Commuting - Commuting on Folders

I never see anyone here commuting on a folder. I have been commuting with folders for six years. As an owner of six folders, it can be the best commuting bike in the world. I commute on Dahons, Brompton, Birdy and Bike Friday. I know folders cost more and they are all about compromise but I find it’s worth it. I need to commute four miles then I fold the bike and take a train or bus into New York City. Once in the city, I unfold the bike for
another two miles to get to the office. I bring the bike and fold it right under my desk. I never have to leave it outside. Folders now come in all shapes in sizes. You can buy folders that are mountain bikes with 24 inch wheels, hybrids, road bikes and even freestyle.

The best part is the fact that I can take alternate forms of transportation. I can fold the bike and take most trains and ferries. A bus is a different issue but most won’t bother you if
cover the bike in a bag. During the weekends, I can take any train to the suburbs for a ramble since folders are always allowed. (no the case with full size bikes).

I never have to worry about it getting stolen or vandalized. If I’m just going to work and back, I don’t even have to worry about carrying a U-Lock or Chain.

I don’t want to print a rose colored picture since there are some major considerations when buying one.

Cost - They are expensive. You can’t lock a $900 dollar Birdy to a bike rack. It will get stolen. Trust me. It looks expensive. It has to be with you always. This means you have to plan where you are going. You really can’t go shopping around the mall with it since it’s heavy and it will always attract attention. You will ALWAYS get lots of looks.

Ride - A lot of folders have a hard ride. But this is only the case when you buy a sixteen inch wheel folder. I have ridden all kinds of folders including a 24 inch wheel Airnimal and it feels just like a road bike. Today you don’t have to sacrifice ride quality anymore. But if you do want a hybrid size folder, you will have to sacrifice on its folding size since it will be rather large.

Folding Ability - ALL companies lie about the time it takes to fold the bike. I have never been about to fold any of these bikes under the manufacturer time limit which is usually under 25 seconds! Most take about 2 minutes. Unfolding usually takes longer as you have to make sure everything is secure before riding. The only exception to this is one bike. “THE BROMPTON”

You see a fair few commuters on Brompton's round here. I quite fancy the idea of one for occasional use, but as my commute if Idon't cycle all the way) is only 1 mile from the station at each end I'd only be replacing four miles of walking with four miles of cycling.

I like the look of Brompton's and have heard good things about them but they're beyond my budget at the moment. I did wonder about trying to find a secondhand Raleigh folding twenty and do it up a bit (Sheldon Brown's website has an interesting example).

Has anyone any experiennce of the folding Raleighs?

Richard

I have a Brompton and will not part with it simply because it is the best 16 inch wheel folding bike in the world. It is better than the 16 inch Dahon Model since it is the only one I can take on a bus without any problems. The whole thing folds much smaller and locks together. Not many will admit it but it gives a substandard ride when you compare it to most full size bikes but that is the price you have to pay. Sure you can get better gearing but do you want to spend and extra $1000 dollars on top of the $900.00 it cost to purchase a bike?


The Raleigh Twenty is a collectors item. If you like the Twenty you might want to look at a Bike Friday since the similarities are striking!

Here's a pick of the Twenty

http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/mytwenty.htm

Here the Bike Friday site.

www.bikefriday.com

If one plans to do some travelling with the intent of doing some 40-50 mile road rides, not just noodling around, is a folder a good enough ride or would one be better off packing up the road bike? On the other hand, I assume if one were travelling by car and just wanted a bike along for casual riding a folder might be ideal.

These show what can be done with an old Raleigh
twenty:

http://ourworld-top.cs.com/Ceciliaeng/ralei/ralei.htm

www.sheldonbrown.com/raleigh-twenty.html

It's also one of the few bikes I could get upstairs and into my study, there by circumventing my wife's arguements that there's no room downstairs for another bike :D

I might have to look out for a cheap second-hand one...

Richard

"If one plans to do some travelling with the intent of doing some 40-50 mile road rides, not just noodling around, is a folder a good enough ride or would one be better off packing up the road bike? On the other hand, I assume if one were travelling by car and just wanted a bike along for casual riding a folder might be ideal."

I've been able to do "Bike New York" which is a little more than 50 miles on my BikeFriday. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be since the Friday has 20 inch wheels. I would never even think about doing this on a 16in wheel like the Brompton.

If you want a real road bike (folder) you could purchase or Air Friday and Dahon sells some folding mountain bikes. I want you to know that these are not cheap bikes and they don't fold nearly as small as the Brompton. So you have to really think twice before getting these bikes since they may not let them on the bus and you may have to "Bag" them before boarding a train. It's hard to find a good used folding bike these days since most people don't buy them and those that have them usually don't put their cycles up for sale.


Still. I won't go back to a full size bike since I've had three bikes stolen while leaving them parked outside. Never again.

I like the idea of folding bikes.

I hope the folding bike companies conquer the problem of ride quality. Sounds like a great way to avoid heavy locks, space problems on the train, etc.

"I hope the folding bike companies conquer the problem of ride quality. Sounds like a great way to avoid heavy locks, space problems on the train, etc."


It's amazing how the ride quality on folding bikes has improved over the past several years. I could not say this just 12 years ago. This is why I am against buying a folding bike that is older than 12 years. The quality was not there.

