I’ve just been through a role evaluation / job description review at work and have been awarded a £6K pay rise with back-pay of over £10K so I would like to treat myself to another bike.:D

What I want is a bike that is better suited to off road riding and one I can fit fenders and racks to if needs be.

As much as I like my Dahon MU SL, it is not suited to off road riding and those Schwalbe Kojaks are going to be scary come winter. YES, I know I could fit fenders, racks , wider wheels & tyres to the Dahon but I think it would really spoil the looks of the bike.

I do like the look of the Airnimal Rhino http://www.airnimalfoldingbikes.com/RhinoWhite.php
I have just spoken to the company and the Rhino can be fitted with fenders and various racks.

The other contender is the Bike Friday Pocket Llama http://www.bikefriday.com/node/1588

I really like both bikes, they have similar specs and price. The Llama looks more elegant, whereas the rhino looks purposeful and mean. The Llama is custom sized and takes 8-10 weeks. The Rhino is one size fits all and is available in 2 weeks. One is American and other is British. Which would you choose and why?

What have I not considered?

Thanks in advance.

""What have I not considered?""

You really need to consider how poorly small wheels ride off road, especially in sand or gravel.
If you have good dental and health insurance along with the pay raise it may not be such an issue to you though ;-)

What type of off road riding? Do you need a folder? If it is rugged riding I would get a steel frame.

I would recommend these http://www.velochocolate.co.uk/ You can use the full suspension one for your off road riding and use the mini for pootlin and commutin.

i like the look of the arnimal better and with the suspension i think that you get more for your money, also the bike friday looks more like a road bike, if your doing off road biking get the arnimal :), although the bike friday would fold better (i think) and also looks like a faster fold, the arnimal looks like you might need to do some dissasembly.

Riding the DT on any sort of off-road adventure is pretty sketchy. Been there. It just isn't built for it.

The Air Llama is the 'tougher' version of my Air Friday. It would probably be nice for fire road type stuff, but not really any serious off-roading either. The seat beam does a good job of soaking up bumps, but it scares me when I hit big compressions. It's a great touring bike, but it isn't a mountain bike. I really don't know about the Pocket Llama, but since it doesn't have any suspension at all, it's meant for different work than the Airnimal.

I don't know about the Airnimal in general. It looks pretty tough, but I have no experience.

I believe there is a version of the Pacific Reach that is for off-road use. You might have a look at it.

Why do you need a folder to go off-road? It seems like you're asking a little much of the bike, to be honest. A folder is going to have some compromises in the frame to allow it to fold. You don't want to find out about those compromises as you land from a big jump.

yay i guessed right :), also maybe he enjoys going off road on bikes, i knoiw i do :), there also might be lots of nice offroad bike paths where he lives, there also is where i live and their usually a nice ride :), maybe he wants to use a bike for that.

Thanks for the useful comments.

To answer your questions:
1. Am really keen on folding bikes now that I have tried them. I have one stored in a small space under the stairs and the Dahon lives in the porch . My Scott mountain bike is in a locked shed and chained up behind my motorbike... I rarely use it as it is so much hassle to get to.
2. Although I own a big 4x4, it is good to know that no matter where I end up on my bike I can always fold it and put it into the smallest of cars or use public transport.
3. I can store a folding bike in my office at work without it taking up too much room.
4. When I say “off-road” I’m referring to forest trails, old railway lines, bridle paths etc. I’m not looking to jump over fallen trees or ride through large holes.... I just want something that will be comfortable and won’t break.
5. Think more exhibition bike rather than hard core MTB.
6. I may take this bike overseas so I want something that can cope with bad road surfaces.
7. If I travel with it I would need to fit it in to a case.
8. Oh, and I just love the gadget aspect of folding bike.
Cheers,
Paul

OK, that makes more sense than what I was thinking. FWIW, I spent time riding the 'Rails-to-Trails' paths in Quebec not long ago on my Air Friday with skinny, slick 451 tires. It handled it no problem. A slightly wider 406 tire would have really been at home.

Note that you can get a Llama with a front shock installed; the bike is then called a pocket gnu. Note that it is a suspension with a relatively small amount of travel - not like the kind of front suspensions you seen on FS mountain bikes.

I've ridden my NWT over fire roads with no problem, even up some small hills and over roots. Although a suspension would have been advantageous, it wasn't required. So a Llama would be ideal for this terrain.

I think that these are both fine bikes, and which one to choose depends on the type of riding you will be doing. If you are going to be doing a lot of riding on the road in addition to riding on fire roads and some singletrack, I would get the Llama because it will be great for this level of offroad riding and also good on the road. If you are going to be doing significantly rougher offroad riding where the front and rear suspensions are more critical, and riding on the road is more of a secondary concern, you would be better off with the Airnimal.

PDR, having read the kind of cycling you want to do I would follow dynocoasters DT recommendation.
Congrats on the review, btw.

""What have I not considered?""

You really need to consider how poorly small wheels ride off road, especially in sand or gravel.
If you have good dental and health insurance along with the pay raise it may not be such an issue to you though ;-)
Oh rubbish (http://members.iinet.net.au/~jdekter/lakesentr2008/lakesentr2008.html). Yes bigger wheels ride better in sand/gravel but the difference is not that large, unless the sand becomes impossibly seep and loose and riding through it is a bad idea anyway. :)

My vote (FWIW) Airnimal Rhino
Reason: Full Suspension and fairly light weight.

Oh rubbish (http://members.iinet.net.au/~jdekter/lakesentr2008/lakesentr2008.html). Yes bigger wheels ride better in sand/gravel but the difference is not that large, unless the sand becomes impossibly seep and loose and riding through it is a bad idea anyway. :)

A little bit of 406 width compared to my 1 1/8" 451's would have sure been nice, though! At road crossings there was some sand and a couple times it got a little hairy.