Bickerton folding bicycle

 Changed; 31-10-2024, 16-11-2024

The bicycle is now running well, and I like it.  It is, as is said of it, a floppy frame.  Trying to not lean or pull on the handlebars is difficult, and they will slip back or forward to the stops, but that issue is now improved by fitting a stronger handlebar locking bolt. 

 

     

 

I have added the rack and replaced the handlebar locking bolt with a stronger bolt, but I now need spanners to fold the bike.  The handlebars still move back and forth as I cycle, though, but not so much so my ride is better.  I am advised that a stronger seat pillar clamp is available now, but what I have done works well enough.

Frame number; A3249 made in about 1976, is the date on the variable speed hub.

Weight; 9Kg.  MK1, a British-made, lightweight, aluminium frame bike since 1972.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bickerton_(bicycle)

3-speed AW gear hub dated August 1976.  I have greased the water-repelling labyrinths.  Put the hub bearing nuts back with the slack corrected, which fixed the grinding when I got the bike and have over-oiled the hub which washed out a little rust.

These bikes could be purchased in 1977 in USA from UK for; $360 plus postage. About £200. I don't know what the price was in the UK?

The handlebars fold down to form the bike's

stand.  But a side stand can be fitted.

The sprockets are; 13 and 57 tooth.  The gearing is quite high, and the bike is poor for hill climbing.  The five-speed hub option would give lower and higher speeds.  The bike is a low speed bike and goes fast enough but it feels like a lower gear would be helpful on hills. 

 

The bikes gearing in metres per pedal stroke; 

1. Gear 2.1 m/stroke is only a little lower than 2nd on my Universal adult bike.
2. Gear 2.8 m/stroke, is a little lower than 3rd gear on my Universal adult bike. 
3. Gear 3.7 m/stroke, is higher than my Lenton but lower than my Peugeot sports bikes highest speeds. 

In conclusion the bike is not capable of very low speed unlike a modern stiff frame short wheelbase bikes.  3 to 8MPH, with 5mph is okay.  But 2.5 to 12MPH are about the limits.

This original version Bickerton is made with off the shelf parts, aluminium tubes, rod, and beam, with minimal machining and cutting, bolted together.  There is no aluminium welding, though that is a good method of joining parts because it does not fracture unlike steel welding that is brittle and does.

I purchased the bike in September 2024.  It has been used for parts, so I scavenging parts for the bike.  The bike is very maintainable and despite the manual warning to not take the gear hub apart, they both don't need much maintenance but for oiling they can be dissembled if you take lots of care, and read up on how to do that, the parts put back the right way and don't disassemble them more than you need too to clean or replace a pawl spring say.  AW hubs if oiled regularly can be going fine at 1 million miles and 40 years on a postman's bike for example. 

Engine oil is a good general-purpose oil for the transmission you can also use grease on the cable parts and the sliding tubes.  Don't use 3-in-one oil inside the gear hub but it's okay on the chain as it leaves a hard protective coating.

The bike is allowed on most trains and buses folded and depending on guard, driver discretion and company policy full-size bikes are often allowed off-peak. 

No bike side stand is fitted but you can unlock, move and lock the handlebars to use those as a stand, the manual suggests or have a side stand fitted as an extra.

 

The removal of the rear wheel requires loosening the seat post clamp and moving it a little.   Once I put the washer back on the hub and the one with the anti-rotation washers on each hub side of the shaft with the locators facing out to the frame, the pair of down tubes were extremely tight and scrapped aluminium when I moved them.  The flats on the shaft are now horizontal but they were probably intended to be in line with the diagonal tubes to the seat post, which is also difficult to do and seems less than ideal.

Making do and mend with parts, I have adapted, such as a pipe clamp and a piece of metal tubing for the gear cable anchor.

For newer Bickerton bikes the tube from the seat post is bolted to the horizontal tube rather than sharing the hub shaft. 

