There is a Bike in there...HONEST!

This is why I need a folding bike! You can just barely see the Twenty right at the tailgate of the pickup. When I went up to this job site we orignially had scheduled a truck to come and haul at least two loads of equipment and job related items back to the office. Somewhere along the way the first truck got canceled, the foreman wrecked his pickup and was driving a crew van instead, so lets load up my truck...

Aaron

Dutch Chic

Look what came to live with us ;-)

On a bike ride with a friend of mine (previous post) we ran across this at a local bike shop. Took my bride back to see it and for a test ride, the rest is history so to speak.

It is a 1966 or 1967 Columbia Commuter II. Not really a folder, but the handle bars rotate and drop down, the seat goes down, the pedals can be rotated inwards and the fork assembly comes off the frame for storage, it has a wheel driven generator, headlight, interesting fender mounted taillight and the Sturmey-Archer 3speed TCWIII hub(more pictures to come). The Dutch part comes from it being built in Weesp, Holland by the Magneet Company, no longer in business.

Not sure which markets it was available in. I have found one advertisement for it via Ebay where Mr. Donut was giving one away in a contest around 1969.

My bride loves it and wants a wicker basket for the rear rack.

Aaron

New Technology?

Met up with a buddy of mine today for a ride about town. He has a sharp looking little Trek F600 quite the contrast to my nearly 40 year old Raleigh Twenty. But both bikes serve their purpose and got us where we wanted to go in comfort and more importantly got us back!

The Twenty has been undergoing some upgrades, it has new rims and spokes, Koolstop brake pads and a Kalloy 400mm seat post. I am still riding on the original tires...they were new when Nixon was in office, but new Schwalbe Marathons are on the way. Along with lights and a Brooks B67.

This is a good example of how the Twenty is paying off for me, I am riding a bike with a friend in a town over 1000 miles from my home. I had wanted to bring one of my full sized bikes with me, but due to space constraints the Twenty was my only choice.

Aaron