Folding bikes

Hi all!

I know we have some biking enthusiasts on the forum and I am looking for some advice. I would like to get back into some mild biking, especially when we are camping and have been considering a folding bike. I like the idea that it packs up small, I can take it on boat trips, I don't have to load it on the roof (will throw it in the cabin of Dottie), etc.

I have been considering a couple of brands: Dahon, Tern, Bike Friday, Mezzo (based on internet research, I haven't gotten on them yet).

I did take one of Evan's for a test ride at the NWRU, and that was fun, but was hoping to go a bit smaller.

The Bike Friday appeals to me most, mainly because they are custom made for each person and their body type in my home town, but the cost is higher.

Here is what I am looking for:
- something that rides more upright (I have tendinitis/bursitis in my shoulders and can't be slumped over).
- good on hard dirt (but level) or short gravel roads (I live on one)
- something I can run to the grocery store or run to neighborhood appointments on
- something I can ride on paved trails with my son
- we have a lot of hills, so I would like to have a few gears to help

Do folks have any experience with them?
How is the quality of the one you have?
Do you have other brands/models you know of that might work for me?
I plan to test ride, but do you have advice of things I should be looking for?

Thanks for any help! It has been a long time since I bought a bike for myself, and just trying to cover my bases.

 

Hi Sarah, we have 2 Dahon folders since we live in a high rise condo. It's easy to carry etc. the folding part will take some practice. Going on about 6 years of owning them, these are my 2 cents. They suck off pavement, but are quick and smooth on pavement. The seating is very upright. Only problems we have had have been the tires, but I can't blame Dahon, rather it's hard use. They do have a kinda flexy feel to them. Meaning the handlebars seem to creak and flex under hard turns etc. overall, pretty good bikes. Probably better for a shorter person under 200 lbs.

 

I have 2 blocks of gravel road before we hit the pavement, so it isn't much, but wanted something that if it is hard dirt, I would do ok. Maybe I will call Bike Friday and see what they say. They make bikes for off road, as well as city riding, and might be able to make me a hybrid of some sort. I will also give the other bikes a test ride.

 

Are you looking for something between mountain bike and road bike? Maybe just swapping out the tires on a folder?

 

I feel like I want a road bike that can handle a little of what a mountain bike can do (because of dirt trails and gravel roads), but I also feel like that is going to be fairly minimal. I will be on more pavement (especially since a lot of the bike trails at our SPs tend to be paved...particularly the ones my nearly-5-year-old will be able to handle). I am just liking the idea of having and all-around bike that I can take anywhere, and put in my pocket when I am done. Not sure if that exists.

I sat on a Tern at REI today. Feel like the handle bars were slightly far forward to what I am looking for. Their selection is super small too (they didn't have a Dahon put together either), so that is my first try out. Just need to be careful with this shoulder. It has finally stopped hurting, and I want to keep it that way, as long as possible (it has been damaged so many times, it isn't afraid to let me know when I have gone too far).

Living in Portland, we have lots of bike shops, I just need to get out and visit them. Just want to do my research so I don't look like a complete idiot asking for a folding bike I can take on gravel. I have a feeling they will put me in that 'unrational' or 'unhelpable' bracket. With the bike culture here I have come across some really helpful people, and some 'holier than thou' folks...best way I can describe them (ever seen the 'Angry Bike Messenger' skit in Portlandia...yeah). Some of the folding bike forums look really intimidating, especially compared to what I am used to here. They had a whole list of things I needed to do before asking questions. Kind of scared me off!

I will keep looking and keep asking questions. Will let you know where I end up. If other have suggestions, I am open!

 

Who doesn't want a bike that can fit in your pocket? Kinda reminds me of the Jetsons! The 'holier than thou' bike crowd is prevalent here too. One last note since you mentioned your shoulder...spend the little extra $ and get an aluminum versus steel frame. One of our Dahon is aluminum and it is a lot lighter than the steel one (and has an extra speed).

 

My wife and I have put several thousand miles on our Bike Fridays in the five years we have owned them. We are pretty serious cyclists but even riding a mile on a bike makes any day better.

We have the Pocket Rocket model which means they are road bikes (with drop handlebars). As you know, Bike Friday makes a number of different models for folks with different needs and interests. They even make the Tikit model for commuters.