All the tubes have been greased, fortunately, so they do slide as they should, leaving a silver of grease and aluminium on your hands though.  The bike became much less wobbly to ride once I had greased the steering bearing, that can be the case with other bikes.  Unsurprisingly, lubricating and correcting adjustments have made the bike lighter to ride.

A tool bag attached to the tube between the seat post lock and the crank would be useful.

The Bell chimes ding-dong on push then release.

The bike feels strange to ride, it is necessary to start in low gear 1 of 3, but it did not take many rides to learn to ride it.  The direction I go in is determined by the way I wobble, more than any other bike I have ridden.  The bike is best not ridden fast.  The pedals are nearer the ground than any other bikes I've ridden and can hit the ground, the manual warns to not let a pedal scrape the ground when leaning into a corner.  The bike is heavy to pedal up hills and would be helped by having a lower gear provided by a 5-speed gear hub option or a lower speed more tooth cog.

Bikes do vary in how light comfortable, heavy, uncomfortable or stable they are, but there is no real rule about what frame design feature results in.  This is the lightest adult bike I've experienced and heaviest to pedal but for its very low speed and low gearing.  Postwar long-wheelbase bikes were the best of the best when Raleigh was at its height.  This bike has shorter 60mm pedal arms compared to the normal 70mm that adult bikes have had for at least the past 80 years, but that is not enough to make the bike noticeably heavier to pedal.

The handlebar; one of the locking bolts was rusted and thread ruined, in any case, another did not lock the handlebars well.  I replaced it with a bolt and a wing nut, but better still was a blind bolt with internal locking, foil wrapped around it a washer and a nut.  Finally, I found a smaller-sized metric nut, that an old 1/2" ring spanner fitted tightly on.  The ride is now much better, although the handlebars do slide, but less so. 

• I am advised that a modern seat post clamp would do a better job clamping the handlebars.  Having said that, what I have done is a good solution. 
  

• In mitigation Bickerton says that the floppyness of the handlebars is intensional allowing the cyclist to lean back and pedal harder on hills.  They also say it takes getting used but I worried about falling off backwards.
  

Greasing the steering bearings needed a stop pin to be pressed out. 

• The pin is a C-shaped roll of spring steel, tapered on both ends so it can be pressed back in from either end. I used a vice with the jaws open a little to press against and flat tool against the pin and a hammer.

• The bearings were clean but dry, which I greased with Castrol LM grease.

• The bearing nut was screwed tight, to ensure that the thread runs smoothly, then slacked to finger tight then held at 1/4 to 1/2 turn slack and the locking nut tightened onto it.

• The pin was then hammered back in using the tool again between the pin to hammer against.

• The pins function as stops. The steering now does not have any stiffness, consequently, the bike is now a little less wobbly to ride.

• Then a sawn-off nail tip to give a filed flat end nail to hammer the pin through the hole and out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seat is nearly over the back wheel hub, so be careful leaning back, and it also feels necessary to be careful when braking hard and falling forward.   I hit a small pothole under fallen leaves at very low speed and came off standing up okay.  The bike is good for short-distance rides of 1 km or so on fairly flat terrain with wobble room. 

 

A bicycle rack was added. Many of the welds broke on it over the 50 years since I purchased it, it also broke the fixings on my Lenton Sports.  I have used tie wraps and pipe clamps to hold it, and I am hoping they will not need to be taken off or cut to take the back wheel off.  Taking the rear wheel off is in any case difficult. 

The cyclist needs to take care to not let what is carried overhang the front sides of the rack.  If you do what you carry will hit your heels, but correct it don't push the pedals from the bridge of your feet, which is not good for your orthopaedic health and will result in needing more effort to go.

 

https://www.bickertonportables.co.uk/wp-content/themes/twentytenfive/images/bickerton-story.pdf 

https://starostneradost.wordpress.com/tag/bickerton/

 

The author created the web page whilst he was putting this bike back together for a friend. 

https://jepspectro.com/htm/bickerton.htm

 

The Bickerton Facebook group is useful and there is a bike manual, which has a nice informative storytelling style, in the files section.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Bickerton

The sliding spanner on one pedal for unscrewing it to stow it out of the way; 

The sliding spanner for unscrewing and removing the pedal.  The hole in the frame is for storing the pedal but it is a thread clearance hole with no extra clearance for a grommet.  The thread is anti-clockwise, so it tends to tighten as you pedal.

