My brand-new very old bike

The bike, sans front fender

The inspiration, viewed at a recent conference

Today my brand-new very-old bike showed up, thanks to UPS.

The bike is a 3-speed Raleigh 20 (twenty being the diameter of the wheels). It is a folding bike and I saw one a couple weeks ago at a bike conference I went to and knew in a moment that I wanted to find one for myself.

Nancy and I are joining her family in Florida soon for a vacation, and rather then casting my lot to the humiliation of whatever the rental shops have, I thought it'd be great to bring a bike I already know, hence the Raleigh 20.

I've only just had a chance to look it over, and, despite some problems in shipping, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. There's a lot I'll do to upgrade it as I can, but for the moment I'm glad I got it and I look forward to some fun times riding it and the option of bringing a bike with me when I travel.

Comments

Anonymous said…
turn it into a fixie and then it would be sooper dooper kraaazy kool.
wendy
Rat Trap Press said…
Nice! Do you know what year it was manufactured? Mine is a 77 but unfortunately it's equipped with 451mm rims which means tires choices are somewhat limited. If you need any info on your Twenty be sure to contact Aaron http://2whls3spds.blogspot.com/
He's a great resource.

Myles
you're inspiring me! i'm still on the look-out for a folder.

nathan
2whls3spds said…
Good catch! Love my Twentys. I don't know if you are going to be able to lighten it up and pack it small enough to skirt the airline overweight/oversize regulations. And depending on the airline they might charge you a bike fee anyway. My DD wanted to fly her bike from NC back to MA, it was going to cost $250 or so. We shipped it Amtrak from NC to NJ for ~$62 including the buying the box from Amtrak, this was a full sized, fully equipped bike.

Aaron

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