The Fridays are probably more expensive than the other brands but we wanted the custom build so we could have our Fridays have exactly the same geometry of our "larger" custom-made Serotta road bikes (same pedals, same seat, same handlebars). Bike Friday can put the three "touch points" (seat, pedals, handlebars) wherever you want them to make your riding comfortable for whatever you want your riding to be.

We often ride our BFs on crushed limestone trails. The slightly larger tire size works well on non-pavement and would work fine, I think, on relatively short gravel roads. We do not hesitate to go a few miles on gravel but our models are not dirt-path bikes. Tell BF what you want to do and let them do some fitting to your needs. Best thing to do is to keep doing test rides on a variety of bikes and tire sizes.

We normally just remove the seat/seat-post and fold the bikes to fit into some black carry-bags from BF to put the two of them into the trunk, the back seat or in the teardrop. This takes only a few minutes. We can also disassemble them just a bit more and they fit into Samsonite suitcases that can be checked on an airplane, which we have done several times. This takes more like 20-30 minutes.

We just returned from a (flying) trip to California for a couple of weeks where we shipped our bikes by UPS there and back. Managed a half-dozen rides, about 120 miles, in the following places: Napa Valley, American River Trail in Sacramento, California coast near Pacific Grove and Monterey, Santa Ana River trail and Newport Beach in Southern California, in Santa Barbara, and San Francisco. The image is from our ride last Monday in SF (in the far background) just before we rode over the Golden Gate Bridge, about a mile behind us. While we were not camping, sadly, it is this ability to ride wherever we happen to be, for one mile or for 30 miles, that attracts us to folding bikes to go with our teardrop.

Our goal when we retire in a year or two is to travel with our teardrop and our folding bikes and ride wherever we can camp.

We think folding bikes are a natural companion to a teardrop! Good Luck with your research.

Don

Don&Sue
550 Ultra #357

 

Hi all!

I am in Eugene this weekend for my High School reunion, and my mom and I decided to go over to Bike Friday and check things out and have a chat with them. They are the Camp-Inn of the folding bike world, I am convinced.

They gave us a full tour of their factory, talked to me like I am not completely crazy, and we worked out what I need and how we are going to make it work. They are amazing. Nothing was impossible, but some things were better than others for what I was looking for.

For those wondering, I have had them spec out a bike for me that is their New World Tourist model. Due to the use around the sea (on boat trips), gravel roads I live on, and camping trips, as well as getting around the neighborhood, they thought this would be best for me. They will do special handlebars (more of a cruiser style), and I think we have a winner!

My mom actually did buy a bike (she got a Tikit).

Now, if I can talk Mick into the price, and call it a birthday/Christmas/birthday/Christmas/etc gift, we are set. Even picked out my colors! Midnight blue and lime green!

If you are looking for folding bikes, definitely check them out. They are going to be a little higher price, but stand behind their product, and the customer service was fantastic. Plus, like Camp-Inn, everything was quality.

 

Sarah,

Those are nice looking bikes. I was planning on getting a bike rack next year but may have to think about the folding bike as an option.

 

Hi Sarah:

I have a Bike Friday "Pocket Sport" and love it. I totally agree with you that Bike Friday is the Camp Inn of the folding bicycle world. Their commitment to customer service along with the enthusastic community of owners feels very similar.

When I placed my order, all of my measurements just happened to fit in the parameters of one of their stock models, so I saved quite a bit of money. I was able to get it set up with nearly the exact same measurements as my street bike. I installed the same seat and clips and handle bar, so it feels very similar to my "regular' bike.

I have yet to take it in a plane as luggage - that was my original intention in ordering it. I have aspirations to fly into one airport, bicycle-camp my way for a week to another airport and then fly home.

Good Luck finding the cash and the spousal support to get one!

 

I have to thank Sarah for starting this thread. I had been mulling over how to accommodate a bike while camping and had not gotten anywhere. To me camping and biking go together. This tread started me thinking. Folders, as I assumed, where the worst of all options. Bike Friday showed me that you can get real bike performance in a compact package that did not require a rack or force you to stow the bike in the trailer in order to bring a bike along with you, you just needed some dollars.

