Raleigh Twenty Folding Bike

I received this Raleigh Twenty from an online deal last week, and cleaned and re-assembled it this weekend. It's a great bicycle in largely original condition.

The old decals are in excellent condition, and even the gold color on them has faded very little.

Riding the Twenty feels similar, but a little different from a Raleigh Sports or similar bike. The center of gravity is lower, and the handling is a bit "snappier" in that the bike feels like it "bites into" turns because of the small wheels.

The headset has a nylon/plastic steering dampener in it to combat the bike's propensity to "snap" into turns. It works reasonably well and it's a fun bike to ride.













The bronze green paint is in decent shape, and even the rear fender reflector is still good. The Dare grips are in great shape, as is the plastic-faced Sturmey Archer shifter.








Even the original tires are good enough to ride, with minimal sidewall cracking and good tread life.

The chrome is in great shape as well, and this Brooks mattress saddle is the nicest surviving example of the type that I've ever encountered. I believe this bicycle was ridden VERY little in its former life. The only thing missing now is the frame pump, but I have one of those on the way for it. I'll probably add a bell as well.

Post Script: I ultimately sold this Raleigh Twenty in 2019 when I moved to a new house in a more rural area where a small wheel, folding bike was not as useful. Here are my observations about the Twenty:

• These bikes are well-made and a great deal of fun, especially in urban and dense suburban areas. They ride a little bit differently from a 26-inch wheel bike like a Raleigh Sports. But they're not necessarily "worse" if you have nice streets.
• I ultimately located a pump and bell for this bike. The pumps are hard to find and kind of expensive when you locate a nice one. 
  
• The tires make a huge difference on the Twenty, more so than on the Sports. The smaller wheels give a little harsher ride, but a good set of tires make up for it. I ran the stock "red stripe" tires on my Twenty, and they were great.
  
• If you're not going to use the rear rack to hold stuff, the rack makes a great place to put down a rack-top bag. I subsequently ran my Twenty with a Banjo Brothers rack-top bag, which was an improvement over the saddle bag (and held a lot more stuff).
• The plastic bushing in the top of the headset is a matter of personal preference. Some people remove them and run a more conventional head set top, while others leave the plastic bushings in. I had no trouble running mine the stock plastic bushing in the top of the headset. The bottom of the headset did most of the work anyway.
• I didn't use the folding mechanism much, but it does work and might be helpful if you need to stow it away in an apartment. It would be a bit of a pain to fold and unfold every time you ride though. I tend to think the folding mechanism is more for storing the bike for a while rather than doing it every time you ride.
• Be careful banking into a turn - it's easy to pedal strike if you're not used to this little bike.
  
• Would I recommend one? Well, if you like small wheel bikes, then absolutely. You don't lose much versus a 26 inch wheel bike if you have nice streets to ride on. Where they do struggle a bit more is on rough roads. A larger wheel has an advantage over rough roads. But I could completely see someone in an urban or suburban area still commuting on one of these, especially if they modernize some of the parts.
• The extra-long stem makes a good mounting point for an add-on LED headlight. 
  
• If you collect old Raleigh three speed bikes, a good Twenty makes an excellent addition to your collection.

Photo as the bike ended up with pump, bell and rack-top bag and add-on LED light: