Well, it's finally done. The original stock air pump arrived from England in a tight little round tube, well packed in foam and packing tape. It took me a little while to get it out, it was so well packed. I finally liberated it, gave it a couple pumps and instantly thought that something was missing - the little dongle that connects the pump to the valve. It was in the picture on eBay, but I couldn't find it in the tube.
After a little poking around, I figured out the clever storage mechanism in the handle. It works like a charm.
The pump is made of white plastic with a dark grey end cap, also of plastic. The dongle screws into this plastic end. I wouldn't want to do this too much and risk the plastic threads stripping out. The handle pulls out to expose a silver metal plunger. Again, it doesn't look too strong and it had a bit of rust on it. I very lightly steel wooled the rust off with extra fine wool and applied a fine layer of machine oil.
I was a bit worried installing it on the bike. The pressure from the spring in the handle holds it on the prongs on the back of the seat tube. The pressure is strong and the prongs seem small and narrow. Would the pressure eventually crack the plastic? I placed a couple small washers over the prongs to distribute the pressure across a broader area. Worked like a charm.
So here are some final images with the Brooks B-66 and Challenge saddle bag. I mounted a brass bell on it, the original headlight and a trunk that I had kicking around. Looks pretty sharp!
The last image is of the crazy dude who chases down old bits o' bike stuff from around the globe just to have a bike in complete stock condition!
charles
Would you consider joining my website and posting these pictures up on the photo gallery?
ReplyDeleteRaleighTwenty.webs.com
Hey Martin,
ReplyDeleteSure... thanks for the invite.
charles
Looking good!...I am getting ready to dump ~$300 in a pair of wheels for my brides Twenty... that is somewhere around 3 times what I paid for the bike.
ReplyDeleteOh well can't take it with you.
@2whls... I SO hear you! The saddle and saddle bag are almost twice what I paid for the Twenty!! I'm looking forward to seeing your re-build. I'm actually going to start looking around for a "beater" to modify. This Twenty is just too perfect to tear down and build up with non-stock parts.
ReplyDeletecharles
That's a beautiful bike. Looks almost brand new.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a pair of Twenties. One, a non-folding shopper, was wall-to-wall rust and will be quite customized when I'm done with it. The other is a Canadian SuperCycle that is in pretty good shape but needs a cleanup, shifter adjustment and a date with the wheel truing stand.
Thanks for the comments Tom. I'm looking around hard for a Twenty in need of help. This one is so stock, I couldn't bear to modify it. I put on a B-66 (the original mattress saddle had a slight tear in it), but other than that, it's stock.
ReplyDeleteThat said, these bikes are TANKS. I'd love to have one that I wouldn't feel too bad about stripping down and making it lighter.
charles