ahson

I see this Raleigh folder has been up in our local market for quite awhile and it's still up for sale. It's a Raleigh Stowaway, and curious is that the same thing as a Raleigh Twenty? How nice are they?

The seller is asking for $180 and I think that's rather steep. What will be a resonable offer for this kind of bike? From his pictures, the bike seems pretty clean though.

rhm

No, that's not a Twenty. The Twenty was marketed under various model names, including Shopper and Folder, and probably others. But I don't think Stowaway was among them. Moulton marketed a Stowaway, but that's another matter entirely. Anyway, the distinctive feature of the classic Twenty is a horizontal hinge. This one has a vertical hinge. The horizontal hinge is a strong, foolproof design; it tightens up with a L-shaped wingnut reminiscent of what you see in your photos, but the design is completely different. You can ride a Twenty without the wingnut attached; your weight will hold the frame together. I would not recommend the bike shown, regardless of the price.

PolishGuy

Looks nice. I'd offer $125.00 cash. You may want to also post this in the Folding Bike section. PG.

ahson

I am glad to find out about this. Sounds like it's not a safe ride regardless. Thx for the heads uP!


Yes it looks nice but the seller asking price is too much for my taste. I found my excuse not to buy it now, good enough.

24fps

Here's a photo of my twenty, showing the hinge design rhm is talking about. Much more solid than the design they changed to later.

ColonelJLloyd 

^ That Twenty is suh-weet! Gimme a drive side shot.

wahoonc

Yup they made a Stowaway in the R-20 line up...the one in the OP is a much later one and IIRC was made in Japan or Taiwan.

Aaron

Sixty Fiver

The bike shown is a Raleigh in name only... odds are that it is Italian made as Raleigh outsourced production of this style of folder to Continental builders and re-branded them.

Raleigh also sold a model called the Compact (Italian made) which is nearly identical and neither bike comes close to being a Raleigh 20.

My daughter has a Raleigh Saffron which is the non folding version of the compact and is a great bike as it does not suffer from having that second rate hinge assembly.

I come across more R20's here than I can shake a stick at and pass on quite a few of them... if you really want a nice one let me know as I do know a fellow who will probably be selling his fairly soon (for less than 125.00) and it is in great shape.

I know this as I have done all the tuning and overhauling and have upgraded the headset.

frenchbikefan

I have a ROG pony I would send you for the price of shipping.... which considering it is about 50 solid pounds of soviet steel would be a lot

kingsting

All of the Raleigh-built Stowaways that I have seen had 20 x 1-3/8" tyres, where the regular Twenties used 20 x 1.75 or 2.0.

kingsting

I love the blue color on these and it's fairly scarce in the US. I traded my green Stowaway on this one:



It still needs some work including fixing the ill-fitting Pletcher rack and maybe replacing the oddball Vista rims with alloys.

wahoonc

Nice looking bike Like the drum brakes front and rear! Haven't seen to many of those over the years.

What year is yours? I am guessing 1968-69. My blue is a 1975, I also have two green ones, 1971 and 1972.

That rack is the incorrect one, that is for a larger wheeled bike. Those rear arms are solid bar stock and I am wondering if they can be shortened, mashed and re drilled. AFAIK that is the only difference between the Pletscher rack for the Twenty and the one for the larger bikes.

Aaron

kingsting

It's a 69'. A vendor at the massive fall Hershey car show used to bring it with him to ride around. I had my eye on it for a few years. I liked the odd color and drum hubs so one year I offered him my freshly refurbished super shiny StowAway for his "dirty" old Twenty and he bit on it. I still see my old bike at his stand every year.

My plan is to shorten the rack arms and flatten them with a vise or press and re-drill them.

Sixty Fiver

The Twenty was actually designed for the 451 wheel and the 406 was used on export models as this was a common size in North America... the British versions differ by having the larger wheel and shorter reach Raleigh steel brakes which provide much better stopping power than the long reach alloy brakes on the 406 models.

Mine is a '77... the larger wheel size makes a fair bit of difference and any 406 version can be refitted with these as alloy rims are available in this size.

Threespeeder

Just bought a coffee 77 Raleigh Folder. Actually it just says Raleigh on the frame. I have the larger wheels, originals. Where would one get the alloys? I like your handlebar. I have a longer seat post but need to raise the handlebars a bit. I have a Brooks saddle like yours but brown aged. Makes all the difference! What tyres would you suggest? Robin Wenatchee WA USA robinplacey@gmail.com Thanks for your time!

pcb 

Aaaah, Raleigh Twentys. I heavily modified a Twenty frame in '81 when I learning how to braze (badly). Put in Campy dropouts front/rear and derailleur cable/casing guides, built it up with lighterweight alloy BMX rims, Ultra-6 rear cassette and derailleur, stouter BMX calipers. Used it as a campus commuter when I went back to school, then loaned it to a visiting prof. from Fukui University after I graduated. Never saw the bike again. Maybe it's still shuttling somebody somewhere, more likely it became landfill decades ago.

These rode really nice for what they were, it was certainly a gas zipping around campus on mine. I never wished I had a bigger-wheeled bike for zipping between home and classes. I had no clue they were originally built for slightly bigger wheels and shorter-reach brakes. I still have a couple unmodified/unmolested ones rotting in my parents' basement. Maybe someday....

jan230

Check out this site dedicated to the Twenty.
Everything you want to know.
Home - THE RALEIGH TWENTY