Russcoles11

I was looking for parts for my main folder (a sunlova 20" wheel folding MTB) and saw this bike. I put in a bid of £10 and won it for £6, my intention was to nick the cranks and maybe the front wheel with its hub brake. Then I hit a slight snag, although listed as being in Bristol where I live, the description said pickup from a town in the middle of Oxfordshire. Incidentally I don't have a car.
So day out by train then! I rigged a temporary improvement to my front pannier rack which would allow me to carry my new purchase bungee'd in front of me without getting in the way too much and took the train to Didcott. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. From Didcott I started up the NCN5 towards Oxford. Now I could have gone by rail to Oxford and been closer to where I wanted to go but it was such a nice day and I had plenty of time. It was at the top of the 1st big hill that disaster struck, the spindle in my bottom bracket snapped.
I managed to get my crippled bike back to Didcott by walking and freewheeling down hills. If you ever need to leave a bike somewhere Didcott station is excellent btw. So I left my bike locked away at Didcott and took a train to Oxford then a bus to the nearest town to where I needed to be. I then got a taxi to the address, which turned out to be a permanent 'travellers' camp. For some reason the taxi driver was reluctant to hang around for the return journey. The seller however turned out to be a very nice friendly bloke and I had my bike (yay).
I had tools and spare inner tubes with me and set about trying to make the bike roadworthy. The tyres were in a bad state, evidently they were some dogs favourite chew toy, the seat post was too short and the hub gears were stuck in 1st gear. But with the tyres inflated I headed back up the road. It was by now raining, being from Bristol, I'm used to rain. Oxfordshire roads evidently are not as used to rain as I was soon cycling through 3 inches of water. This is when I got a puncture!
So an hour and a half of walking through 3 inches of water pushing my new bike and being hit by a tsunami every time a car went by I made it to the bus stop to get back to Oxford, just as the bus pulled away. I was drenched and miserable so I got a taxi to Oxford station then made my way home picking up my other bike from Didcott on the way. My £6 bike had now cost me £19 train fares, £4 bus fare, £35 taxi fares, £35 repairs to my other bike.
The confusing thing is, why have I decided to spend even more time and money renovating my new Cresswell Fold-it? I have already stripped it down and sanded down the one spot of rust on the front forks, it's now repainted in black hammerite, has a new seat post, saddle, tyres and hand grips. All it now needs is mudguards and one small part for the hub gears. Total renovation cost should be about £50.
So does anyone think this bike will be worth the £150 and day of hell?

Folder4life

Haha, it's the journey that makes it worth it!

coolio

Great story. Would have loved to have heard it in a genuine british accent!

bhkyte

Ebay has a lot to answer for!

nowheels

Love it..... some old bike are worth saving.

stevegor

Great story
These are the tales we tell our children, and our children's children and our........

mulleady

Pictures of refurbed bike please lol!

Russcoles11

Will post a pic when its done, just looking for another bike that will donate some nice mudguards atm, then need a saddle and a replacement pawl for the rear hub gear/brake.

Russcoles11

Ok seems it will be a while before I get all the parts together but to give you a taste of where I'm going with the refurb, here are some of the items I shall be using:
Old Stainless steel mudguards from ebay
Retro look bike light (its actually a 4 led light) found on amazon marketplace.
Silver aluminium cruiser handlebars

Thats right, I'm going to pimp this bike with as much chrome as I can get

Russcoles11

Yay the hub gear parts arrived yesterday! Have replaced the planet cage pawls put the hub back together and installed the white walled tyres. The handlebars are here already so they went in place. Had to get longer brake and gear cables due to the longer handlebars so went and got them before work (the guy at evans cycles wants to see it and may want to buy it off me). If I can get the gears tuned up it will be ridable.
I don't have a camera so no piccy yet (be patient) but it looks awesome. May try to ride it to work tomorrow, in which case Mulleady will get her piccy.
Still waiting for Mudguards (I won the ebay auction for the ones mentioned above so they should be on their way), old style front light bracket (also won on ebay and it has a hole to bolt it to on the forks so why not have one for added chrome bling) and the front light.

Question: What would be the proper attire for riding such a bike as this? Dayglo safetly gear and helmet just don't seem suitable.

Chop!

I'd say waterproofs (if your Oxford adventure is anything to go by!)

Good luck with your Foldbling bike

Russcoles11

wiredfoxterror

WOWZA that looks amazing! Does it fold with those handlebars?

Russcoles11

The Fold-it only has one fold where the frame goes from single tube to diamond frame. Its enough to fit in a car boot but not great for public transport. The Handlebars therefore make no real difference. The benefit is that its a very solid bike. I had a choice of 3 routes to take with this bike, I could have made a hardtail folding MTB but I have my folding mtb (see my avatar), I could have put drop handlebars and a bigger chain ring on for a nice fast folding bike but with 3 gears there might be issues with hills. I decided to try for a folding cruiser. Its getting there, just need to bling it up with some chrome and stainless steel. Its a very upright riding position with those bars, great for pootling around town and taking in the scenery.

cyclingd

I might embark on a similar story on a 2 hr round trip if my car breaks down. That would be a total disaster.

Russcoles11

BTW who was it outbid me on another identical fold-it yesterday? C'mon own up

Ooh just saw this
https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Folding-bike-B...item4aa50154ef

Must resist! These are the later version after Cresswell was bought by Pashley. Someone wanna see if we can start a trend and outdo the R20 enthusiasts?

Dave1899

That bike turned out very nice. Well worth the journey

Russcoles11

Shiney mudguards arrived this morning
It looks even better now, must get a camera so I can give an updated piccy. I went for a bit of a pootle, popped into Evans and told the guy there I couldn't bear to sell it, but I told him about the one on ebay. It occurs to me that I need to find some way to carry all the essentials with me on this bike.
<--gunna bid on this, might suit my needs

Russcoles11

Its Finished
This bike is an amazing ride, very upright riding position and goes up hills so much easier than my other bike.

chagzuki

Very nice-looking bike. That saddle looks interesting; I came to the realization recently that sprung saddles are probably better than most suspension seat posts and vastly better that the crappy elastomer systems on contemporary 'comfort' saddles. So I had a look on the web for a non-armchair-like sprung saddle (besides Brooks or similar leather) and couldn't find anything.

Russcoles11

Its just a generc gel sprung saddle, cost me £12. As its cheap and comfortable I use the same saddle on both my bikes. I bought it at a shop near where I work (not even a bike shop).

Russcoles11

Similar saddle would be https://www.amazon.com/Avenir-68-20-3...895556&sr=1-27

Saddles like this are common in the UK, guess US roads are less bumpy?

Sammyboy

That bike is crying out for a sprung Brooks saddle. Looks lovely.....

Russcoles11

If I ever see a cheap brooks sprung saddle on ebay, I'll put in a bid