Pushing in or pull the saddle out
is difficult even after greasing the
seat post but the seat slides down
unless tightened very tight.

It is like an anti-theft device, but I am sure the aluminium pedal arm's thread would not last under normal use and abuse if it had been used often?   The hole between the seat post and the back wheel on the frame is to hold the pedal but it is missing a grommet or something.   That is so it can go into its carry bag which I don't have. 

The pedal drops into the storage hole but it is not locked in place.  The pedal would squeeze between the mudguard and the seat post but as the bike is now is a loose fit.

 

In conclusion,  

Everything seems to have been done using all the bicycle design rules to make the bicycle stable and least difficult to ride, despite its light and flimsy.  That is, it is not as bad as expected, but the bike gives a reasonable low-speed ride.  I am sure that the bicycle would be bent by hitting a pothole and the cyclist injured that is the risk with using such a bike, but in mitigation that is obvious.  Folding bicycles are not suitable for learning to ride a bike.

I have hit a slightly raised manhole cover at very low speed under leaves and instead of falling off and the bike braking I found myself standing up holding the handlebars.

The bike is fiddly to fold and unfold.  It helps to measure the saddle height against myself, so I can pull it out to about the right height.  The bike is okay without lowering the seat on a bus. 

I carry some tools and straps to fold and
 carry the bike.  This IKEA bag is strong.

More modern Bickerton folding bicycles are heavier at 13 kg, a little lighter than my Lenton Sports and heavier than my Peugeot Course sports bike.  Brompton now claims to offer the lightest folding bike at about 8 kg.  Both are British-made bikes. 

 

The Bickerton on the train was hard work lugging and trying to roll the bike to the rail replacement bus folded.  It has been recommanded that a bag with a shoulder strap helps or small wheels fitted to the back of the rack helps.  There is no comfortable way of carrying the bike up stairs the balance is in the wrong place if I hold the bike unfolded by the saddle tube below the clamp where it is not greased.

A lovely, still, sunny day at the end of September, so I put the bike on the train and visited the seaside. 

The cycle route along is flat between Hastings Old Town and West St Leonard's, seafront is okay until the hill to Ore and the hills behind to Bexhill-on-sea.  The bike drew many friendly comments as well as that it is dangerous, which it is if I hit a pothole and the bike collapses under me.  Lots of stops at lovely cafes like these and a bit of shopping, which is placed to not overhang the front of the rack. 

This is just the sort of outing the little bike is well suited to, but my full size sports bikes cope with hills and potholes better when visiting Ore or Bexhill.  They are light enough to put an off-peak train.

Android apps;

• 

  Caynax rout plotter app. with graphical statistics
  

  Google Maps is clearly readable but the bicycle and walking routes given are regular roads which can be bad, such as Southborough and High Brooms to Tonbridge the only route offered is via the A26.  This app will give verbal instructions until you get near your destination when it stops.  It tells you when to get off the train but tells you there are two stops to go when there is one stop.
  
• Movit gives good bicycle routes the A21 cycle path is offered instead of the A26 road.  But the screen is cluttered.  It Dings three times before a train stops you need to get off, the last being a double ding.  This App. grow too large to remain installed on my Doro smartphone.
  
• Both apps. Can show the train stops that the train is not going to stop at and may not show the right connections? 
• Both Apps will find a route and may adjust that route if you detour, but they must be started with an internet connection such as Wi-Fi.
• Any app. you might be able to select an alternative route with Google Maps use a bicycle route map (paper or one of the cycle route websites), select cycle or walk now, and place as many stop points on your route to steer it towards suggesting a fit with your rough plan.  Other apps you can use their website to navigate and pull the route the way you want to go then use your creation on a smartphone.
• Caynax is a good tracker with a good automatic pause.  ITO Pedometer,  is simple, reliable and automatic for walking.  Nix games Speedometer, is good.   See this blog. 

