Folding Bikes - Folding video

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Downhillwuss
08-26-09, 12:21 AM
Check this out on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDcCJwVq35Q
What a load of fathing about! :rolleyes:
Just goes to show how much quicker and superior a design the Brompton really is :thumb:
grumpy606
08-26-09, 03:46 AM
Hi
An anteresting video for someone thats not seen a different folder in operation. I notice the pin in the seet post; that would seem like a good idea, rather than over tightening the bolt to make it stay up.
And it would be in the right place every time, I not still growing, im 47, lol.
G
JCFlack
08-26-09, 07:33 AM
I can unfold my Tokyo faster, but I agree with grumpy606 that the pin in the seat post is a good idea - right height every time and not as likely to slip. Does the hole in the post weaken it?
I was using an Ikea blue bag for my bike, but my son just gave me a nice canvas bag for my birthday. Neither folds into as neat a package as the bag in the video.
Downhillwuss
08-26-09, 11:37 AM
Not all humour has to be slapstick, surely???
In the film, I have deliberately 'faffed about' so that the fold/unfold looks difficult. In reality it is no big deal - I could just as easily make the Brompton fold look difficult if I had one, although in that comment I acknowledge the Brompton is vastly superior to the one in the video.
Its a Mission Space Genie, a cheap knock-off copy of a Brompton of course its rubbish in comparison!
The hole is the diameter of a no. 14 spoke. In fact, the 'pin' is a cut down spoke, bent round at the untapped end and fastened to the bike by a small piece of chain. It has all the benefits you mention, plus I'm able to grease the bar to ease its passage up and down the fold process without suffering from 'sinkage' whilst riding.
I can't comment on whether such a hole would compromise the strength of a 'normal' seatpost. The one on the bike in the video is a solid stainless steel bar and weighs in at 1.5kg (about 3.5lb) on its own so clearly a small hole like that will make absolutely no difference. (The complete bike weighs 14.5kg - 31 lbs - in the state you see in the video)
But before you start... I get fit to be able to ride it fast and don't worry about a couple of kg overweight.