Experiences of *old* folding bikes?

I wouldn’t really say the Black Jacks are a ‘bmx’ tyre. I think they are too skinny to be used by anyone serious about bmx riding. I thought they’d be more...I dunno, junior mtb?

In terms of proper bmx tyres I’d consider there’s two options, a primarily slick street tyre that’d take high pressure (100psi+) and be reasonably puncture resistant or a knobbly dirt tyre that’d be much lighter weight and hence, less puncture resistant and takes lower pressure so would look good but not be so much use for urban use.

I’m perhaps over simplifying things and basing this on outdated buying experiences though as I’m sure there’s tyres available nowadays that work both on and off road and are available in 20” size.

Not really all that knobbly, but I run Kenda small block 8s on one of my R20s and they are fine for gravel farm tracks and paths where I live (plus they were free from psg1ben!). I've never had a puncture with them.

I'm running some wide maxxis DTH on my folder at the mo, good on the road and gravel

Have just entered the folding bike game with this

..just realised that's the same PUCH frame as M_V's a few posts down from yours, also the same tyres, haha..

running some wide maxxis DTH on my folder at the mo, good on the road and gravel

..that's nice, two of those cost more than what I paid for the whole bike though!
: D

Oh yea I have found a nice bike, a "MIFA MiniRad"!

It's basically a little folding bike without the folding mechanism, from former East Germany.
Picked it up today! It is a super fun ride, and the colour makes you go

I shall take a proper picture tomorrow.

How much is shipping?

About 70-80 GBP as it turns out..

Oof. I bought all my Raleighs for less than that (though I might have spent a bit more on them since!).

Looking forward to seeing what you got.

@M_Vatwork is the account I have to use when I’m on the pc...at work.

..as the avatar of your regular account is NSFW?

: ]

Maybe, haha!

They've blocked access to webmail accounts at work so presume it's something to do with the sign in process.

Nice.

Knobblies would make it spot on!

^

It's a "MIFA MiniRad" (one of these).

Apparently they made almost 3 million folding bikes from 1967 to 1990, and just before they quit they made a few of those non-folding ones apparently (haven't found out why exactly) in the first half of 1990.

This is exactly how I bought it; it's pretty much in its original condition, bar the tyres and the rear light.

Cheers @M_V - yeah, knobbly tyres are already ordered.
: ]

The bike is quite nippy and super fun to ride, albeit it just takes a while to get from A to B (it's 48:16).

In other words: what are my best options to get some useful gears on this?
I already looked for 20'' wheels with hub gearing, was surprised how expensive they are apparently, even second hand..

Sturmey Archer hub (second hand AW 3) and a bit of wheel re-building?

Given time, table space and YouTube they're fairly straightforward to service - I've been happy with mine on a Raleigh Twenty using a 14T sprocket.

Yup, get yourself a Sturmey hub. They show up as bare hubs on eBay pretty cheaply and a shifter, indicator rod etc will cost you buttons.

In fact, you in the UK? There’s a 20” 3speed rear wheel from a chopper on eBay the now, £16 + £6 postage.

Berlin, I believe. Also, I recently chucked a complete working Shimano 3 speed wheelset (+shifters) in the skip - shoulda known it would be useful to someone in time.

U wot m8?!?

Yea, I'm in Berlin.. shall keep my eyes open, I'm sure with a bit of luck I'll find a hub (or even a complete 20'' wheel). A friend of mine recommended also looking at 20'' children's bikes that do use them, not sure whether they all fit but I'll check it out!

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

It’d probably be something that you’d find for a good price at a bicycle recycling cooperative charity kind of place if there’s anything like that near you?

It looks like your wheel is 32 spoke - that might be more difficult to find than 28 or 36 if you go down the older SA hub route.

Cheap 14T freewheel as an interim measure?

Yes, it indeed is 32 spoke.

Cheap 14T freewheel is not such a bad idea, though I gotta say this bike has the best coaster brake I ever used in my life (which is kind of funny as you're not really able to go that fast in the first place)!

Thanks @M_V - indeed I know of a community repairing place not far from here, alas half of them are idiots and the other half is usually stoned out of their minds so this has been counter-productive in the past.
There's a friend of mine that knows how to build wheels actually, hope he will be able to find time to teach me this winter.

I guess this might be ridiculous given what I paid for the bike, but how much would it set me back if I were to build a completely new wheel?

There's a friend of mine that knows how to build wheels actually, hope he will be able to find time to teach me this winter.

It's dead easy, I did mine from online guides. If you decide to go ahead let me know and I'll post the main ones I used. Don't forget to budget for the spokes!

If you go to the effort of building I'd switch to alloy rims, especially if you want rim brakes. If you want to keep it coaster brake and have gears you'll need to get a hub gear with coaster. I have an SRC3 on my Kingpin.

Are those 20" BMX size (406 ERTO) or one of the vintage 20" sizes? If the latter it will be hard/expensive/impossible to find alloy rims - which of the three depends on exactly which 20" you have. 406 will be no bother at all.

Oh, and I love your bike :)

Thanks for your feedback!
: ]

Ok, so I could get a second hand 20'' kid's bike with a 3-speed hubbed rear wheel (like this) for like €30 in ok condition - and just use the rear wheel.. there are ones that wouldn't look too bad on my bike, and I'm assuming they will fit (?).

On the other hand I'm quite inclined to build a wheel myself as I would like to learn how to do this.
So yes, if you have the time I'd appreciate if you could link the videos you found helpful!

The wheels I have apparently are 20'' ETRTO 47-406 (at least this is what it says on the tyres).

I have found an article on 3-speed coaster brake hubs here - maybe interesting for some.
Actually there's an old model ("pre 1981") S&A AWC hub in like-new condion on eBay right now for about €25 (link) ..this is good, right?

What spokes / rim would be recommended?

Thanks everybody, I appreciate your help!