Folding Bikes - BMW Q6.s folder

A bit different folder....BMW mountain bike, 27 speeds, hydrayulic discs, XTR drivetrain, and a very cool adjustable BMW Telelever front suspension, and rea adjusts as well.....

folded:


Ready to ride:


Leave it to BMW to build a bike that will fit in the trunk of a Z3 or Z4...

^ I had seen that bike in a magazine ad several years ago. I didn't realize it could fold!... well... sort of fold...

Are they pricey? :)

Isn't telelever about eliminating stiction? Then why the stanchions?
And that's hardly a "folding" bike. Any rear-suspension MTB will fold, and the wheels come off.

^ Think automotive McPherson Strut for the front suspension of this bike. The spring and hydraulic damping characteristics and capabilities come directly from the coil-over-shock unit connected to the lever. The stanchions are only there to keep the "fork" and front wheel from folding inwards/backwards during normal operation. The bushings/seals where the stanchions and sliders mate would function more like "sliders." They will still probably have some degree of stiction, but not as much as a "true" telescopic fork because it doesn't have to seal air-pressure or oil. I would say those stanchions and sliders are empty and light weight.

There is no "head set" or head tube to hold the fork, rather just two "ball joints" (top and bottom) just like those found in the front wheel axle of a car suspension unit.

BMW obviously employed slider stanchions in order to elliminate the second wishbone (telelever).



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BMW obviously employed slider stanchions in order to elliminate the second wishbone (telelever).

My bad... this is telelever. The double-wishbone setup is duolever.

Am I wrong, or would it be possible to crush yourself badly in that front suspension system. I don't think it is safe to have a nut cracker like that so near where you could put your hands or other body parts? In a crash you might get all sorts caught in there. :eek:

The front suspension setup's been on BMW motorbikes for quite a while.
And more power to BMW for actually building a bike with a uniquely BMW feature. As opposed to Mercedes/Subaru/GM/Ferrari badge-engineering.

BMW has its name on it but they didnt do all the important design work ... they employed a German Bike maker to do this project and after years of design work, they took the finished bike and shipped it to China...In the meantime the German bike company had ordered ( and received) 5000 SHimano XTR grouppos for the orders from BMW which they had in hand, but were worthless ....
( do the math 5000 x estimated OEM price of XTR group= MEGABUCKS )


It basically ruined the bike company ...... while BMW claims all the design work for themselves.

That is one reason I dont own a BMW

thor

Am I wrong, or would it be possible to crush yourself badly in that front suspension system. I don't think it is safe to have a nut cracker like that so near where you could put your hands or other body parts? In a crash you might get all sorts caught in there. :eek:

It should be fairly safe, as it presents no more danger than the rear suspension mech. The occasional air-born nature of mountain biking has seen many a rider fall into the gap between the top/front of the rear tire and the back of the seat tube... with their crotch!

There's the "nutcracker" right there... :twitchy:


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It should be fairly safe, as it presents no more danger than the rear suspension mech. The occasional air-born nature of mountain biking has seen many a rider fall into the gap between the top/front of the rear tire and the back of the seat tube... with their crotch!

There's the "nutcracker" right there... :twitchy:


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Ayyeeeeeeeee!! :eek:

BMW has offered several folding bikes over the years, none of which to my knowledge was actually
designed by them (same for Mercedes by the way). In addition to the Q6.S, there was the Q5.T (photo
below). In 1996 BMW OEM'd folding bikes from Montague. One model was the "Official Mountain Bike" of
the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. It was given out to VIPs and Olympic officials. They also also had a
BMW folding tandem (brochure scan below), which I think was made by Montague as well but I'm not
entirely certain.

^ FoldingCyclist, that blue pic of the Q6.s seems to have a revamped front suspension mech. Is this the newer version?

I love the way the shock unit now mimics a head tube... but more surprisingly, I just realized that both the old and new telelever mechanisms offer "TRUE" fork/head-angle adjustability... had they provided a way to shorten or lengthen the wishbone swing arm (lever) - in a manner similar to a steering tie-rod.

Wow... I wonder why this didn't catch-on in mainstream MTBs?

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^Pocko - the first photo is a Q5.T, a different model than the Q6.S, I think it either preceded the Q6.S
or was just part of a range of models, I can't be sure. I believe the genesis of both bikes was the
"Super-tech" also referred to as the "High-tech" as depicted in the brochure scans below from 1998.

the way the back wheel folds under the frame it is obviously a brompton rip-off :lol:

no doubt we'll see the merc crushers happy to take BMW on :roflmao2:

^Pocko - the first photo is a Q5.T, a different model than the Q6.S, I think it either preceded the Q6.S
or was just part of a range of models, I can't be sure. I believe the genesis of both bikes was the
"Super-tech" also referred to as the "High-tech" as depicted in the brochure scans below from 1998.

Cheers, FoldingCyclist! Very interesting... this history...

That rear suspension design on the early versions has appeared and disappeared in MTB designs over the years. The BB as you can see is on the swingarm and has some anti-bob merits... but in the end of the day, placing the entire weight of the rider (when standing up) as part of the "unsprung weight" of the rear mech was never going to be ideal. I would've thought BMW should've known better even back in the early days of MTB evolution.

Anyway, looks like they got their act together in the end, with the Q6.S

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One of my club members owns this rare bike.
It is now discontinued, and its retail price was around $5000 AFAIK

^ Raxel, I've seen the odd one of those "Hummer" foldable mtb's but NEVER in that color. They are a rare sight, not so common even in the internet. Then this afternoon I saw someone riding one with the exact same color, while I was driving home from work!! :eek:

This club member of yours, does he happen to live in New Zealand? In a certain coastal city in the BOP?

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