Raleigh 20 Update

As yet another project continues to wend its' way though my life, here is the latest little bit of progress on the Raleigh 20 that I picked up a little while back.

I have been working on removing the ugly green brush paint from the frame, but it is tedious and the turpentine fumes do get to be a bit much after a while.

As such, my first sidetrack was to remove the front wheel. I took off the original 1.75X20 dry rotted tire and tube and tossed them into the trash. After some inspection, it appears that the front tire had never been removed. I ditched the factory rim strip which also looked quite virginal. I got ahold of my preferred rim tape, the cloth Velox style and stuck it on the rim, the tape looked to be made for 700c rim, so I used my trusty Swiss Army knife to make the cut.

Now here is the rub, I have some nearly new Schwalbe Big Apple Tires and tubes that I had in the cupboard from a Dahon that I upgraded. These tires are 20X2". Will they fit? I am pretty sure that they will fit the rims but as the mudguards are connected directly to the axle and not to an eyelet on the fork, I am worried that there won't be clearance between the fatter Big Apples and the mudguard stays. I will mount them up and see how it goes.

A New Addition to the Stable

As you can see, I succumbed to the temptation to purchase yet another old bike. This time around it is a 1972 Raleigh 20 folder. An acquaintance mentioned that he still had it available when I stepped into the LBS (local bike shop) where he works. He first mentioned it maybe 2 + years ago. I initially balked at picking it up as some tool at some point in the past had brush painted the frame. Over the ensuing couple of years I realized how hard it is to find an original complete 20.

When I went to check out the bike over the past weekend, I noticed that the paint looked like a latex paint that one may use to paint an old outdoor chair or something. I figured that I could get the paint off somehow, with some elbow grease and at the same time keep the original finish.

The bike rode and shifted well, so the deal was done and the bike came home in the Honda Fit. It is amazing how much stiffer this little bike is in comparison to the Dahons that I own. It is even more stiff than a Bike Friday that I once rode.

I have a couple of tubes and Schwalbe Big Apple tires that I plan to install at some point. At the same time, I need to replace the hardened brake pads, and I will replace the rim tape with the cloth type. I already replaced the heavy vinyl dual rail saddle with a single rail seat clamp and a lighter mountain bike saddle that I had in the stable.

After experimenting over the past couple of evenings, I think that I found the solution for removing the old paint. I tried Goo Gone, engine cleaner, but when I tried turpentine, the paint just fell off. (I am using one of those old kitchen sponges that has the green abrasive side to apply the turpentine and then using an old t shirt to remove the residual paint scrapings as well as the extra turpentine.)

See the detail pic below. You can see the chain guard and the seat stay where I have started to remove the paint.
Sometimes these things take time. Stoked to get this one back on the road!

Raleigh Grand Prix Update

Well, The Grand Prix project that I started on earlier this year has had some upgrades. I ordered a black Brooks B17 saddle, so that went on the bike. On Friday I put some nice Schwalbe white wall tires (along with new tubes and cloth rim tape) on the bike.

Both of these items had a major positive effect on riding this bike. The position is perfect and the seating is improved as well. The white walls also set off the black and white on the frame.

The pic above was taken (with a Blackjack2 smart phone) at the beach.

All is not perfect, as I noticed a weird feeling in the top of the pedal stroke on the left pedal. I removed the pedal and put a Campy one on for a AB test and the feeling was still there, I know nothing about bottom brackets, but I have a feeling that my issue is due to something down there. Bummer.