Mark Grant
Acting Captain of The St Annes Jombulance.
- Location
- Hanworth, Middx.
I picked up a Raleigh Twenty a year or so ago, it was a bit rough, so I gave it a quick strip and repaint but the 3 speed hub was not working too well and the rims were quite rusty so a couple of days ago I thought I'd see if I could update it a bit instead.
I got wheels & deraileur from a kids 6 speed mountain bike for nothing, but the wheels being smaller than the Raleigh items required looong drop brakes or a drop bracket. I had an old BSO mountain bike frame in the garage so I cut off the V brake bosses and welded them onto the Twenty. I also had to re space the rear dropouts.
I need to tidy the welds a bit, my mask was playing up. (Thats my excuse anyway!)
I wanted to use a modern cotterless bottom bracket but the Raleigh shell on a Twenty is about 76mm and has the Raleigh thread. I searched the internet for solutions and after reading many peoples work arounds I came up with my own take on what others had done. After a lot of measuring I decided on a 113mm theadless BB 68mm shell which I ordered from Ebay and when it arrived I took the grinder to the BB shell.
I also needed to take a die grinder to the inside of the BB shell as the areas where the down tube and seat stays had been welded had 'grown' inside and the new BB was a snug fit.
Lots of trial fitting and judicious adjustment with the grinders and it seems OK.
Try on some chainrings.
Chainline looks reasonable.
Another thing that I wanted to do was to replace the plastic bush at the top of the head tube with a bearing, lots of fiddling about with bits out of the spares box and I came up with what I hope will be a good solution.
I quite wanted to keep the steering binder, so again after measuring I cut about 5mm off the top of the headtube and fitted a top race. The top bearing cup was threaded internally but the steerer tube thread didn't extend down far enough to load the bearings so I ground out the thread and the bearings are adjusted as before the mod by the nuts above the binder.
I'll finish mocking it up then stip it again for paint.
I got wheels & deraileur from a kids 6 speed mountain bike for nothing, but the wheels being smaller than the Raleigh items required looong drop brakes or a drop bracket. I had an old BSO mountain bike frame in the garage so I cut off the V brake bosses and welded them onto the Twenty. I also had to re space the rear dropouts.
I need to tidy the welds a bit, my mask was playing up. (Thats my excuse anyway!)
I wanted to use a modern cotterless bottom bracket but the Raleigh shell on a Twenty is about 76mm and has the Raleigh thread. I searched the internet for solutions and after reading many peoples work arounds I came up with my own take on what others had done. After a lot of measuring I decided on a 113mm theadless BB 68mm shell which I ordered from Ebay and when it arrived I took the grinder to the BB shell.
I also needed to take a die grinder to the inside of the BB shell as the areas where the down tube and seat stays had been welded had 'grown' inside and the new BB was a snug fit.
Lots of trial fitting and judicious adjustment with the grinders and it seems OK.
Try on some chainrings.
Chainline looks reasonable.
Another thing that I wanted to do was to replace the plastic bush at the top of the head tube with a bearing, lots of fiddling about with bits out of the spares box and I came up with what I hope will be a good solution.
I quite wanted to keep the steering binder, so again after measuring I cut about 5mm off the top of the headtube and fitted a top race. The top bearing cup was threaded internally but the steerer tube thread didn't extend down far enough to load the bearings so I ground out the thread and the bearings are adjusted as before the mod by the nuts above the binder.
I'll finish mocking it up then stip it again for paint.
Last edited:
to the loss of the 3-speed hub
