Folding Bikes - Folder to the rescue

I have a multimodal commute: bike--> metro train --->bus --> bike-->office

This morning the swing arm on the bike rack on the front of the bus (the swing arm extends and hooks over the front tire to secure the bike to the rack) was frozen stiff and wouldn't extend. The driver was cool and let me fold up my bike and take it on the bus. I use my Dahon Speed P8 for commuting, so it's not exactly a Tikit-sized fold. Cool driver, and I was on my merry way! Before he knew my bike folded, he suggested I wait for the next bus. Thank goodness for the folder and a kind bus driver. Cheers all!

I cycled up to the bus stop 2 minutes before the bus was due, to find it waiting. The driver refused to let my Brompton on, until he saw it fold. As the bike got smaller, his eyes got bigger, and finally he let me on - trying to save face by saying I could only get on if it fitted in the smallest luggage rack. Which it did, of course. British buses don't have external bike racks, and very few of them let full size bikes on.

My Birdy has come in handy quite a few times. This was probably the best save a couple of months ago:

I had ridden my motorcycle to my husband's office and we took his '62 Falcon for a little outing. He convinced me it would be too cold to ride home that evening so I planned to go home with him. Just as background, note that we live in the middle of nowhere (45 minutes away from his office) and there is no public transit, the unending twisty mountain roads are unlit and deer-ridden, and it would be prohibitively expensive to take a taxi there (probably $200-300 minimum).

Before we headed home I had noticed that his taillights were out so we stopped off at Kragen for a fuse. Fixed the fuse and while we were still in the Kragen parking lot, the fuel pump stopped working. Tried some guerrilla repairs but no go. However, we did have the Birdy in the trunk, so while he waited for the tow truck, I rode the Birdy in moto gear (helmet in the backpack) in the dark (I had lights) to his office so I could get my Ducati and ride it home for our other car.

Just as I got onto an overpass with no shoulder/bike lane (on a pretty busy road) I discovered that my seatpost QR was loose, so I was gradually sinking as I went up and luckily reached the crest just as the seat hit bottom and I couldn't pedal anymore (I don't really like to stand on the Birdy), seat was now about 18" too low as I coasted downhill to somewhere I could actually pull over and fix it. Exciting, but I hope to avoid more rides like that in the future.

Got to his office, handed the bike to one of his co-workers to put away for me, rode home in the freezing cold, got our other car and finally picked him up and took him home. :thumb:

Ms Incredible indeed!