Spa Cycles Wharfe Saddle, Seatpost Raleigh Twenty/BSA20

The Wharfe saddle from Spa Cycles is rather like a Brooks Swift...and a lot cheaper. This is what you get inside the box:

A little tool for the nose bolts, and a cloth bag to put it in. I fitted it to a new alloy seat post for the BSA 20, and added a Carradice Zipped Roll saddlebag:

It's quite a 'racy' saddle, and I wonder if I'd have been better off with the Nidd which is like a Brooks B17. We'll see, time will tell. 

Apart from improving the appearance, the new saddle n post saved nearly half a kilo in weight:

	Old (g)	New (g)
Saddle:	910	525
Seatpost and clamp:	470	380
Totals:	1380	905

BSA 20, Raleigh Twenty clone

Since my beige colour Raleigh folder is with a cousin for use as a commuter, I recently picked up another bargain. It's a green, non-folding BSA 20 and this is how it looked on purchase:

The hub stamp and frame number indicates its an early 1978 model. That's the year of the film Grease, the hits Night Fever by the Bee Gees and Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty.

I've yet to decide what to do with it exactly. As I've been saying for many years, the Raleigh Twenty to a bike nut, is like a blank canvas to an artist. So far, I've merely pumped up the tyres, changed the rear brake inner cable (it was jammed with corrosion), oiled the hub, adjusted the toggle chain and generally lubed all round. Oh, and I did spend a fair amount of time unravelling a great deal of yellow knitting wool that I found wrapped around the rear hub and drivetrain. That's a new one for me!

Anyway, now I have a fully working, pottering bike for the grand sum of £15, plus cost of an inner cable.

So many possibilities... Perhaps I should start off with a strip and powder coat?