Folding Bikes - How many people actually fold and store their bike in a bike at work in a bag?

I'm in situation where I'll most likely have to fold the bike up into the bag and carry past security to get to my office area.

Anyone bag up their Downtube often? Is the bag at all clunky or fairly comfortable to toss over your shoulder and be on your way? I purchased the bike bag that sits as a nice little package under the seat and I'm quite interested to see if it blatently looks like a bike in a bag (not such a bad thing) or if it's more of a backpack looking bag that no one would look and think twice about what's in it.

My Downtube 8H should be here tomorrow and as you can see by all my posts, I'm getting quite anxious so therefore I'm trying to get insight on every detail of my commuting with it :). So pardon the posts! But I certainly do enjoy the feedback and discussion.

My Brompton rarely gets bagged, with no problems.

The bag that came with my 2007 downtube ripped out completely the second time I put it in there. Unless the quality has improved dramatically, you might want to get it reinforced or it might fall out in front of the security guard. :eek:

I keep an unbagged Dahon folded in my office for those days that I don't cycle to work and I just want a nice lunch break ride. It's locked to my desk! :) When I take my Pocket Llama into work I don't fold it when I'm in the office, I only fold and bag it when I'm on my way back into Toronto since you're not allowed to bring a bicycle into Union Station during rush hours.

Forgive my ignorance but I’ve always thought the role of security staff was to keep unauthorised personnel from entering a building?

Now as an employee of the company you are authorised to enter the building and therefore should be able (within reason) to be able to take in your personal property.

Everyone is pushing for a greener environment and promoting cycling to work so everyone with a folding bike should be able to take full advantage of the folding aspect of their bike and store it at their place of work.

My own situation is that on arrival at work I enter the building, fold my bike to place it in the lift and then go up to the Herpetairum (area housing a large collection of venomous snakes). I normally store my bike folded in a corner of my office.

There are other members of staff within the building who keep full sized bikes in their offices and I’ve not heard of any problems.

I'm in situation where I'll most likely have to fold the bike up into the bag and carry past security to get to my office area.

Have you asked security? You might be surprised.

A security guard's duties also include protecting property and enforcing building management policies. Many building managment policies forbid bicycles in buildings because they are concerned with damages from carrying/rolling bicycles down hallways, around corners and through doors. Often times they will cite fire safety concerns as a method to deter people from arguing the merits of bringing bicycles into the buildings (the arguement being that if a bunch of people have bicycles in the hallways it would prevent the flow of people out of the building in the event of a fire). It's kind of hard to argue against "fire safety". Many high rise apartment and condo buildings forbid cycles for these reasons. I was concerned the first time I brought my bike into the office building, but fortunately I had no problems.

Well I know some folks have had problems storing full size bikes inside facilities... But then recently I heard about someone who just rolls their into her office. I can also take an entrance that doesn't pass security and if it's in a bag I don't assume it will be a problem.

I don't anticipate problems. And if I do I will simply park it in the secure outside area of my building (it's a gated facility so it would be parked at a bike rack with other employees with no access to the general public. I actually have no problems doing this but I would prefer to keep it out of the elements if at all possible (and with summer coming up in Florida, you can expect daily rain showers).

A security guard's duties also include protecting property and enforcing building management policies. Many building managment policies forbid bicycles in buildings because they are concerned with damages from carrying/rolling bicycles down hallways, around corners and through doors. Often times they will cite fire safety concerns as a method to deter people from arguing the merits of bringing bicycles into the buildings (the arguement being that if a bunch of people have bicycles in the hallways it would prevent the flow of people out of the building in the event of a fire). It's kind of hard to argue against "fire safety". Many high rise apartment and condo buildings forbid cycles for these reasons.

+1 - and don't forget the type of people that can't afford a car and have to ride bikes to work tend to be those sweaty unsavory anti-establishment types!...:eek:..j/k...;)