Raleigh Twenty Shopper + Child Bike Seat + Lights

OMG What am I doing riding a Raleigh Shopper?

We have a stable of bikes in our Family. Carbon racers, fixed gear commuters, mountain bikes. However, none of the bikes were quite suitable for mounting a child bike seat

The men's commuter had a high top tube making mounting and unmounting the bike impossible with child onboard. The child seat was also quite high-up above the rear pannier, giving it an unstable feel due to the high centre of gravity.

The next bqest fitting was the ladies mountain bike with 26" wheels. However, the clearance between the rear wheel and the seat was not enough, and it would occasionally rub. Hamax do a range of mounting brackets, but none raise the height.

So time to add another bike (n+1) to the stable, with a valid excuse !

Supplies

Raleigh Twenty Shopper

Hamax child seat with bracket

Child Helmet

Child

Step 1: Why the Raleigh Shopper?

My requirements were:

Step through frame
Smaller wheels for a lower centre of gravity (20" or less)
Plenty of low-down space on the seat tube to fix the bracket low down on the frame. You should never fix the bracket to the seat post itself.
A sturdy rigid frame, avoiding folding bikes with hinges.
Internal Hub gears (3 speed) with no messy derailleur.
Side kick stand
Easy adjust seat and handlebars for all sizes of riders (up to 6').

The Raleigh Twenty/Shopper immediately came to mind!

When I searched online about the bike, I found that "Sheldon Brown" the famous US cycling guru also came to the same choice. Do I need any further justification?

The Raleigh twenty was Raleighs best selling bike of all time, and sold across the world (UK, USA, Canada, Australia).They sold one bike every three minutes, 24 hours a day for over 18 years!

An extract from the raleigh twentys website:

"Like most Raleighs, it was built with something of a Victorian engineering mindset. Everything was over-engineered. The main tube was thicker than the Dawes Kingpin, and when the folding version came along the hinge was massively over-built. Despite being an inferior design (from an engineering viewpoint) it worked well, and continues to do so to this day. The Twenty wasn't an inferior bicycle by any means though. For the average rider of the time, it was lighter than the usual roadster bicycles which had been more or less the standard for over 50 years. It was trendy and practical, particularly as a shopping bicycle. So many were made that they are still a common-place item."

Perfect, lets start shopping for a shopper

Step 2: Buy a Shopper

Looking on Ebay, Raleigh shoppers can range from £10 to £150, from poor condition to excellent condition.

raleigh stowaways (folding version of shopper) seem to retain a slightly higher price.

I found my 1980 Raleigh shopper, which was in good working order and very good condition for its age, at £40.

The owner said it needed some TLC. I picked it up, and it needed oiling of brake cables, brakes adjusting, and minor truing of wheels. The dynohub was missing lights, not that I need them. Initially, I thought the dynohub was faulty as it produced no voltage on spinning. However, switching the multimeter from measuring DC to AC confirmed it was working..

The hamax child seat was also on eBay which I also picked up for £10.

So all equipped, lets fit and ride!

Step 3: Fit and Ride!

The hamax bracket I got seemed to be missing a rubber insert. So I improvised one by cutting a section of coolant hose pipe longitudinally in two halves. This seemed sturdy, and also protected the frame. The bracket fits comfortably right at the bottom of the seat tube.

Theres plenty of space above to insert and remove the seat when required.

It also sits above the rear shopping rack, giving space for some springy suspension for the child seat.

My shopper rack has a slightly wider pannier rack. So the child leg stays, so needed a slight prising. You could make the rack narrower by bending, cutting, but I left it as is.

So everything securely in place, just add child + helmet and ride!

Step 4: Take It for a Spin!

Wow, this bike is surprisingly nice to ride. Its stable with toddler on the back. Its also easy to step on/off and belt/unbelt the child on your own. The brooks sprung mattress saddle is surprisingly comfortable for the rider. However, my daily commuter has an unpadded plastic saddle (nothing to soak up the rain)!. The two coil springs will need to be covered, to keep out prying fingers.

The lowest gear seems perfect for tottering around the park. Generally, the bike seems like it will easily handle longer rides.

The big smile on my toddlers face, and the word "bike" now added to the vocabulary, Priceless!

I really like this bike, and has plenty of scope for customisations? Another future project maybe (hmmm BMX mag wheels, bars, stem, racing saddle....)?

Nah, I'm just enjoying the surprising ride from this bike. It so adjustable, comfortable and easy to ride.

Thank you Raleigh for a splendid bit of engineering, makes you proud to be British.

Step 5: Added Some Lights

OK, I must admit I don't have the immediate need for any lights on this bike. But carrying the weight of a working dynamo hub, and not attaching any lights seemed to be an injustice. May as well fit and forget. The previous owner had removed the original lights, which was a shame.

Seeing as I am adding new dynamo powered lights, I may as well add some up to date LED light technology to the front and rear lights. I picked up this budget pair from Aliexpress for about £8 delivered. The front led is 10 lux, and has the German STVZO beam cutoff (stops dazzling oncoming vehicles/pedestrians). There is no stand light feature on either light, so only generates light whilst riding (a future project maybe?).

The dynohub can output 2.4W of power, however the front light is rated at 0.5W and the rear at 0.3W, totalling a measly 0.8W. However the light lux output is very good for the low power drag.

The front light mounted on the brake bolt. The rear rack mount was adapted with a little persuasion so I could mount the rear led. This worked out well as it's also protects the rear light from damage, being inside the rack cage.

i decided to control both lights via a master switch, as the front light had a toggle switch which annoyingly defaults to ON at the start of each ride, and the rear light had no switch. The master switch was housed in some plastic conduit trunking which was dremelled to fit between the rear stays of the frame, and waterproofed with some rubber tubing.

Dynamo lights fitted, such low drag, I just leave them switched on all the time (DRL!)

Step 6: New Tyres & Pedals & Mods

One year on.... 6/2022

The tyres on this bike were old, had hard rubber, which was cracked and gashed. I decided to go whitewall, and try these michelin city J 451*1/3/8 tyres.
Clearance is less, as the tyre is slightly fatter, but a more smoother comfy ride, albeit slightly slower.

My preference would have been schwalbe marathon plus tyres, but they don't sell them in 451 size, only 406.
So i inserted puncture protection liner tape inside the tyre.
I also replaced the tatty shopper decal with a TWENTY decal..the missing rear light had holes in the mudguard. So added a new mudguard reflector to cover these up.

Tyres were £20 the pair, some ETC rubber pedals £6 and spare 451 tube £3.

I also removed the dynamo switch unit as I wanted to simplify the route of the wiring (dynamo direct to lights). It also made locking bike easier as no wire runs in locking triangle of frame (not pictured). Daytime running lights on the bike are good for safety and have minimal drag on my setup. The LED front light is super bright even in strong sunlght.

The front wheel had a slight wobble. On further inspection, it had a missing bearing on one side of axle, and grease was bone dry. Likely never serviced. Re-greased with new bearings.

Will check and regrease the crank bearings when i get time.

Now gets used as a daily errand bike.
Did somebody mention a cult?