Folding Bikes - Clean and pur frame for Duomatic, any ideas?

Hi guys,

I have this in the back of my board since quite some time.

http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee323/Tarmacblossom/NOSDuomatic-1.jpg
A NOS Duomatic. Now I wonder if I should sell it for 60,- Euro (I have a quote) or if I better keep it for a future! project. Initially I wanted to build a almost cable free (rear brake and 2Spd-kick shifter-hub) very sleek, clean bike with the hub. Now I am wondering if some small wheeler would give a good frame for it, probably not a folder for hinge-clutter. The swift came to mind but the hub is ~ OLN 111mm and swift tail is alu. Any ideas?

Ooooh, that would go so well on my MK3.....:cry:

Keep it and use it.

A wonderful hub that I have on three bicycles-an F-frame Moulton Stowaway 1965; an unidentified separable 20 inch/406mm wheeled bike and a 1980 Le Juene Track bike.

I contacted Swift Cycles to see about using one but the rear wheel drop out spacing would not work as you noted. Too bad since it would have been an excellent combination.

I also have a NOS of that hub. I built it into a 20" wheel and put it on an Eska folder with only front brake, with a Schlumpf Speed Drive giving 4 evenly-spaced gears spanning 224%, with no cable to the back. :thumb:

I rode this bike to work a few times but quickly became disenchanted with the whole bike. A big flaw is that the bottom bracket is too low and on one trip would typically have 5-6 pedal strikes! I didn't install clipless pedals as I could not build up confidence with kick-back braking with clipless pedals. Seems to me a recipe for horizontal trackstanding.

The gearing wasn't too easy to get used to either. So I have since taken the Schlumpf off again and put it on the Yeah. The Eska is going on the block soon.

Jur:
I have long considered the Schlumpf as a potential experiment on my Moulton with the Duomatic.

Thanks for testing the water ahead of me.

Was your BB unusually low? [I am not familiar with the Eska folder.]

What aspect of the gearing was problematic?

Jur:
I have long considered the Schlumpf as a potential experiment on my Moulton with the Duomatic.

Thanks for testing the water ahead of me.

Was your BB unusually low? [I am not familiar with the Eska folder.]

What aspect of the gearing was problematic?
The Eska was apparently designed for bigger wheels, even though mine came with 406 rims. The BB is maybe fine for pootlers ambling to the shop but for me screaming around corners and being used to be able to pedal around some of those, it was no good. The Eska is an old Czeq brand; many of these were sold under different brand names, like Dahon today.

The problem with the gearing was that for most shifts to the next gear, I had to perform 2 shifts - one back-pedal, one on the Schlumpf. This is because the 2 gears next to each other where one does most cruising were separated by the 2 shifts.

That said, I didn't give it much opportunity to mature, due to the disliked low BB. I had every intention for this bike to be my workhorse commuter.

60 bucks is a good selling price ... however these could be so easily make a great beater bike. I would keep it and see wha can be done in the future with it....

If I had one, I'd build it into my Moulton Stowaway.

At one point I modernized mine, with the SA 8-speed hub, and it was great fun to ride it that way, but where the bike was designed for no cables, it now had two --one for brake, one for shift. This way I could still separate the frame, but the truth was I just didn't. Too inconvenient. I eventually returned the Stowaway to stock, but still long for a little more gearing. This hub would be the best solution. Another solution would be a Nexus-4 with a coaster brake and automatic shift... but I just wasn't interested in that.

ThX much for all the answers. So I guess, its a keeper then. The swift would have been so nice. What do people think about a diamond frame with couplings?