The featured project is John McDaniel's make over of a beat up Raleigh folding bike into a more comfortable suspended bike. We were glad to have been part of this project, providing most of the parts for the retrofit. Below is what John had to say about the project.

The only original pieces retained were the frame, seatpost, and carrier rack (although even it was filed smooth, sandblasted, and painted semi-flat black).

A lot of the parts are new - fork, stem, rims, spokes, front hub, chain disc, crankset, bottom bracket, chain, suspension seatpost adapter, tires.

I used Phil Wood bottom bracket retainer rings to allow the Shimano BB-UN72/115 to be installed in the unmodified Raleigh Super Coarse (26 TPI) bottom bracket. A Shimano RSX 170-mm three piece crank was installed. The inner chainring was discarded and the 46T outer ring was installed 'backwards' in it's place. This allowed a perfectly straight chainline to the Nexus Inter-7 coaster brake hub. Shifting is by Shimano Twist Grip shifter.

Bike Friday folding pedals were used help reduce the envelope of the folded bike.

The chainstays were carefully spread to 130 mm to accommodate the Nexus. It was also necessary to widen the dropout slots slightly.

The stock drive setup, using a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub, gave a gear-inch range of 44 to 78 inches. By changing the standard Nexus sprocket to 18 teeth, the new system covers 32 to 79 gear-inches.....which seems appropriate for the intended use of this folder.

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