The Doro 8030 "smartphone" I use is not very smart, but the camera is okay.  Android 5 does not support some of the good cycling apps Stava and Rides With GPS any more.

For more bicycles and maintenance please look at my other blog links on the right-hand margin of this blog such as; pandemic-and-cycling-going-forward

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1955 Raleigh step-thru bicycle.

Change; 24-10-2024, 17-08-2024

Purchased in May 2024, a low-geared, four-speed Dynohub traditional bicycle.  The bike would not have had a Raleigh forever guarantee.   Later, Raleigh merged with Tube Investments in 1960 to 2012, but their bikes continued to be nice bikes to ride.  The bobbly handlebar grips are nice, and I am told they are original 1950s grips and the Dunlop tyres, which have metal caps on the valves and the brake rubbers look original as well? 

It is a heavy bike 17 or 18kg (I am not sure of my gauge) but comfortable, slow and nice to ride traditional steel bicycle.  With a bell which has a heavy brass resonating cap, a Terry saddle (was made by Raleigh they also used the brand Brooks) and a basket which I have treated with linseed oil.  Carrying any weight in the basket makes the bike a bit unstable, so you will need a little more speed.  The bike would handle better without the basket, but it is a very classical bicycle with it.

Although the frame is not high enough performance to feel the differences between Normal gear and other speeds or possibly difference between modern greased bearings and the thin oiled bearings it has, you can just discern the difference between the hub dynamo lights on and off.  They consume 2W, including about 10% losses in the generator due mostly to winding resistance.  Sturmey-Archer claimed there was no noticeable difference, but there is a just discernable difference.

Steering lock and a key.  The tyre tube valves are the old-fashioned Dunlop type, in which the valve can be removed but take care there are two sizes of valve, one is slightly too big but those fitted are the larger size type.  The hole for the valve in the rim is also slightly smaller, but modern Presta valve tubes also fit, but a car type called a Schrader valve will be too fat. 

The Frame Number is 590491 T, and the variable speed hub is dated 50 1 (January 1955).  From Sheldon Brown's website, the frame number is consistent with manufacture early in the period 1954 and 1955.

The bike's frame is very like the 1975 Hercules that I ran for a while, but that bike did not have a fully enclosed chain case.  It is probably the same frame.  This bike needs to be turned over and tilted to empty rainwater out of the chain case, I did not know that that was an issue until I took the bike home.  It is a shorter wheelbase bicycle than the Lenton sport, you can cycle at a lower speed, and it is not so exceptionally comfortable as a Reynolds 531 steel touring or sports frame bikes of that time.  You also won't notice differences between the efficiency of the gears such as between N and other speeds or that it is an all-oil, rather than a grease transmission lubrication bike.

 

I have not removed the rear wheel and the chain-case, it looks fiddly.  The three inspection covers slide out easily and the chain wheel cover, pops out with the blade of a thin screwdriver.  It is very clean inside, but for rust on the section of chain that had laid in rain water inside the chain-case.  I put back together with a smear of grease in the groves.  There is a cover with two screws for wheel removal, but I have not investigated how to do that.  The pedal arm rubbed the casing, which I have resolved by laying the bike down, putting some weight on the high side of the casing.  Here are some YouTube videos explaining a few things with this type of chain case;

Install a chain

Resolving noisy Chain case

Access to the chain

Bike restoration including the chain case

 

 

The above indicator rod is in Normal and Low gear positions respectively use ether for adjusting the cable.  Bottom gear is a hard pull on the selector, like all FG or FW variable speed hubs.  DynoHub is FG 55-1, (January 1955) it differs from the FW on my Lenton Sport in that it is, chrome-plated pressed steel and all four speeds are easy to select, that it is not worn.  That is, it is not so heavily sprung on the Bottom gear.  The basket is dry and crumbling it absorbed a lot of linseed oil which I brushed on it.

