14" rims

[winjim]

I'm looking for some new rims for my silly Bickertons, they take 16" rear and 14" front. 16" seem to be reasonably readily available, but I can't seem to find 14" rims anywhere online.

Any ideas? Any folding bike aficionados know where I can find some? They must exist as they're used on kids' bikes but I guess there's not much of a market in bespoke aftermarket wheelsets for the under 10s...

 

[lpretro1]

I just googled and found several - for example:
www.acycles.co.uk/mach-1-miche-14-bike-wheel-14787.html?gclid=CI7lofDno9ECFYU-Gwodw7YB3Q

 

[Flying Dodo]

I may have a spare 14" from when I upgraded my Bickerton. I'll have a rummage in the shed later on.

 

[winjim]

I just googled and found several - for example:
www.acycles.co.uk/mach-1-miche-14-bike-wheel-14787.html?gclid=CI7lofDno9ECFYU-Gwodw7YB3Q

The word rim in my post was not intended as synecdoche.

I may have a spare 14" from when I upgraded my Bickerton. I'll have a rummage in the shed later on.

Thank you, that would be very useful, certainly in the short term as mine have nearly rusted through. But it does of course make me wonder, as the basis for this thread is me planning to do the same, just what did you upgrade to?

 

[Flying Dodo]

Well, unfortunately, after rummaging through the shed, I haven't got the Bickerton wheel any more, so very sorry about that. I had got rid of a number of surplus wheels a few months ago and I think that must have gone with them.

I've altered my Bickerton by putting a Brompton 8 speed rear wheel on, and then removing the daft handlebars, and fitting a conventional stem from a cheap no-name folder meaning that I could also fit a Brompton front wheel. Here it is, resting after conquering Mt. Ventoux in June. Since then, I've also fitted Brompton mudflaps!

 

[simon.r]

The word rim in my post was not intended as synecdoche.

I love CC. I doubt there's another cycling forum where the word "synecdoche" has ever been used

 

[winjim]

Well, unfortunately, after rummaging through the shed, I haven't got the Bickerton wheel any more, so very sorry about that. I had got rid of a number of surplus wheels a few months ago and I think that must have gone with them.

I've altered my Bickerton by putting a Brompton 8 speed rear wheel on, and then removing the daft handlebars, and fitting a conventional stem from a cheap no-name folder meaning that I could also fit a Brompton front wheel. Here it is, resting after conquering Mt. Ventoux in June. Since then, I've also fitted Brompton mudflaps!

View attachment 156056 View attachment 156059

That looks very smart. I plan to do something similar. In fact I have two Bickertons, one in reasonable condition which just needs making vaguely roadworthy, and one that's got half the bits missing. So I plan to cannibalise the knackered one to make the good one roadworthy, and then build the other one up perhaps in a similar fashion to yours. If I can get a 16" wheel to fit that'd be great.

What fork is that you have on there?

Mt Ventoux on a Bickerton? Cool.

 

[winjim]

I love CC. I doubt there's another cycling forum where the word "synecdoche" has ever been used

Yeah, but I'm crossing my fingers that I used it correctly.

ETA: On a related note, I'm never sure, when somebody mentions they have new wheels, if they mean a wheelset or a whole new bike.

 

[Flying Dodo]

That looks very smart. I plan to do something similar. In fact I have two Bickertons, one in reasonable condition which just needs making vaguely roadworthy, and one that's got half the bits missing. So I plan to cannibalise the knackered one to make the good one roadworthy, and then build the other one up perhaps in a similar fashion to yours. If I can get a 16" wheel to fit that'd be great.

What fork is that you have on there?

The fork came from the no-name folder. It had 14" wheels, but luckily there was enough clearance to fit a Brompton wheel, and a bit of bodging got the brakes to fit ok as well. Even with the 2kg weight of the rear wheel, it's still lighter overall than a Brompton.

Didn't the later Bickertons had 16" front wheels as they had larger forks?

 

[winjim]

The fork came from the no-name folder. It had 14" wheels, but luckily there was enough clearance to fit a Brompton wheel, and a bit of bodging got the brakes to fit ok as well. Even with the 2kg weight of the rear wheel, it's still lighter overall than a Brompton.

Didn't the later Bickertons had 16" front wheels as they had larger forks?

I'm not sure. I have one like yours and one with a different fold which I think is an earlier version. Both are 16" rear, 14" front. I know they made a 20" version but I don't know about a 16" front.

I've been to see Mike the bike whisperer today and none of his suppliers do a 14" rim on its own. He reckons my options are either to buy a whole wheel like that in @lpretro1 's link and just take the rim off it and bin the hub, or there are a couple of places he knows which will draw out a rim to custom specs although obviously that's going to be expensive. Or there's always Poole Bay Folders who supply spares for Bickertons. So I'm leaning toward just trying to find the best whole 14" wheel I can, and transplanting the rim.

 

[Dogtrousers]

That's the first time I've seen the word synecdoche used in practice. And its an interesting thread, in a kind of obscure way.

 

[lpretro1]

The word rim in my post was not intended as synecdoche.

I had to look that up! If it's difficult to get a 14" rim then at the price of those wheels you could buy the whole thing and then strip/rebuild - we do this sometimes for obscure rims

 

[winjim]

I had to look that up! If it's difficult to get a 14" rim then at the price of those wheels you could buy the whole thing and then strip/rebuild - we do this sometimes for obscure rims

Yes, that may well be what I end up doing, it just seems a bit of a waste having to buy the hub and spokes only to discard them. I can't imagine that the hub will be good enough for me to want to use it on anything else.

A bit of searching has led me to the website of the manufacturer of those rims http://www.mach1.fr/en/rims/kid-144
If I wanted matching front and rear, I would need the 14" and the 16" heavy. I see that acycles stock the matching 16" wheel but not a heavy rim version which I would need for the 28h drilling. The UK distributor for Mach 1 is Raleigh so I suppose I could email and see if they can get them. Otherwise it's the Mach 1 on the front and whatever (probably better quality tbf) 16" rim on the rear.

 

[Oxo]

I love CC. I doubt there's another cycling forum where the word "synecdoche" has ever been used

Dictionary out for the first time this morning.