Folding Bikes - What's your longest Folding Day?

I've seen a number of posts claiming that a folder - Bromton, Dahon, Swift, what have you - is a nice little bike for short errands (and they are), but not suitable for anything more than 10-15 miles.

So... here's a chance to brag on yourself: how far have you pushed the little wheels in a day?

27 miles on a slightly modified Merc while my girlfriend was riding her Brompton. Very casual ride, averaging less than 14mph on a nice Floridian Sunday.

80 Miles on an oriental Giant Halfway rear suspension that I sold last year

I routinely do 40-45 mile on my Downtube as part of my regular rides along the beautiful Pacific coast.

Did a 3-day ride with my wife, me on the Raleigh twenty, she on upgraded Yeah (=Dahon Helios). We did about 200+km over the 3 days. The longest day was over 90km including the little rides at either end. See here (http://members.iinet.net.au/~jdekter/wang_to_bright_2006/wang_to_bright_2006.html).

In March we plan on doing the Giro Tasmania, 1000km over 18 days. Fully loaded on the same bikes.

Did Paris-Brest-Paris on a 349-wheeled Moulton Stowaway (splits, not folds), 1200km in under 4 days, longest day about 450km. Plenty of Bike Fridays (including tandems) there.
Did the Dunwich Dynamo on a Brompton (as did Mrs LWaB), about 220km including riding to/from trains, etc. Met several there who'd done the same ride on Bromptons in previous years.

Nothing terribly long (I'm shamed by LWaB :D), but I've done 30-35 mile rides several times on my Dahon Boardwalk. I would feel quite comfortable going for longer than that.

I'd LOVE to do Paris-Brest-Paris. Major props to you, LWaB! :beer:

I'll start small -- still haven't done even a metric century! That, my Dahon might be able to do.

50 miles with no problems on my Dahon Speed 7. Very comfortable.

First post in this forum.

I've been doing a Brevet 400 (400km) on a Brompton last year, in 26 hours.

If all goes well - I'll attempt PBP this year with my bike.

Tal.

My typical day is a total of 12 miles, split into 4 roughly equal segments. The longest I've done in one spell is about 6-7 miles across London. Journey should have been more like 5, but I got kinda lost.

Bear in mind that the bike is a single speed Halfords "Apollo" folder, so it isn't necessarily that comfortable.

What felt like the longest journey was last thursday night. As a result of slight weather issues around London, I must have done a couple of miles pushing/carrying the bike, just around waterloo attempting to get onto a train.

With my drop-barred Bike Friday I've done century rides, 100 miles. My usual commuting route by bike is 25 miles round trip, which I've done with both my BFs, a Dahon Speed P8, and even my five speed Raleigh Twenty. I've done around 40 miles with the Dahon a couple of times, but it's not my usual choice for anything longer than about 20.

Nothing unusual in this. I'm sure you'll hear from plenty of people who will do any ride on a good quality folder that they would do on a road bike with bigger wheels. I see there are several examples already, like PBP.

This is pretty cool! Nice to see people treating and using these as actual bikes :-)

For the record, my longest was a touch over 100km on a Dahon Vitesse 5 speed. I think with a different seat (Brooks B67 maybe?) 100 miles would not be out of the question, but it would not be an especially fast century.

400k on a Brompton, wow. What did you do for lights?

I've done 50+ miles on my Raleigh Twenty and plan to do longer. I've done 25-30 miles on my Crescent single speed. I'll do longer on my single speed once I get a new saddle,
Juan

On my Hasa F2 bike, I have done 80km in one day, my personal record in a folder.
But mostly I am using it as a second bike to go to work, about 12km away from my home,
not often though, about once a week.

I've done London to Amsterdam, and back in a day on a Strida3.

London to Heathrow 12miles > Fly > Schipol > Train > Ansterdam > 10 miles into the suburbs, then same on way back .... 44 miles.

True Multi-modal use ... as intended.

This is pretty cool! Nice to see people treating and using these as actual bikes :-)

When I ride my Brompton with friends - They're on regular road bikes, and I can keep up with them.
Well - Not with the fastest of them, but I'm not the slowest as well.


400k on a Brompton, wow. What did you do for lights?

Back then I had the Cateye HL-EL500, but it was too big (for my S-Type handlebars.)
I'm thinking of getting the new Cateye HL-EL320, or similar.

Tal.

Have a BF and Moots compact. Ride both same distance--25-45 miles RT weather permitting. BF for touring and comfort, Moots when I don't have the time to spend on BF.

I did Bike New York with my Dahon Piccolo (40 miles) with no problem. I did have to walk up the Varazzano bridge some what but other than that, the gearing was fine. I didn't use clipless pedals back then.

I'm going to do Bike New York this year with my Dahon Presto.

I'm going to do Bike New York this year with my Dahon Presto.

I'll be doing Bike New York again this year on my Raleigh Twenty.
Juan

This is a good thread for casual browsers who maybe don't appreciate the credibility of small-wheeled bikes as real mile eaters.
My longest day is about 42 miles on my Twenty. This was in one of the hottest days of the year in 2005 for a sponsored 'marathon' ride, with a round trip of about 8 miles each way from my house to the starting line. I could have gone further if I'd needed - the bike was very capable and comfy over that distance, though if I was regularly riding that far I think I'd have a gel saddle :)

I went camping on my three speed Merc last Summer. I covered about eighty miles in two days and had a great time. I was F**ked at the end of both days, and in future, I'll drop the gear ratio by replacing the 52 tooth sprocket with a 44 toothed one that I bought from Merc for £4.50 (LOL the parts are laughably cheap).

