|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
Completed this the other day.
Everything excellent except for both fenders, but hey. It says Bickerton is in England on a big sticker on the frame. But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big bikes. But I suppose everything is German, still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there, there is a ring to be removed. It isn't difficult to remove, but I nevertheless deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't know what you are supposed to use? Also, what does it mean that the crank chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so small, and the wheel is small as well? Also, all the bolts are of a quick release version. However they don't stick hard enough even when pulled the hardest. Especially not the one holding the handlebars as that is so long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly what that means to the quick release? The bolts seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal for an English bike to not have imperial to ease exporting the bike or something like that? The fittings to seal the bike after being unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but seems to be in its original shape. And, what do you charge for this kind of bike? Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky item or do you charge the same hoping anyone will still buy it? Photo: http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg -- underground experts united http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573 |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
On 5/4/2017 7:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
Completed this the other day. Everything excellent except for both fenders, but hey. It says Bickerton is in England on a big sticker on the frame. But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big bikes. But I suppose everything is German, still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there, there is a ring to be removed. It isn't difficult to remove, but I nevertheless deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't know what you are supposed to use? Also, what does it mean that the crank chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so small, and the wheel is small as well? Also, all the bolts are of a quick release version. However they don't stick hard enough even when pulled the hardest. Especially not the one holding the handlebars as that is so long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly what that means to the quick release? The bolts seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal for an English bike to not have imperial to ease exporting the bike or something like that? The fittings to seal the bike after being unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but seems to be in its original shape. And, what do you charge for this kind of bike? Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky item or do you charge the same hoping anyone will still buy it? Photo: http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg gearing Since gear development is chainring/ sprocket * wheel, and since your wheel is small, the chainring should be larger and/or the driven sprocket smaller to gear like a full size wheel bicycle. QR Oil the cams of the quick releases. That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is fairly light but very flexible. have you ridden it yet? -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
On 5/4/2017 8:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
Completed this the other day. Everything excellent except for both fenders, but hey. It says Bickerton is in England on a big sticker on the frame. But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big bikes. But I suppose everything is German, still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there, there is a ring to be removed. It isn't difficult to remove, but I nevertheless deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't know what you are supposed to use? Also, what does it mean that the crank chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so small, and the wheel is small as well? Also, all the bolts are of a quick release version. However they don't stick hard enough even when pulled the hardest. Especially not the one holding the handlebars as that is so long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly what that means to the quick release? The bolts seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal for an English bike to not have imperial to ease exporting the bike or something like that? The fittings to seal the bike after being unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but seems to be in its original shape. And, what do you charge for this kind of bike? Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky item or do you charge the same hoping anyone will still buy it? Photo: http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg I hadn't heard about one of those for many years. IIRC, they were not pleasant to ride, largely because they were incredibly flexible. It seems the company (or at least the name) still exists, but the current designs are completely different. Regarding value, there's this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262148193860?ul_noapp=true -- - Frank Krygowski |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
On Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 5:35:44 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 5/4/2017 7:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote: Completed this the other day. Everything excellent except for both fenders, but hey. It says Bickerton is in England on a big sticker on the frame. But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big bikes. But I suppose everything is German, still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there, there is a ring to be removed. It isn't difficult to remove, but I nevertheless deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't know what you are supposed to use? Also, what does it mean that the crank chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so small, and the wheel is small as well? Also, all the bolts are of a quick release version. However they don't stick hard enough even when pulled the hardest. Especially not the one holding the handlebars as that is so long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly what that means to the quick release? The bolts seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal for an English bike to not have imperial to ease exporting the bike or something like that? The fittings to seal the bike after being unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but seems to be in its original shape. And, what do you charge for this kind of bike? Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky item or do you charge the same hoping anyone will still buy it? Photo: http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg gearing Since gear development is chainring/ sprocket * wheel, and since your wheel is small, the chainring should be larger and/or the driven sprocket smaller to gear like a full size wheel bicycle. QR Oil the cams of the quick releases. That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is fairly light but very flexible. have you ridden it yet? -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 And using a normal bicycle chain you cannot get smaller than an 11 tooth rear cog and that is really too small to work efficiently. 12 should be the smallest considered and 13 better. But these require a 53 to drive sufficiently fast if you have long downhills on good road surfaces. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
On Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 6:50:56 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/4/2017 8:27 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote: Completed this the other day. Everything excellent except for both fenders, but hey. It says Bickerton is in England on a big sticker on the frame. But the hub is the familiar Torpedo 3. Well, is has a chainwheel which is smaller than on big bikes. But I suppose everything is German, still. When I put the smaller chainwheel there, there is a ring to be removed. It isn't difficult to remove, but I nevertheless deformed a small screwdriver (the ones for doing electronic) to muscle it out. I don't know what you are supposed to use? Also, what does it mean that the crank chainwheel is so BIG, and the hub ditto is so small, and the wheel is small as well? Also, all the bolts are of a quick release version. However they don't stick hard enough even when pulled the hardest. Especially not the one holding the handlebars as that is so long! So I pulled some bolts with regular tools on the other side as well. I'm unsure exactly what that means to the quick release? The bolts seem metric, by the way. Is this also normal for an English bike to not have imperial to ease exporting the bike or something like that? The fittings to seal the bike after being unfolded don't give a lot of confidence but seems to be in its original shape. And, what do you charge for this kind of bike? Do you charge more because it is a rare/funky item or do you charge the same hoping anyone will still buy it? Photo: http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/bike/bickerton.jpg I hadn't heard about one of those for many years. IIRC, they were not pleasant to ride, largely because they were incredibly flexible. It seems the company (or at least the name) still exists, but the current designs are completely different. Regarding value, there's this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262148193860?ul_noapp=true -- - Frank Krygowski Handlebars of that nature are extremely dangerous for anything other than extremely moderate speeds. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
And using a normal bicycle chain you cannot
get smaller than an 11 tooth rear cog and that is really too small to work efficiently. 12 should be the smallest considered and 13 better. But these require a 53 to drive sufficiently fast if you have long downhills on good road surfaces. Man, it is really tedious to count with the chain and chainguard on! But the sprocket seems to be 14 tooth and the chainring 53, as you say. The chain is a normal bicycle chain, Shimano 1S 114L (originally), bolted. One cool thing is this chain has a pale, tin-like color. This matches with the grayish silver of the bike -- underground experts united http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573 |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
On 5/5/2017 7:54 PM, Emanuel Berg wrote:
And using a normal bicycle chain you cannot get smaller than an 11 tooth rear cog and that is really too small to work efficiently. 12 should be the smallest considered and 13 better. But these require a 53 to drive sufficiently fast if you have long downhills on good road surfaces. Man, it is really tedious to count with the chain and chainguard on! But the sprocket seems to be 14 tooth and the chainring 53, as you say. The chain is a normal bicycle chain, Shimano 1S 114L (originally), bolted. One cool thing is this chain has a pale, tin-like color. This matches with the grayish silver of the bike 52x14 on a 20" is something around 6.1 meters or 75 inches, a nice urban gearing. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
AMuzi wrote:
That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is fairly light but very flexible. have you ridden it yet? Now I have tried it! It is as you say very light to carry. On the saddle it feels very weak and rickety. The front and back parts aren't possible to lock with any confidence. You feel them changing position when you sit down. I'm unsure if this is due to design, wear, or both. Another problem is that when you make a turn, sometimes the pedals hit the ground as they are so close to begin with. Well, if no one wants to buy it I can always hang it somewhere as decoration. Thing is with rare/funky items, they are almost always dirty, and without anything, and/or nothing works. People always get disappointed by that after the initial surge of enthusiasm for seeing something odd. Here, it is the other way around. But is it a good bike? No. I've heard of good mini-bikes tho. Milton, right? Also English IIRC. So what is the thing with England and mini-bikes? -- underground experts united http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573 |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
AMuzi wrote:
52x14 on a 20" is something around 6.1 meters or 75 inches, a nice urban gearing. You got the 75 inches like this? echo $(( 52/14.0 * 20 )) 74.285714285714292 It seems tho that $ units "$(( 52/14.0 * 20 )) inches" m 1.8868571 so ~1.9 meters? And yes, to this bike's credit it DID feel good pedaling, so mucking with the sprocket/chainring sizes sure had the desired effect! -- underground experts united http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573 |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Bickerton foldable mini-bike (photo)
On Sat, 06 May 2017 03:51:15 +0200, Emanuel Berg
wrote: AMuzi wrote: That series of Bickerton (1979? 1980?) is fairly light but very flexible. have you ridden it yet? Now I have tried it! It is as you say very light to carry. On the saddle it feels very weak and rickety. The front and back parts aren't possible to lock with any confidence. You feel them changing position when you sit down. I'm unsure if this is due to design, wear, or both. Another problem is that when you make a turn, sometimes the pedals hit the ground as they are so close to begin with. Well, if no one wants to buy it I can always hang it somewhere as decoration. Thing is with rare/funky items, they are almost always dirty, and without anything, and/or nothing works. People always get disappointed by that after the initial surge of enthusiasm for seeing something odd. Here, it is the other way around. But is it a good bike? No. Well, you have identified the salient points of the Bickerton quite well. It is a unique little cul-de-sac of bicycle development- quirky in its looks and quirkier in its performance. I've heard of good mini-bikes tho. Milton, right? Also English IIRC. So what is the thing with England and mini-bikes? The Moulton bicycle is a small wheeled bike developed in the early 60s by Alex Moulton. Lots and lots of history online about that. |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
SideWinder (EZPAK): cheap foldable bike of the century | donquijote1954 | General | 17 | October 25th 06 07:02 PM |
SideWinder (EZPAK): cheap foldable bike of the century | donquijote1954 | Techniques | 17 | October 25th 06 07:02 PM |
SideWinder (EZPAK): cheap foldable bike of the century | donquijote1954 | Rides | 17 | October 25th 06 07:02 PM |
SideWinder (EZPAK): cheap foldable bike of the century | donquijote1954 | Marketplace | 17 | October 25th 06 07:02 PM |
Bickerton Rowlinson folding bike | Paul Naylor | UK | 3 | May 1st 05 01:35 PM |