 stowaway or similar. I'm in the London flatlands so don't need gears but the old bikes seem to have tiny gears. I'd possibly like to explore the option of sticking a larger chainring on one of these old bikes. I was wondering if that is as simple as it sounds or are there "gotchas" to watch out for, like non-standard / discontinued parts / measurements |
Feb 2014
8:04pm, 3 Feb 2014
59 posts
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Meerkath
I'd think you could get brand new bike in Toys'r'us for about £60 and it'd have 12 month guarantee. With modern gears.
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Feb 2014
8:54pm, 3 Feb 2014
3,709 posts
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Kieren
The UK toys r us don't do folding bikes. The US store has Schwinn folders for $240 I would mind having some gears, maybe 3 but they really aren't necessary for London |
Feb 2014
9:01pm, 3 Feb 2014
8,512 posts
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richmac
I'm not really an expert but have squinted at a few pics on google and no the chain ring isn't compact so a it would be a mare sourcing bits and you could end up spending a gazzillion quid on updating a £60 bike. You'd maybe be better off trying to find a folder with a hub gear arrangement or finding out if an old chopper back wheel would go in one of these?
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Feb 2014
9:50pm, 3 Feb 2014
3,710 posts
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Kieren
I think you are right Rich. I guess it's easy to let costs escalate. Lots of proprietary parts. I think I'l just go cheap and ride slow to the train, leaving the bike standard if I get one The following links upgrade options raleightwenty.webs.com The only thing I was really curious about upgrading on any old folder was the chainrin /crank / bottom bracket but that looks like a PIA according to this raleightwenty.webs.com |
Feb 2014
9:56pm, 3 Feb 2014
576 posts
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jacdaw
Don't those Raleigh 20s have 3-speed Sturmey Archer gears?
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Feb 2014
10:11pm, 3 Feb 2014
3,711 posts
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Kieren
yeah - some of them, others are single speed. Watching a few on ebay. A Sturmey Archer would be a great buy |
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Feb 2014
12:18am, 4 Feb 2014
3,712 posts
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Kieren
went to ebay looking for a bike, ended up with a dining table for 99p :D
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Jul 2017
12:23pm, 22 Jul 2017
90 posts
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Julii
You can't ride a table across London. I checked carefully. Well, you could TRY to ride it across London & post some pictures here. I'm up for looking at them :). |
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Jul 2017
8:10pm, 22 Jul 2017
3,887 posts
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Kieren
What were you searching for to resurrect a 3 year old thread? There is a quite large bike and brompton threads I can link. I ended up going hugely over budget and getting a brompton. It's excellent |
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