Mooo

I've seen a number of posts claiming that a folder - Bromton, Dahon, Swift, what have you - is a nice little bike for short errands (and they are), but not suitable for anything more than 10-15 miles.

So... here's a chance to brag on yourself: how far have you pushed the little wheels in a day?

14R 

27 miles on a slightly modified Merc while my girlfriend was riding her Brompton. Very casual ride, averaging less than 14mph on a nice Floridian Sunday.

80 Miles on an oriental Giant Halfway rear suspension that I sold last year

SesameCrunch

I routinely do 40-45 mile on my Downtube as part of my regular rides along the beautiful Pacific coast.

jur

Did a 3-day ride with my wife, me on the Raleigh twenty, she on upgraded Yeah (=Dahon Helios). We did about 200+km over the 3 days. The longest day was over 90km including the little rides at either end. See here.

In March we plan on doing the Giro Tasmania, 1000km over 18 days. Fully loaded on the same bikes.

LWaB

Did Paris-Brest-Paris on a 349-wheeled Moulton Stowaway (splits, not folds), 1200km in under 4 days, longest day about 450km. Plenty of Bike Fridays (including tandems) there.
Did the Dunwich Dynamo on a Brompton (as did Mrs LWaB), about 220km including riding to/from trains, etc. Met several there who'd done the same ride on Bromptons in previous years.

gbcb

Nothing terribly long (I'm shamed by LWaB ), but I've done 30-35 mile rides several times on my Dahon Boardwalk. I would feel quite comfortable going for longer than that.

I'd LOVE to do Paris-Brest-Paris. Major props to you, LWaB!

I'll start small -- still haven't done even a metric century! That, my Dahon might be able to do.

eubi

50 miles with no problems on my Dahon Speed 7. Very comfortable.

tkatzir

First post in this forum.

I've been doing a Brevet 400 (400km) on a Brompton last year, in 26 hours.

If all goes well - I'll attempt PBP this year with my bike.

Tal.

clonmult

My typical day is a total of 12 miles, split into 4 roughly equal segments. The longest I've done in one spell is about 6-7 miles across London. Journey should have been more like 5, but I got kinda lost.

Bear in mind that the bike is a single speed Halfords "Apollo" folder, so it isn't necessarily that comfortable.

What felt like the longest journey was last thursday night. As a result of slight weather issues around London, I must have done a couple of miles pushing/carrying the bike, just around waterloo attempting to get onto a train.

DaFriMon

With my drop-barred Bike Friday I've done century rides, 100 miles. My usual commuting route by bike is 25 miles round trip, which I've done with both my BFs, a Dahon Speed P8, and even my five speed Raleigh Twenty. I've done around 40 miles with the Dahon a couple of times, but it's not my usual choice for anything longer than about 20.

Nothing unusual in this. I'm sure you'll hear from plenty of people who will do any ride on a good quality folder that they would do on a road bike with bigger wheels. I see there are several examples already, like PBP.

Mooo

This is pretty cool! Nice to see people treating and using these as actual bikes :-)

For the record, my longest was a touch over 100km on a Dahon Vitesse 5 speed. I think with a different seat (Brooks B67 maybe?) 100 miles would not be out of the question, but it would not be an especially fast century.

400k on a Brompton, wow. What did you do for lights?

juan162

I've done 50+ miles on my Raleigh Twenty and plan to do longer. I've done 25-30 miles on my Crescent single speed. I'll do longer on my single speed once I get a new saddle,
Juan

jogya03

On my Hasa F2 bike, I have done 80km in one day, my personal record in a folder.
But mostly I am using it as a second bike to go to work, about 12km away from my home,
not often though, about once a week.

Simple Simon

I've done London to Amsterdam, and back in a day on a Strida3.

London to Heathrow 12miles > Fly > Schipol > Train > Ansterdam > 10 miles into the suburbs, then same on way back .... 44 miles.

True Multi-modal use ... as intended.

tkatzir

When I ride my Brompton with friends - They're on regular road bikes, and I can keep up with them.
Well - Not with the fastest of them, but I'm not the slowest as well.

Back then I had the Cateye HL-EL500, but it was too big (for my S-Type handlebars.)
I'm thinking of getting the new Cateye HL-EL320, or similar.

Tal.

card

Have a BF and Moots compact. Ride both same distance--25-45 miles RT weather permitting. BF for touring and comfort, Moots when I don't have the time to spend on BF.

Dahon.Steve

I did Bike New York with my Dahon Piccolo (40 miles) with no problem. I did have to walk up the Varazzano bridge some what but other than that, the gearing was fine. I didn't use clipless pedals back then.

I'm going to do Bike New York this year with my Dahon Presto.

juan162

I'll be doing Bike New York again this year on my Raleigh Twenty.
Juan

LittlePixel

This is a good thread for casual browsers who maybe don't appreciate the credibility of small-wheeled bikes as real mile eaters.
My longest day is about 42 miles on my Twenty. This was in one of the hottest days of the year in 2005 for a sponsored 'marathon' ride, with a round trip of about 8 miles each way from my house to the starting line. I could have gone further if I'd needed - the bike was very capable and comfy over that distance, though if I was regularly riding that far I think I'd have a gel saddle

EvilV

I went camping on my three speed Merc last Summer. I covered about eighty miles in two days and had a great time. I was F**ked at the end of both days, and in future, I'll drop the gear ratio by replacing the 52 tooth sprocket with a 44 toothed one that I bought from Merc for £4.50 (LOL the parts are laughably cheap).

I've done over 1100 miles on mine and the only things that I've had to replace have been four spokes in the back wheel.

jab1362

I have a swift, my ave ride is about 15 miles, longest 40 miles. This is now my first choice to ride, any distance. I have been looking at setting it up to do a 300km trip in Canada this year.

folder fanatic

As for all my folding bikes, I can choose to go as far as I care to. The option that these bikes offer me is to modify my journey to more managable parts if I feel tired or even ill (illness has actually happen to on one trip). The farthest trip I ever done on any of my folders is 10 very hilly miles on the Boardwalk and 15 varied miles on the Piccolo.

folder fanatic

As for all my folding bikes, I can choose to go as far as I care to. The option that these bikes offer me is to modify my journey to more managable parts if I feel tired or even ill (illness has actually happen to on one trip). The farthest trip I ever done on any of my folders is 10 very hilly miles on the Boardwalk and 15 varied terrain miles on the Piccolo.

steveonbike

320km in 13 hours on my Xootr Swift with drop bars. More longer brevets to follow in the coming months.

Crankypants

I just completed a 90 kilometer stretch of road in Turkey on my mini with my partner and her DT VIII. I'll post more info when I get back to the states in a couple of months.