I being the inquisitive type had to investigate options. Research quickly narrows down the list of serious folders to four: Dahon, Tern, Bike Friday, Brompton. I found a local bike store that had all four in stock and they had plenty of different models to look at. I pretty much wrote off the Brompton, everything about it looked wrong and concentrated on the others. It became quite apparent that the Dahon, aka David Hon and the Tern were very similar. They featured Aluminum frames with similar components and design. The irony is that they were not one company doing business under two names; they were rather one family doing business as two companies. Hon’s son split from his father and went into business for himself. I should point out that their family gatherings are no happy affairs. The interesting thing is that in Asia, folding bikes are very common and they have progressed a long way, their bikes are very sophisticated and well-priced. I looked at the Bike Friday and was impressed with everything about it. It is a real bike that that you can break down somewhat for traveling. My requirements are different than Sarah’s and I needed something closer to an urban bike. I still take the bus to work and need to bike to the bus and I expect to take my bike with me while traveling by air. So back to the Dahon/Terns, they matched most of my criteria, were a fraction of the price for a Bike Friday so after a lot of test rides, I bought a Tern. I needed lower gearing so that was going to get fixed, not a lot of c ustomization available but it would work.

The funny thing was that the entire time I was at the bike shop; I kept looking at this funny little package hanging on the wall, the Brompton. After a night to sleep on my decision, I realized that I had not ridden or taken a good look at the Brompton. So bright and early the next day I show up and say I want to ride the Brompton. At this point I need to point out all the reasons why Brompton looks wrong:

-They look funny, or I should say silly like from a bad Monty Python movie.

-The handle bars are like an old banana bike, they look especially silly.

-The tires are only 16 inch, how does that work?

-They are engineered and manufactured in England. For any out there who understand the British reputation for producing quality and reliable mechanical products, this should be sounding the panic klaxons loud and clear.

-Nothing on it is like any other bike made, everything is proprietary to Brompton.

-It is put together like a 3D puzzle, you just marvel how everything fits when it is folded.

-Its gearing does not sound promising; it is sold as a 1, 2, 3 or 6 speed bike. If you remember your geography lessons, the NW is vertically advantaged.

-The people who ride these bikes are generally silly, they race them a lot and besides a helmet, the racers all wear a white dress shirt, tie (bow or regular) and a sports jacket, even the women racers.

So I test rode the bike. The Dahon has pretty squirrely handling, the Tern was rock steady and so was the Brompton. I tried the Brumpton on the same hills as I had with the others and it was more than adequate. The gearing it appears could be made to work. The Brompton is not as close to a real bike as a Bike Friday but it is still a pleasure to ride. What it really excels in is how well it folds for traveling. It also has more innovations on it than any other bike I have seen. It is not a mountain bike or a long distance touring bike but it can certainly stand in as a more than credible camp bike, albeit, not a cheap one.

Needless to say, I canceled the Tern and am now a proud owner of a Brompton.

I just wanted to contribute my experiences to this thread.

Perhaps we should open a sub form for bicycles since this is a topic that gets discussed frequently.

 

A friend recently told me about the Bromptons. They are sold as the 'original folding bike', so there is some good history there. Mick was trying to talk me into a some other bike made in Britain (started with a P). They looked like a folding version of my old Schwinn, except, mine had a banana seat!

Being married to a Brit, and feeling like he is a quality product (albeit Superhuman these days! My half-million dollar man), I tend not to shy away from many British items. I still have 'my' Bike Friday in their system, but have been considering finding a bike shop with the Bromptons. There must be several in PDX that carry them.

Did you take it off road at all? Just curious how that handled. Wondering if I might be able to adjust it to work for me. Need to look into it.

I saw a funny bit of banter on one of the folding bike sites. Went something like this:

Q: Will I look silly riding a bike with such small wheels?
A: yes, but you get used to it.
Q: Will I look like a circus bear riding a bike?
A: Not unless you are wearing a bear suit.

Needless to say, should I get my folding bike, you know what I am going as for Halloween! That is brilliant!

Congrats on your purchase!

