My experience with a ‘76 Raleigh Twenty

I’m making this post so that those who are scouring the internet for information or inspiration on a build for this bike, like I once did for months, can have one extra stop, with information on some strategies and component combinations I have not seen on other Twentys online.

While this bike was cosmetically in very good condition when purchased (original bike posted on my account), the long reach brakes coupled with heavy steel rims were terrible. This Twenty has been my first delve into bikes, and what I initially planned to be a quick cheap wheel and brake caliper swap to fix this issue turned into a nice little first project.

While there is a good amount of information about these bikes online, it’s still relatively obscure, so information and parts testing with some parts of the build I had in mind were kind of hard to come by, and some trial and error was had.

First, some context on my goals for this build and on some decisions I made that maybe seemed unnecessary or times where there were probably better options.
Essentially for this bike (that is still definitely in progress), I want to keep its elegant, vintage charm intact with both new and old parts. I bought this bike because it was a pretty vintage bike, and I want to keep that feeling in a comfortable, upgraded and fun to ride bike with that old soul still intact. In summary, I want to build a new old bike.. if that makes any sense.

Anyway, like I said before, the issue was the braking. These old Twenties (the ones sold in the US) were imported with 20in 406 heavy steel rims, already not great for braking. The real issue though was the extremely long reach calipers that came on these bikes, as, at least in the case of my fully original model, braking was more of a suggestion, as the rims combined with the poor leverage of these very long side pull calipers was not a great combo.

Since this bike has an internal gear hub that I wanted to keep, any rim changes would necessitate a wheel rebuild around the original hub (kinda expensive, and I spent more than I intended to on this tbh… but anything for perfection!). I think initially I had just planned on getting some new alloy 406 rims and putting kool stop salmons on the original calipers. I quickly realized this wouldn’t really be satisfactory though, as Id still have the issue of using these calipers with almost no stopping power, and as they were so comically long, especially the rear caliper, I couldn’t really find a viable modern replacement that even came close to the amount of reach I needed. This wasn’t even about keeping the aesthetic, I just couldn’t really find anything.

In my research through old forums and others’ builds, I soon realized that the UK versions of these bikes, where they were originally built, were sold with slightly larger (still technically 20in) 451 wheels, with much shorter reach brakes, resulting in much more acceptable braking performance (at least from what i’ve seen), and the ability to easily find compatible modern dual pivot brake calipers that would supply a lot more braking force. Even though tires are less plentiful in this size, I still decided to go this route.

In searching for suggested rims, I stumbled across the Sun Ringle ICI-1 20”, 451×16 rims, suggested by the old raleightwenty.webs site, as I think I was having issues finding other suggested rims, especially since I wanted a polished silver instead of a more matte silver. It took a bit of searching, but i managed to snag the ones you see on the bike from a bike shop on ebay.

For the tires, I found some NOS Raleigh Record 20 x 1 3/8” whitewall tires on ebay from the UK. I love these tires because they are essentially newer versions of the tires that came on these bikes in sold in the UK in the 70s. Very beautiful and very period correct! I don’t really know if these are puncture resistant at all though, and I bought three tires, but I need to find a more reliable 451 tire soon so I’m not dead in the water if these decide to give up on me one random day. (maybe the new simworks potters? idk yet)

Now for the brakes. I’ll save you the trouble and wasted money and time I spent figuring these out, and just tell you my current solution. Like I said before, many people had had success using modern double pivot brakes on these 451 wheels. The issue for me? Literally like none of these people ran fenders, and for the look I was going for, I NEED fenders (and for utility too). I realized that these calipers with their kinda of awkward slope, while taking away from the “classy vintage” aesthetic I was going for, could NOT clear a fender. After research I stumbled upon center pull brakes and their intentional rounded shape allowing for fender clearance. Id never seen anyone else run these on a Twenty, but I didn’t see any reason they wouldn’t work, and they did! (just make sure you check a calipers maximum rim width compatibility, many didn’t work with this rim) On the front of my bike here you will see a Dia-Compe DC-750 center pull front caliper, along with a Dia-compe quick release cable hanger on the stem. This brake works great!

The rear brake is a work in progress, it works but it sucks, it’s an old Odyssey 1999 rear brake caliper (only caliper I knew for certain that would clear the rear rack because of how it is shaped compared to other single and double pivot calipers. it’s better than nothing but not great, so I plan to maybe remove the rack and replace it in the future)

Some plastic bits on the old brake levers broke, so I replaced them with Dia-compe ss6 brake levers. Maybe a little too modern looking for this build, but they’re good for now!

Finally, the fenders were a bit weird, as the original steel fenders that came with the bike wouldn’t fit the new 451 tires. I wanted to try to find the original fenders for the 451 UK models, but I couldn’t find them for sale anywhere, so I purchased the Tokyobike minivelo stainless fender set (made for 451 wheels). This fender fit perfectly on the rear with NO modification (no spacer needed like you may need for others) but there wasn’t anywhere to mount the front fenders, so I found this shorty steel fender on Amazon, which only relies on a mount on the front brake bolt. These fenders don’t match, and I prefer a full front fender, but maybe I’ll find some solution, but they look good for now!

Additional parts are a Thinvik seat post and KoolStop continental salmon brake pads on both brakes.

And that’s the build so far, maybe not much of a build, but it took forever to figure everything out and i’m proud of it!
I hope to continue this build with a rear drum brake new handlebar grips, and a b67 brooks saddle 🙂 Hope this helps SOMEONE!

by RevolutionaryYear946