A lot of folding bikes companies are less than 20 years old. Dahon bikes in the 80's were cheaply made and sluggish to ride. Brompton's had terrible breaks with handle bars that would break in two. All of this has changed

If you don't believe me, alot of these companies allow you 30 days to try out their bikes. If you don't like them just return them back. I did that this past summer with a custom made Bike Friday. To be honest, I fully intended to return the bike since I really didn't want to add another to my stable. I only wanted to use the bike for 30 days to impress my neighbors and just use the dam thing up for pleasure. I hate to say this but now I own that dam "New World Tourist"!!!

I was really impressed with the quality of bike. This from a company that started making bikes in 1985!!

If your expecting the performance of a high end Trek. Your not going to get it. If you want something that you can put in a suitcase and travel around the world in, you've come to right place.

I just returned from Japan yesterday. I saw a number of folders being used. Some of the folders had really small wheels - like 10 inches. They looked like a scooter.

Probably the reason you don't see much about folders on BF.C is that most of us don't live in cities that have trains/subways, so we don't need to fold up our bikes. Of course, there are a few contributers here that live in NYC and LA. I wonder if they use folders.

Folders also seem like a good way to bring a bike on a road trip - like on the family vacation or something.

"I just returned from Japan yesterday. I saw a number of folders being used. Some of the folders had really small wheels - like 10 inches. They looked like a scooter.

Probably the reason you don't see much about folders on BF.C is that most of us don't live in cities that have trains/subways, so we don't need to fold up our bikes. Of course, there are a few contributers here that live in NYC and LA. I wonder if they use folders. "

It doesn't surprise me that people in Japan are using folders. What surprises me is that they are using 10 inch wheels!! Word of advice. Never get any folder that has less then 16 inch wheels unless you want a good workout!

You don't see people riding folders here for the same reason you don't see them riding bents.
1. They are expensive.
2. People buy mountain bikes (peer preasure)
3. You'll look silly on them
4. They ride terrible.

Today I got on my folder and these are the comments I got!

a. HOW MUCH FOR THE BIKE?
b. LOOK AT THAT MINI BIKE !
c. LOOK ! DID YOU SEE THAT?
d. NICE BIKE

I also stopped traffic at one light as a car came to a stop to see me. Two people also stopped in the middle of the street to look at my cycle. Do you think I can get this kind of attention on a mountain bike? NO WAY!!

I will say this, if your shy or don't like attention forget getting a folder. Since I like the attention it fits me perfectly. You should see the attention I got today as I rode my folder in Manhattan on 34th street. I was more popular than Santa!! Too bad I didn't bring my camera!

Folder population is pretty variable here in the UK. You get more in "bike literate" cities like Cambridge. I usually see a Brompton or 2 when I travel through London.

Im still looking for the ultimate carbon fibre folder. Tubes are not the best way to build such complex shapes, and most folders are heavier than they need to be. Compare the weight of a Brompton to a lightweight Moulton. Maybe Ill have to build my own.

"Im still looking for the ultimate carbon fibre folder. Tubes are not the best way to build such complex shapes, and most folders are heavier than they need to be. Compare the weight of a Brompton to a lightweight Moulton."

You hit the nail on the head. The Brompton for it's size should only weigh about 19 lbs. This is not the case at all. It's too heavy to carry any long distance which creates a problem when you go shopping.

The reason why we don't see a carbon fibre folder is cost of one would be around 2500 lbs or $3200 dollars. Most people look at the price of folders and think they are over priced as it is because of its size. A carbon fibre frame would sell even less since this little bike would cost more than a high priced road bike.

Let also not forget that Brompton is a very small company which is why after all of these years they still have only one bike. There are others who have added carbon fibre components to the Brompton but have you seen the price??

Would anyone who has tried a Strida (www.strida.com) care to write a brief road test report on this forum?

I like the Strida. There's a fellow around my way who rides on from his job to the nearby shops only several blocks away. Here's the pros and cons of the Strida.

Pros - Light, affordable (if $300 - 450 is affordable to you?) Folding is fast and can be done under 10 seconds. Can be carried on trains and buses. This is probably the only bike besides the Brompton that can do this. Most folders will have to be covered up to get on a bus or train. This bike folds like a large umbrella.

Cons - Only one gear. You're commute better not have hills. If you use it alot (5 miles per day) the bike will become a maintenance disaster. This is due to the fact that the belt drive will begin to slip ALOT and tightening it will wear out other components. If you take a close look, belt drive is not really attached but SLIPPED on and can easily fall off! While I tested the bike the belt slipped off twice!. Alot of the problems was told to me by a guy how used it every day for six months. The drive train is made of plastic and that pretty much told me NOT to buy it.

I know the drive train is rated up to 50,000 miles but don't belive that for a second. The company does not mind putting these numbers on the net since they are counting that most people won't return defective cycles.

Sill. If I had an extra $600.00 dollars to burn, I'd buy it. I would love the attention of driving it around town. I could just imagine. Cars would stop in front of me. Kids of all ages would say "COOL BIKE". Girls would stop and stare giving me the opportunity to STARE BACK!. Who knows.. Anything could happen!

If your commute is less than 2 miles and you have to fold the bike to get on the buss or tain. The Strida is just for you.