 

The Seattle area has two major dealers, the only one I could find in Portland is Clever Cycles. The biggest dealer of folding bikes in the US as far as I can tell is www.nycewheels.com. There is lots of information on their site. They used to carry BF, but the BF sales model did not sync well with how they sold bikes. I think you might want to look at a Brompton and take it for a test ride, however, I think unless a small folded size is really important to you, that you probably made the right choice with the BF. Ironically, Brompton is very much like Apple. They control every part of the design, engineering and manufacturing process. A lot of what they do is proprietary in order to achieve their design goals. There is a lot of innovation, both obvious and subtle in their designs. Ordering a Brompton is like ordering an Apple product, you can do it all interactively on their web site and you can order color schemes that are remarkably similar to those available for Apple products. If you need something special beyond what is offered, just like Apple, you are out of luck. Brompton owners also tend to be members of a cult similar to Apple users. It certainly has been jolly good fun reading about all the folders.

By the way it does fine on dirt and gravel, it really is not for technical single track, hoping curbs or going over large stones or roots. I got the 6 speed that was geared low and so far it has really done well on the hills. The Brompton will go fast and people do ride them for long distances, however, if you are an aggressive rider, like technical terrain or to stand on your pedals while climbing it is not the best option. I will say that they are really cute all folded up.

 

My mistake...the bike Mick wanted me to get was a Bickerton Bike (P, B...same thing, sort of!).
http://www.bickertonportables.co.uk/

He even found them for $99 on eBay for me! What a gem he is. It was even the original and is a considerate savings to the Bike Friday. At least that is how he was selling it to me. He didn't get to be a Director of Marketing by not selling stuff...I am a tough crowd when I have my mind made up though (and he swears I am the only woman in America who isn't affected by his accent! Ha!)!

I am curious what they have come up with for their 40th anniversary. I can't find anything, so I am wondering if it was a limited run and done, or if they haven't come out yet. Maybe I can snoop around when we are in the UK and see what I find. I will have room in my suit case after we drop off all of the Xmas/birthday presents for the family (alterior motive in buying big gifts? I plead the fifth!).

I have been into Clever cycles, and they do some good work on specialty bikes, and have a good selection of Euro brands (Dutch and Swedish especially...love their Dutch bikes, but they are HEAVY! I am too short for the Swedish bikes, but they were also nice). Maybe I need to go visit again. Last time I was in, they steered me quickly away from folding bikes when I mentioned my gravel road.

 

Sarah,

How much gravel and what type are you going to be biking through? The tires and suspension on Brompton are not a problem so much as the small wheels. 20 inch would be a wee bit better than 16 inch, but everything I have ridden through with the 16 inch tires has not a problem as long as I keep aware of how responsive the steering on my bike is.

Interestingly enough, I was following a thread that took me to clever cycle’s web site and the following post:

http://clevercycles.com/2010/11/26/down-the-pacific-coast-by-brompton/#

The author does mention gravel. They seem to be a good outfit and at least they would let you ride one and you can see for yourself if gravel is going to be a problem.

Also, I did not intent do disparage any English goods that might be in your possession. Rather, I was thinking more of all those fine British motor cars that are so finely crafted and oddly compelling but which require a lot of repairs and maintenance in order to keep them operational.

Stephen

 

No worries! I was only teasing back. We always joke about the Jags and Land Rovers being the least reliable cars, and the cuisine being something nobody craves (must we boil and fry everything?). It seems, since they started putting Ford engines in things, they have become more reliable. No offense taken at all! Mick found it hilarious, and we are good humored about it. The Brits are very good at some things, and in the past, not so Grea at others. Even Top Gear (UK version) constantly comments on the very same thing!

 

Will I look silly riding a bike with such small wheels?
A: yes, but you get used to it.


Sarah, it wouldn't be any different than being asked "Do you sleep in it" for the teardrop....

tina

 

I figure I am already used to silly questions (in all aspects of life...boy, do I have stories!), so this seems a natural fit!

 

There is one downside owning a folding bike has that I should mention. They are still not very common in the US outside of a few cities like NYC so they are still a novelty for most people. So, if you think giving trailer tours is time consuming, you will likely have the same problem showing people your folding bike. I seem to be spending as much time giving tours of my new folding bike as I do of our trailer.

People can instantly tell there is something usual going on when they see a full grown man biking around on 16”wheels and they naturally just have to find out what’s up with that.

 

Unless you want to take your bike on an airplane this seems kind of a waste. There are many good bikes out there. I really don't want to put a dirty bike inside.

Just my opinion. And yes I do own both a mtn bike and a road bike.

A folding bike would most likely not be very practical if you want to do any climbing.

Dave