Folding Bikes - Swiss knife bike? No the Swissbike

http://www.swissbike.com/

New to me. But I guess you guys have numerous threads about it that me fail to find?

Is it expensive and heavy? Too big for my Bus anyway. I doubt our driver allows it.

The Folding Demo show the taking apart front wheel and folding the rest in detail.
I fail to make the link to it here. But you see it on their site down right menu

It show how little me knows about bikes, This is a design by the famous Harry Montague


Harry Montague, a Washington, D.C. architect and inventor, developed the original design for the Montague line of high-performance travel-friendly bicycles as a result of more than ten years of research and development.

Yep.

Left: Swissbike TX. Right: Montague Paratrooper

http://www.bikemania.biz/v/vspfiles/photos/Montague_Swiss_TX-2.gif . . . . http://www.abikestore.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000004/montague-paratrooper.jpg

Not a good choice for multimodal commutes, IMHO.

The Montague Swiss TX. I purchased one recently for $545.00. Not too pricey in my opinion. IS it heavy?
Yes, but I am in the process of replacing the cheap suspension fork with a rigid fork, the crankset with a Sugino unit, the bars with some CF bars, and replace the tires with some lighter and smoother ones.
Somebody on this forum has gotten the weight down to about 24 pounds, I believe.
The front wheel must be removed to make a complete fold. Not too handy for bus/train travel.
:)

Raxel, a user here did a nice light(er) weight converstion of his 'Hummer' branded Montague - thread here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=393732&highlight=). He says the config below with slick tyres and a few lighter [unspecified] components he can get the weight down to a respectable 8.8kg.
http://img2.dcinside.com/viewimage.php?id=bicycle&no=29bcc427b48177a16fb3dab004c86b3f36bf15545611d805e53b1c3e57fea4ede3ddb0d44e3d4f4579ad0f36afc091db9 366cda40d48e92501d7c4acbce2c0be2aae297fd46578b4b23cec1fe5dd31fcdcd8&f_no=25a8dd2be0c007a577bcdaba0eee7502709308a7dcc28be471727b10

With $40 aluminium rigid fork and some quality parts, you can easily make this bike ~10kg without spending too much. It is still large, but actually lighter than most folding bikes at similiar price range. I occasionally carry the bike on the bus and bus drivers usually let me in.

I'm now working on fitting lightweight components AND 700c road wheelset to hummer frame. Current build plan includes SRAM rival drivetrain, some lightweight parts(3T Prima 199 handelbar, F99 stem, KCNC seatpost, am classic wheelset). From my spreadsheet, it'll turn into a 8.5kg (w/o pedals) foldable road bike.

Raxel
What is the length of the Mosso rigid fork, measured from dropouts to top of crown, that you replaced the suspension fork with on your Hummer bike. :)

I haven't measured yet but it is suspension corrected fork I guess so overall geometry hasn't changed much.

Damn thing nearly killed me ....

Whilst cycling up town on one of these I have owned for 4 years, it snapped - Bike is simply not strong enough and I broke my foot - I am lucky to be here.

http://swissbikefail.com

^^^ Aluminum does that. (+ it's not Swiss. it Just Folds)

I note: the company offices are in Cambridge Mass ,Not Zurich, or Bern.

Expect the product is Imported from where most bikes are Made , overseas.
unless someone has made a visit and watched them being Welded.

In hindsight I can see the there is a huge stress on that seat tube. Nothing else on the frame to share the rider weight load and the torsional load from pedalling.

All it needs is either a longer seat tube or a far more efficient and stronger means of clamping. It was a great bike, and had been off-roaded many times. I wasn't even doing 10 mph when it happened..

All it needs is either a longer seat tube or a far more efficient and stronger means of clamping. It was a great bike, and had been off-roaded many times. I wasn't even doing 10 mph when it happened..

Is the defect a known, repeatable defect, or a "one time" case? I'm wondering because I had considered getting a Swiss bike for riding when I travel back to the BC Rockies to visit family.

I have no idea. My bike was used every day for 4 years mainly on the road. Take a look at one yourself and see what you think. It was a great bike, not too heavy and simple to fold. Before this I would recommend it to anyone. A long seat post would fix the problem.

i saw david byrne riding a montague on the westside highway bike path awhile back. 303938

The bike pictured, that broke at the seat post tube, looks like a very early and older model Montague bike. The company has been making folding 26" bikes for over 25 years, (and now 700c models), and the bike in the photo looks like one of the early 26" aluminum frame models. I own one of the more modern dual top tubes models.
I will be interested in watching to see if there are other instances of frame failures.

I don't think that type of breakage is normal, as I've looked all over for other reports of this type of failure and found nothing. I really do hope it was a one time deal,...

Spotted one of these out and about - Some clever Chinese company have improved the design

http://www.8funbike.com/detail.asp/sku=26AF18W

How is that an improvement? It just folds in the middle like a Dahon. From what I can tell in the pic,there's a button on the side that opens it;Dahons and most other folders have a lever and some sort of safety catch. And it's got crap parts compared to the real Montagues.

Slingshot bikes http://www.slingshotbikes.com/mountain-foldtech.php may be worth considering.

still made in Michigan , so not China import wally world reduced price /quality .

How is that an improvement? It just folds in the middle like a Dahon. From what I can tell in the pic,there's a button on the side that opens it;Dahons and most other folders have a lever and some sort of safety catch. And it's got crap parts compared to the real Montagues.

The funbike design is far stronger. Not reliant on a weak pin to take the strain whilst pedalling, two struts rather than one. I would only be interested in the frame - Once a pair of mavics and some disc brakes have been added there would be an ok folder.

It will only be a matter of time before it happens to someone else. The more I look at the swissbike design, the more I realise it is completely flawed.