Folding Bikes - folding bike

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Chuvak
06-16-03, 03:26 PM
I’ve decided to buy a bike for my mother! For health improvement of course (and you all thought for racing hah?). Yes, I know it’s so sweet of me, however, she has no place to store it and I want to buy her a folding bike http://www.dahon.com/folding-bicycles-us-models.htm. Click on Vitesse D3. Here is my question: Will the “different” geometry and sitting position of this folding bike do the same job in health improvement as well as a regular frame geometry? Meaning weight loss, muscle gain.

Rev.Chuck
06-16-03, 08:36 PM
Geometry does not really matter, it is all about riding it at a hard enough pace to burn calories with out going anaerobic. If she takes it out every day and works up a glow(sweat) for thirty minutes, she will see improvement in her health.
Dahon.Steve
06-16-03, 09:50 PM
I have two Dahon folding bikes and they are good value. Dahon makes solid bikes. I've put a couple of thousand miles on my three speed and consider it indistructable. I see your getting the midlevel model and I don't consider it a bad choice. If you can afford it, buy the CraneCreek Thudbuster. It really will improve the ride.

When you unfold the bike the first time and get the settings perfect for her, make a mark on the seat post. The next time she unfolds the bike, it won't be a problem getting the perfect fit.

The geometry isn't bad at all and I actually was able to do Bike New York (43 miles) on a Speed 8. It looks kind of funny but the seating position is more of comfort bike than a hybrid.

She should ride in 2nd gear 95% of the time and use 1st gear only for hills. If you think she might want more gears, get the Boardwalk 7

MichaelW
06-18-03, 05:02 AM
Besides Dahon there are some higher performance folding bike. Birdy and Brompton are well regarded as folder/commuter bikes. Bike Friday and Moulton are more high-performance takedown bikes, which can store small, but are not meant for rapid (sub 1minute) folding and unfolding. The Airnimal is a good option as well.
You can have S and S coupling added to a conventional bike for a good takedown machine.

check out
http://www.atob.org.uk/Buyers'_Guide.html