1989 Rudge Bi-Frame folding MTB (Montague Cycles)

Heres one from the back of the garage:

A folding MTB

Made for the Rudge brand name by Montague Cycles from True Temper cromo, originally featured a full 18spd Suntour groupset.

I've rebuilt 3 of these, to to original spec and one with full XT/ DX which sold for £250 about 4 years before I'd even heard of RetroBIKE...

not sure what to build this up with... have lots of spare Shimano. Might even put drops on it.

Nice!
Not even slightly retro, but I'd put a geared hub on it, or run it singlespeed. Low maintenance, and less greasy bits poking out to rub on your leg when you carry it.

Spooky. A few (6 or 7) years back I dreamt up an almost identical folding system. I built a prototype out of two donor frames; a Rock Lobster 853 with a trashed mech hanger (would have made a good singlespeed...) and a Hi Ten steel POS found in a hedge. The latter supplied the headtube and headset bearings used in the folding mechanism.

I went as far as building it up and riding it once, but the frame was too small for me. Also, although it folded nicely, the locking mechanism was a flexy afterthought (I'm no engineer), so I stripped the parts and left it in the garage, where it remains to this day.

A fun project that kept me out of mischief for a while, although I might not have bothered if I'd known it had been done before.

Out of interest, how much does that Rudge weigh, and how does it ride?

cheers
al

:shock:

Once built up, its like any normal low end bike, although quite a long frame so it doesnt like hills.

Weight depends on componant choice, original spec weighed in at about 31 lbs BUT this was easily dropped by fitting lighter parts.

27 lbs is quite feasable, possibly even lighter.

What size is it?

Are you looking to sell...

its about an 18" - not sure about selling just yet, wanted to do a project.

Wow a Rudge
Never knew they made bikes in the 80's, i thought they stopped in the 50's, shows how much I know :roll:

I just obtained a rudge whitworth bi frame, i want to upgrade a bit to make it a daily commuter, can I use xt on this bike.