The lights worked anyway, but I have corrected the wiring and the switch now includes the rear light properly.  Surprisingly the generator return path was through the bike frame, and it worked, so the brake cables may have been connecting the return path? 

The switch on the underside of the front lamp offers;  

Dynamo - Off - Battery.

Front Lamp clamp provides power return connections to;

• Battery unit (not fitted), 
• Rear Lamp mounting bolt, 
• Dynamo - terminal.
  

And Front Lamp Live connections are inside the lamp go too;

• Battery Unit, (either outer connection)
  
• Rear light live, (must be to the centre connection)
  
• Dynamo - other terminal. (the other outer connection)
  

There was a frame return connection wire, but I have replaced it with a longer return wire to the front lamp clamp.  Nothing in the circuit will cause electrical interference, for example, the Dynohub is really an AC generator that has no brushes unlike a dynamo to cause interference, so no frame connection is required for screening.  Connections may be made to the bicycle frame, consequently fitting the lights. 

Two 6V lamp currents in parallel should add up to 280 to 300mA, therefore the lamps are 40mA rear and 240mA front.  These lights do not illuminate the road ahead much but ensure you are seen when you are moving.  I also use modern lights with batteries, so there is light when the bicycle is not moving, and I have blog pages on dynohub lighting strategies with battery charging, but these projects are not all fully developed see below.

Using the bicycle frame to carry power is not a reliable method for connecting one of the two power wires.  In this case, it is slightly better to have just one rather than many connections to the frame in order to minimise bicycle frame corrosion.  This advice contradicts good practice for electrical interference avoidance and general Earthing strategies within equipment and buildings. 

If one bulb fails, the other bulb is likely to be driven over the current and fail.  It is therefore useful to turn the lights off if one bulb fails.

The crank is oil-lubricated with a spring-loaded capped filler tucked out of the way or can be greased.  Everything else in the transmission should be thin oil lubricated, but thin engine oil is suitable and won't harm the gear hub.  There is also an oiler port for the chain on top of the chain case, which you unscrew.

The paint and the decorations are in very good order, and I think the rims are steel, so the braking is quite good.  But unlike earlier bicycles the pedal arms, brake callipers and neither wheel hubs are not stainless steel, but the rims are good steel or stainless steel.  The brake adjusters are the modern, plainer style typical of that era of post-war bicycles. 

 

 

  

The brake shoes are the old type made until the 1960s, in which you could slide in a new rubber rather than need to replace the whole shoe.  They used to be difficult to replace because they could rust or stick.

But the brake cables are the old type with soldered nipples on each end.

Other Bicycle Blogs.

Electronics design project - Bicycle Dynamo maximum power and battery charging manager

Pandemic cycling and bicycle selection, going forward

Bicycle Dynohub maintenance

1946 Lenton Sports bicycle

 

Conclusion

The Raleigh bike is lovely and is nicer to ride than many modern bikes, but being a bit newer than my Lenton Sport has plainer brake adjusters.  The spokes are all galvanised steel, both front and back.  But it is not a sport or touring frame, so you don't have the greater speed and comfort of those bikes made at that time.  The frame is stiffer for slower riding and carrying weight on a rack and panniers if fitted.  The brakes are quite good for their time because they are cable and the caliper operates on the sides of stainless steel rims.

1997 Universal, La Riveria, pictured left, is a faster, light to pedal, comfortable, modern cheap British-made bike.  It weighs the same and can carry a lot of weight high on the rack and remain stable.  Plus, despite the surface rust it had been looked after.  I have used the bike for the past 5 years, you won't be able to crawl slowly up hill unlike the Raleigh.  Typically, of bicycles and particularly chromed rim braking, it stopping in the rain is poor.  The Raleigh's stainless steel rims means that it does stop in the rain in an eventually sort of way though.

Only my Lenton sports would be fine riding all day on, the modern Peugeot course sports, or these town bikes are not comfortable or light enough to pedal for that.