I've been reading about the venerable Raleigh Twenty on the cycling websites of Sheldon Brown and John Allen for the past several years. The Raleigh Twenty was a folding bike manufactured in England from 1968 and through the 70s.
I'd been considering some form of small utility bike, so based on the evident love of Raleigh Twenty enthusiasts for their bikes, I started placing bids on eBay for any Raleigh Twenty which seemed to be in decent shape. After being outbid on a number of Twenties in a row, I was finally successful, and the FedEx man delivered the package to my door last Thursday.
I immediately removed the pieces from the box, snapped a few photos, and using Raleigh's original assembly guide from John Allen's website for general guidance, assembled the bike. The bike is in beautiful shape, as far as I can tell the parts are all original, and a set of small dents in the front fender and cracked grips are the only flaws I've found in the bike. The original Sturmey Archer 3 speed internal hub gears shift smoothly.
The next morning I decided to use it for my commute. Since I had limited faith in my rapid assembly and adjustments, and even less faith in my knowledge of its handling characteristics, I decided to ride to the train station rather than my normal commute directly to downtown. The train station isn't much closer but the route follows quieter residential streets.
The bike handled very nicely and was a lot of fun to ride. It's heavy compared to my road bikes, but it's also essentially a utility bike, so the trips I'll likely take with it will tend to be less than 10 miles round trip. The one obvious downside of the bike on my first substantial ride was that the first gear was too high for the hills around here. My first impulse was to rebuild the rear wheel with a newer 5, 7, or 8 speed hub, but someone on Bike Forums suggested that I might just want to replace the rear sprocket (making all three internal speeds resolve to lower gear), and see how that affects the suitability for the hills in Atlanta.
One ironic byproduct of my luck in finding a Raleigh Twenty in such pristine shape is that I'm reluctant to make modifications, at least without putting a lot of thought into it. My approach to vintage bikes has been that I'm not a museum curator, and I purchase my bikes to ride, not to put on display. But this particular bike has such character that I'm giving serious consideration to making it exclusively a short distance utility bike, and keeping the parts original.
I just picked up a 1971 Phillip's Twenty (same as a Raleigh) and discovered the top gear was too high and the low wasn't low enough.
I swapped the 15 tooth rear cog for an 18 and the gearing is now pretty much perfect.
If you can't find a bigger cog let me know as I have oodles of spares.
Cheers!
Posted by: Sixty Fiver | September 21, 2007 at 11:39 AM
Hi - do you have any of the cogs left?
Posted by: mike | February 01, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Hi Atlanta Larry,
I have fond memories of my my Raleigh Twenty (back in the early 70's. I don't have the bike anymore). I was looking for a photo of the Raleigh Twenty and found it on your website. It looked exactly the same from my memory - same green too but with only a 3-speed hub gear and was non-foldable. Thanks for posting the photo. Cheers!
Posted by: Michael L. | September 14, 2008 at 09:54 AM
I'm curious how successful you feel the twenty is for your use. Do you use it often? Do you fold it much, and why? Have you adapted it to carry a laptop? Or added lights?
Is the combination of steel rims and brakes suitable, or have you built new wheels. How has the shifting/gearing worked out?
Posted by: Ralph | October 26, 2008 at 04:49 PM
Hi, Ralph. Since I'm mostly a road cyclist the Twenty gets pretty specialized use. The three things I've done with it are make local trips (within a mile of my house), ride to the MARTA train station (about two miles) and go on rides with the local folding bike enthusiasts. I've left the old steel rims on, which limits my riding to dry weather.
My guess is that I'm on the bike for an average of about two hours a month (compared to forty hours for my road bike).
On balance it's more of an interesting hobby bike in its current configuration. My genuine utility bike is an old Peugeot, which is well suited for lights, racks and panniers, and despite the relatively heavy steel frame, is lighter than the Twenty.
I don't use the benefits of folding much. I've seen the website where someone shows how to disassemble and fold a Raleigh into checkable flight luggage, and I may try that some day.
The gear range isn't optimal for Atlanta (which is a Piedmont region).
I love the Twenty, but it's more of a fun novelty than something I'd recommend for utility.
Posted by: Larry Johnson | October 28, 2008 at 08:34 PM
I also have a Raleigh Twenty, although mine doesn't fold. I ride it most days to college and back (around a mile and a half each way) but sometimes I ride it as far as the railway station, which is approximately two miles. But the furthest I have ever ridden it so far is 4.5 miles from my boyfriend's house, round country roads to a pub at the end of a dirt road. It's not too bad going, but it's a lot more like hard work than my previous bike, which was a 10 year old mountain bike which was just about the easiest thing in the world to ride. That said it's pretty good fun, and certainly gets me from A to B. Although sometimes with more effort than necessary, especially when the gears refuse to change because I'm already trying to go up a hill... God knows why it won't change but it steadfastly refuses to...
Posted by: Kiri | March 17, 2009 at 02:27 PM
If you want to get your hands on cogs easily, most kid's bicycles (such as BMX) that have single-speed coaster hubs have the same 3-spline sprockets as Sturmey-Archer and Shimano internally-geared hubs. I got three 16-tooth sprockets out of a scrap-heap of buckled BMX wheels.
Posted by: Martin Hartley | October 21, 2009 at 08:29 AM
I have two of them , and i agree with you
Posted by: andre | February 25, 2010 at 02:35 AM
I have two my self I just got for a great price one has everything I need a rear brake system and a chain gaurd for the twenty supercycle I can not find anything on ebay can anyone please help? Thanks Don
Posted by: Don ferguson | July 23, 2010 at 10:51 AM
Good Afternoon,
In cleaning out my grandparents garage I found a Raleigh Twenty folding bike in great condition. I have been doing some research on this bike and find some facts very interesting on the history of bicycles in itself. But what I cant find is what is a vintage bike as this worth? The family is looking to sell is and is there people out there really looking for a vinatge bicycle?
Posted by: Tina | September 18, 2010 at 02:01 PM
Hi
Im interested in buying a twenty? how much are you asking for it Tina and where r u located. I am in Los Angeles and prefer something local i can pickup
Posted by: Raul | October 18, 2010 at 09:58 PM
Opps....i didnt notice this was in Atlanta....
Posted by: Raul | October 18, 2010 at 09:59 PM
Congratulations with a successful purchase!
Posted by: Winstrol | January 14, 2011 at 09:37 AM
I'VE GOT A PHILLIPS 20 I'D SELL. WAS STORED FOR YEARS, ALL ORIGINAL GEAR, LOW MILES. I PUT ON NEW CABLES, CLEANED UP THE 3-SPD, WORKS FINE. HUNG IT ON A HOOK AND THERE IT IS. I'M ASKING $125, YOU PAY SHIPPING, LOCATION IS 98225, HAVEN'T TAKEN PHOTOS YET, EMAIL IF INTERESTED.
Posted by: T RITTER | April 08, 2011 at 08:50 PM