Here’s something you don’t see everyday. It’s a UK street-legal moped based on a Raleigh 20 and was created by consulting engineer Chris Sawyer. It has a Cyclemaster engine and front suspension. Apparently it works quite well and it demonstrates the rigidity of the folding version of the bike. Many thanks to Chris for permitting use of his photo.
The folding Raleigh 20 converted into a moped by Chris Sawyer
The Raleigh 20 was the archetypal British city bike of the 1970s and Raleigh’s biggest selling product line in the middle of that decade. The company made up to 140,000 a year and the bike was in production from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. You can read more about it here: https://hadland.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/raleigh-twenty-r20/
Recently I acquired a 1974 Raleigh 20 FE (‘Fully Equipped’) that had been in the same ownership for 40 years and was in almost completely original condition, apart from modest wear and tear. It is a testament to the fitness for purpose of the product that the owner kept it and used it for so long. Here is a photo tour of the bike in question.
A general view of the 1974 Raleigh 20 FE.
A front view. Originally the bike would have had a plastic clip to hold the three cables together in front of the head tube more neatly but these clips tended to fall off and were not really necessary. The headlamp shown here is a replacement but differs only slightly from the original, which still worked, despite having a missing ‘glass’. All Raleigh 20s had a restrictor to stop the bike being ridden with the forks reversed. In models fitted with integral lighting, the stop was combined with the headlamp bracket.
Rear carriers (racks) varied between Raleigh 20 models. Some had none and others had a Pletscher alloy carrier with sprung parcel clips. The FE had a steel carrier with a plastic tray. This helped hold the removable holdall (shopping bag) that came with the bike. It’s rare to see the original holdall and this bike had lost its one. At the front and back of the tray you can see the elasticated cords that held the holdall in …
Perhaps, my head wasn’t right, perhaps I was a victim of circumstance, but when we dropped to 9 players I was no longer a big stack. John Juanda had been sat on my left and just basically outplayed me. This isn’t something I remember admitting to for a long while. I didn’t clash much with Eric, but marvelled at the way he turned a small stack into a monster in barely an hour. He had nerves of steel, as he called bets on the flop, turn and river. Most players would have folded or raised at much earlier points. The pots he won were therefore, considerably bigger.
So here I was at the final table of the PPT with all Cheri Casino three of them. Eric and Daniel were the two chip leaders. John was a small stack like myself. We were to play down to 6 players, who would make the money.
The action was fast as we lost one player, shortly followed by John Juanda. 7 left, and I was definitely the shortest stack. I moved all-in with an AQ and got called by a pair of 9s. The cameras zoomed in as an Ace hit the flip. Yabbadabbadoo! My joy was short lived though as a 2 on the river gave a board of A2345. Split pot with a straight, and I am still the man under pressure.
I only had 58,000 chips left which would not last me 20 hands. So when I was dealt a pair of 6s, they were all deposited in the middle. It was Chris Bigler’s obligation to be executioner. He called with a pair of 8s, and I didn’t get lucky. I was out on the so-called ‘bubble’. No consolation money for 23 hours of …
In a recent post I described a 1974 Raleigh 20 FE, in near original condition, that had been in the same ownership for 40 years. The husband of the FE’s owner also had a 20, which was a folding version, badged as a BSA 20, and made in 1978. I rescued both bikes from an almost certain final trip to the local tip. I sold the FE on eBay for less than its replacement lamp cost me. I didn’t mind though, as I needed the space and it saved the bike from a prematurely ignoble end. As for the BSA 20 folder, I decided to keep it and refurbish it.
My aim was not the ultimate ‘hot 20′, which could cost quite a lot of money. Instead I decided to upgrade the less desirable old components, mostly with items from eBay or the spares box, plus a few from St John Street Cycles or Amazon Market Place dealers. The following annotated photo sequence shows the end result, a very rideable hack which, because of its colour scheme, I call Cappuccino.
The 1974 Raleigh 20 FE, described in a previous post, weighed a hefty 37 lb (almost 17 kg) in orignal form but without its rear bag. (That, however, is a pound and half less than my grandson’s modern but relatively inexpensive mountain bike!) The BSA folder weighed 32 lb (about 14.5 kg) in its original form but after the modifications described below, it weighs 30 lb (about 13.6 kg) without bag, despite having the addition of a rear carrier. Further weight savings could be made by replacing the original wheels with new ones having alloy rims, alloy hubs and narrower tyres, and by replacing the handlebars and stem with alloy equivalents.
Above: A general view of Cappuccino, complete with …
Never assume that Amazon’s prices are always the lowest! Sometimes they are even lower than the normal trade price but in some cases they can be quite inflated.
Via the Amazon UK website, if you click on the tiny links for ‘New’ copies from other sources, you can get the reprinted hardback edition of The Spaceframe Moultons for £43.40 (Amazon’s own price is £70.90!), the softback pocket-size version for £17.95 and the hardback The F-Frame Moultons (the new reprinted edition of The Moulton Bicycle) for £25.21 (Amazon’s own price is £36.76).
The two hardbacks come straight from the publisher in Switzerland, so you can see the enormous mark-up applied further along the supply chain. All prices quoted above are as at 17th April 2015 and exclude postage but this is clearly shown on the website and is not very expensive.…
Biggest Ever Pot Limit Hold’em First Prize of EUR 250,000 as Poker’s Popularity Continues to Spread
The Merrion Club Casino, Dublin, June 23rd – 27th –– The inaugural Gaming Club World Poker Championships is nearly upon us, with the cream of the world’s top poker players and a few celebrities all descending on Dublin for Judi Online24jam Deposit Uang the biggest ever first prize in land-based Pot Limit Hold’em of EUR 250,000 and a massive total prize fund of over EUR 730,000, (based on a maximum of 128 players).
The finest players from across the Atlantic such as 9 times World Series Champion Phil Hellmuth, Chris ’Jesus’ Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey are all making the long trip to Dublin from the States, to take on the finest European players in the form of 2004 British Open Champion Dave ’Devilfish’ Ulliot, UK’s finest Judi Online24jam Deposit Uang the Hendon Mob and European women’s number one Lucy Rokach.
International film star Mimi Rogers is also confirmed to attend and having made a name for herself during various poker events in the USA she is making her first appearance in a European tournament.
The event is being sponsored by The Gaming Club, an online casino and poker room and part of the Carmen Media owned super group of casinos, Belle Rock Gaming. Belle Rock’s head of poker, Richard De Waal says bringing the tournament to Ireland will help poker reach a larger audience still; “Having an event of this size and prestige in Europe is fantastic for poker and the rise of the game outside of the United States, and I think this is reflected by the quality of players coming from abroad for the event.“
Carmen Media CEO and Chairman, Tim Johnson Judi Online24jam …