Folding Bikes - The GoBike

Finally had some time to get some pics of the bike in it's current incarnation. Started out seeing how much weight could be shaved with parts that I had on hand, but needless to say it sorta got out of hand. It's turned into a test bed/rolling resume as I explore different upgrade possibilites, with an eye on maybe getting into bike repair and customizing. I have adhered to a $30 limit on all parts, with most coming in well under.

The bike rides nice, the closest to a full sized bike of all the folders I've tried without mods. Very stable with no twitchyness. Folding is about like the Birdy and it's about 6lbs heavier.
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Dang. I had only checked one image to attach to the first post, so not sure why the other 7 were added. Not the most intuitive way to do attachments, and could find no way to remove them. Will try a few more and see what happens.

Here's the business end. Had the FSA Compact Carbon crankset on hand, so started there. The original bottom bracket was a 120mm taper, so was bit of a challenge finding an ISSIS BB long enough. Found a 118mm and had to use spacers as the arms hit the frame latch. Installed an 11-34 XTR Ti cassette and SRAM X9 mid cage derailleur. Also replaced the grip shift for an X9 trigger.232760232761

Not too thrilled with the original Tektro calipers, so picked up a set of Hayes. After shimming, there's no drag. While poking around, found these nice Tektro carbon levers. The original cables and housings were very low end, so replaced with BBB bulk housing and Clark's teflon cables.

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Here's a couple shots showing the Go in relation to the Birdy. It folds almost as small, despite the 20" wheels. It's still about 6lbs heavier and don't think there's much that can be done other than drilling the suspension bits.

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Well...that's it for now. The only other refinements were the Marathon Racers, Ergon Biokork grips, and a Terry Beetle saddle, which I had never heard of before. This is my second Terry and must say they make a good product. Bike rides much better than originaly and it's been a fun project. Still have acouple ideas to explore, and will post those when done. Apologies for the long winded posts and screwed up attachments.

@ Clownbike Great post!

I just bought one second hand, should come in few days. Sad that such a wonderful piece is so unsupported. Any chance for purchasing some original parts that they have on their webpage, like rear rack, mudguards, pump etc?

Also wanted to ask you about Ergon grips. They come in two sizes. Is it the small or the big size that fits the bike?

Whoa, this bike's pretty cool. Why didn't anyone respond to this thread, why's there no interest?!

Cool and unfortunately dead. I know I bought a relic, but hope to make it work for me years to come.

The Gobike looks awfully heavy and bulky. But the suspension is interesting feature in a folding bike.

The Gobike looks awfully heavy and bulky. But the suspension is interesting feature in a folding bike.

If there was enough interest in the model, a manufacturer could probably design a "super" GoBike that was much lighter. But as soon as it appeared that support was going to be minimal or nonexistent on a bike with proprietary parts, my interest went to zero.