I've done over 1100 miles on mine and the only things that I've had to replace have been four spokes in the back wheel.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6705/mercblackbullsmall4kb.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1773/mercongosforthpath2dt.jpg

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/243/hammockinwoodontour1br.jpg

I have a swift, my ave ride is about 15 miles, longest 40 miles. This is now my first choice to ride, any distance. I have been looking at setting it up to do a 300km trip in Canada this year.

As for all my folding bikes, I can choose to go as far as I care to. The option that these bikes offer me is to modify my journey to more managable parts if I feel tired or even ill (illness has actually happen to on one trip). The farthest trip I ever done on any of my folders is 10 very hilly miles on the Boardwalk and 15 varied miles on the Piccolo.

As for all my folding bikes, I can choose to go as far as I care to. The option that these bikes offer me is to modify my journey to more managable parts if I feel tired or even ill (illness has actually happen to on one trip). The farthest trip I ever done on any of my folders is 10 very hilly miles on the Boardwalk and 15 varied terrain miles on the Piccolo.

320km in 13 hours on my Xootr Swift with drop bars. More longer brevets to follow in the coming months.

I just completed a 90 kilometer stretch of road in Turkey on my mini with my partner and her DT VIII. I'll post more info when I get back to the states in a couple of months.

I just completed a 90 kilometer stretch of road in Turkey on my mini with my partner and her DT VIII. I'll post more info when I get back to the states in a couple of months.

I really want to read about this journey of yours.

My daily commute is about 17 miles a day on a Brompton M6R-Plus -- 8.5 miles each way to work, but I usually do more than that. For example, I ride a mile to pick up lunch from a restaurant in Greenwich Village that won't deliver that far away, so I ride there and pick it up on my Brompton. That adds another 2 miles to my riding for the day. The Brompton was one of the best investments I ever made.

I have done a 110mile charity ride and many 50 to 80 mile days on my Dahon Jetstream XP.Some club rides and audaxes.
I changed the seatpost for one that will take a Brooks saddle and added a 10cm stem and bar extensions to improve the reach( I am 6ft 2).The verticle stem is telescopic, which is a great thing for getting the position right.Without these adaptations I would not go more than say 30miles .
My only hesitation about the ride is that the gears can jump and generally misbehave, particularly on steep hills up .This is due to the rear suspension ,which i have pumped hard and would avoid next time, and the 9speed gears which are fussy and hard to get to work reliably with a short bb to rear axle length.I would expect a 7 speed to be more reliable in this respect because the chain would not have to to reach so far to the extremes.Or a double chainring, but then the weight goes up a little.
The shape , handling and lightness are fine for any distance.
TerryJ

Our Dahon Extreme Riders (mostly Speed Pros) here in Singapore do a weekly 100km Sunday morning ride and are aiming to complete it in 4 hours with a few brief rest stops. There are usually groups of roadies who never fail to be impress with our little bikes and surprising performance. Max speed so far 63.8kmh. Not as far as the best roadies but we are able to hold our candle respectably...

I'm with DaFriMon, I have a bike friday new world tourist with drop bars and a triple chainring. Most I've done in one day is a century on it, then the next day another century, that was CFC 2 years ago, I intend to push that mileage further this summer out in colorado when I do the triple bypass ride in july, that's 120 miles in a day on that bike, it climbs wonderfully!!

Benjamin

I did the Santa Fe Century last year on my Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe. No problems whatsoever, very comfortable, but the engine that made it go -- me -- was pretty darn pooped by the end. Long day. This year I plan to do a couple of 50-60-mile days coupled with camping.

I have a Swift with drop bars and an 8 speed Sturmey Archer hub.

I ride 100-150 miles weekly on the bike, including commuting and longer rides of 50 miles ++.

65 miles on my Dahon P8 in NYC. The smaller wheels are excellent for quick starts, hills, navigating tight spaces ie. in city to moderately congested conditions they are MUCH better than larger wheels. Out on the wide open stretches, especially with a head wind, larger wheels will (seemingly) eat up the road while the smaller wheels will lag.

Well, this doesn't quite count yet, but I plan to do a double century this year with my Downtube folder which I converted into a recumbent just for this purpose :) .
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e157/sesamecrunch/dtcruz1.jpg

VERY impressive conversion !!

I did about 100 kms on a modified Speedwell (Aussie R20 non folding wannabe, but smaller), 406 Velocity Aero rims with 58tooth chainring 16t rear singlespeed, then converted it to 3 speed S/A with 58/14 and did a similar ride FULLY panniered ......sore legs and butt, and yes my back hurt too, but had a ball.

Need to update my longest day! Did a 95km ride yesterday -- out to Shanghai's international airport and back -- on my trusty single-speed Boardwalk (52-14). The bike handled it very well! My rear end, less so -- but a Brooks is on its way!

Next week my wife & I are going on a fully loaded tour of Tasmania, a bit over 1000km over 20 days. Some rest days in between, but we are averaging about 65km per day, with the longest day to be about 120km. She on her Yeah, me on my Raleigh 20.

I also commute on my Twenty, 56km round trip every day.

Next week my wife & I are going on a fully loaded tour of Tasmania, a bit over 1000km over 20 days. Some rest days in between, but we are averaging about 65km per day, with the longest day to be about 120km. She on her Yeah, me on my Raleigh 20.

I also commute on my Twenty, 56km round trip every day.

Sounds like a great trip. From the pictures you posted a while back, I'd imagine that your Twenty is very comfortable for long distances. The Brooks and the suspension fork together must be a nice combination.

I am glad to hear that folks are doing the same miles on folders than on regular bikes. As soon as I hear back from HPM or Peter Reich and they tell me that they can get one to fit me, I will get mine ordered.