Raleigh RSW MkII

ive got a mk2 , Same colour...

Mines a bit modified, Koolstop pads, brooks leather saddle, 4speed internals, chopper front tyres front and rear

Nice little bike. They will take a hammering too... I'm 6ft, Around 13st and ive spent all day riding mine before. From romsey to fordingbridge, accross the new forest. Some road , Some gravel. .

Ive done some customising of RSWs. Heres the last one I had.

Then I got a couple of kids bikes, with 20 spoke wheels, one had a SA AW 3 speed hub, so I built the 3 speed into the good alloy rims. I also shortened the top of the headstock, and recut the steerer tube threads to the standard pitch. So I could use a ball bearing headset with the stem clamp. I also narrow and recut the BB shell to take standard BB cups and square taper axle.

I got Mag wheels from a Raleigh Mini Burner. I swapped the front axle for one with flats on it, Like a Strumley rear axle. But the right thread pitch and diameter for the cones. I fiddled about with lock nuts. these come in various widths. A lot of modern wheels have locknuts that are bigger than the wheel nuts.

Those particular Raleigh Mags had a very wide hub. so just missed the tubular part of the fork ends.
If your gonna swap the wheels for modern BMX wheels. The rear wheel probably will go straight in. The front will need a bit of work. It just depends on the wheel. Some modern wheels in this size still have the 5/16" BSCY thread size. And might fit straight in. others will be 3/8" BSCY. A little thicker. As I said, you can get axle with flats on them. Or you can file out the fork drop outs a little.
You can cold set the forks to the modern standard of 100mm. either with a car jack between the fork blades, or a scaffold pole on them.
The Strumley AB drum brake hub you have, isnt supposed to be the best in retardation. Other RSWs had a very long steel centrepull brake.
I had drilled the stem on my RSW, then ran the cables down thru the stem, and out the bottom of the fork CROWN. Like a BMX does. Then thru the cross bar. I had 2 metre cables. needed longer. And I was too tight to buy the Tandem cables I needed. So gave up on it.
10" motor scooter tyres will fit on 16" bicycle wheels. Its better if the rims are really wide. I fitted a tyre onto a Raleigh Mag, I think it was from a yamaha scooter. It wont fit in the RSW frame tho. I did manage to get it in a more modern frame that was built for 20" rims

funny you should say that about use of a pitbike, we have one very similar (a folding bike). it is inkeeping the the retro ride style, rusty, but unfortunaterly lowered as much as possibe (believe me, i would if i could). it was rescued from a skip, and the whole team found it highly entertaining when a mashed up vw owner asked if it was for sale! it gets rode to work on a regular basis, and the lads in the yard were argueing over who got the best deal on thier £300+ bikes, to which i replied, "i got paid £120 to take mine away!"

Question: If I buy a cheap secondhand kids Raleigh BMX with 16" wheels, are they likely to be an easier fit than other makes? Or are modern Raleigh wheels different anyway?

Modern Raleighs are much more standard than what they were. It does just depend on the bikes. I don't know much about the little bikes, in so much as what model will have what wheels.
This thread was on here recently.
retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=othrmod&action=display&thread=114289
I think bikes like this, that are a bit different than regular diamond frames. More like the old Strikas. They are more likely to have the thinner front axle. Tho this one gets stunt pegs on the front wheel. those look like screw on pegs.
If you can get to the bike. then try a front wheel nut on the rear axle. It wont go on, if its 5/16" A rear axle nut, in 3/8" size will loosely go on a 5/16" axle.
A 3/8" wheel nut will take a 15mm spanner. a 5/16" nut will usually fit in a 14mm or some imperial spanner size. Tho there are some 5/16" nuts that are thicker. I prefer them, as theres more surface area to hold onto the forks, and you only need a 15mm spanner

heres the Raleigh Max that I got from a Charity shop for £4.

I used its front wheel in the RSW. And built a 3 speed hub into the rear wheel, instead of the single speed wheel.
Raleigh have been using the Max name for a while, so there will be different models.
The wheels were 20 spokes. RSW and Twentys, tend to be 28 spoke. bigger wheeled bikes ussually have 36 spokes. More spokes share the load. Make the wheel stronger. There is a theory that small wheels need less spokes, as they will be too rigid with 36. And be harsh to ride. I think its more that they are easier to build with less spokes. 20" BMXs have loads of spokes in there wheels. ussualy 48, but can be more. they are a git to true up, as theres no room for the spoke key to turn. Also, its difficult to get big fancy dustcaps onto the valve.
I'm 5'8", 15 stone. Had no problem riding the 20 spoke wheels.

good choice I quite like them

here's a pic of mine just before I tried it out for the first time ,
well after I had put the pedals back on and put air in the tyres



I think I will go for a bare bones one , if I find another one

Mines same colour. I'm adapting to have electric assist through the gears by using a freewheel crank. Chopper front tyres front and rear.

Paul H

got this one which I am kidding myself I'll ever do anything with it,
sad really as it is quite a rare bike.
pic as I got it home , then put it away , should clean up quite well