Originally Posted by
Lalato
Actually, the Tikit clearly won, not the Dahon. The only thing was that the Tikit tipped over and the guy picked it back up. But as far as folding, he clearly was fastest.
Also, the Dahon isn't "fully" folded. Every time I tinkered with the Mu, I found that it required a lot more fidgeting to get those magnets to connect. Maybe this guy has it down to an artform, but my guess is the magnets aren't engaged there. He just has it folded.
Even so... the Brompton was the slowpoke in this "race".
The other video that Somna linked to was interesting. I don't have the showercap thing for my Tikit. It looks like a bit of a hassle compared to a normal bag.
--sam
+1 - it would be even a bigger difference if they had to move the bikes folded or unfold the bikes and ride them. That's my biggest complaint with the fold of my Dahon D7 - the amount of time/effort it takes to get the seat at the right height/rotation, the bars at the right height + 2 rotations [side to side and vertically]. It isn't an issue for an occasional fold, but you won't be highly motivated to fold the bike multiple times per ride I can assure you. That's why when I ride my Tikit with my friends who own D7s they carry locks and I don't. It's easier to take the Tikit inside with me than to bother locking it....
In fairness both their D7s together cost a bit less than my Tikit.
I just used the showercap to get my Tikit into a downtown office building for a medical appointment. It is a bit fiddly the first few times you use it, but if you depploy it a number of times you'll get quite fast. The showercap has two major advantages over any other folder bike bag I've seen 1) it's always there attached to the frame in a protective sheath ready to go when you need it. If it was a normal bag the few times I really needed to use it the bag would have been at home in my closet. 2) you can roll the bike folded or carry it while in the showercap. This is awesome when you need to be uber covert to get past the security at the door [carry it], but don't want to carry it through the rest of the building [roll it]. While rolling it attracts more attention, but it will still get past casual scrutiny.