jur

Cable ties for securing the load! Not something I would trust... I suppose it's nothing to bring along a whole load of spare ones... but there are good ones and bad ones.

That tall rack as well as the particular load transfer point has greatly increased the cantilever length on the load bearing assembly... I would want to recalculate the maximum load on that system.

The load bearing bushes on my Birdy's rear carrier rack have failed - the flange part has separated from the barrel part on most of them. This increased the tendency to rattle. I need to make some new ones and see if I can improve on the design.

[edit]: Is that stainless steel you are using? If so, where do you source it from? I am having difficulty getting hold of some...

JulianEdgar

There is very little load on the cable ties, in fact the assembly will sit on the stopped bike with none! The ties just stop the assembly bouncing off.

I don't understand why the height of the rack impacts on the cantilever length. But yes, with the rearwards placement of the panniers, loads on the carrier are high.

Yes, it will be interesting to see what happens. Of course, with my bike having 2.8 times the rear suspension travel of the standard bike, the dynamic carrier loadings are vastly lower than they would be with the standard suspension bush.

It's chrome moly tube, nickel-bronze brazed. I am not aware that you can braze stainless steel, and in my experience, silver solder (that you can use on stainless) is much weaker than nickel-bronze brazing.

JulianEdgar

Painted....

jur

Nice!

Schwinnsta

What brand and model is the saddle?

Why a sprung saddle on a bike that has dual suspension? That seems redundant.

-roger

JulianEdgar

It's a Fluid saddle - I don't know the model.

I thought the rear suspension of the Birdy (and the Brompton before that, on which I had the same saddle) needed help. With the new rear rubber spring on the Birdy, I may be able to get away without the sprung saddle but I haven't yet tried doing so.

jur

Fluid is a brand owned by a local outdoor shop - they get OEM products and put Fluid name on them. My educated guess that is a rebranded Velo OEM saddle.

JulianEdgar

Report on modified ex-Daewoo Matiz rear suspension bump rubber being used in rear Birdy suspension (bump rubber shown above).

1. I have now sanded off a little of the sides of the rubber so as to allow the bike to fold properly (previously it was a little too wide and so fouled).

2. On smooth roads being ridden at a high cadence, the rear of the bike can oscillate up and down. Concentrating on riding smoothly (with cleated pedals) or changing to a higher gear (and thus lower cadence) fixes it.

3. On rough roads (eg dirt road with projecting small rocks, very coarse surface) the front and rear suspension work extremely well, with the back suspension very clearly showing the advantage of the increased travel over standard.

4. On bad dirt road potholes, the front and rear suspension simply do not have enough travel and so the outcome is harsh.

5. I've had a good look at the front suspension and I can't see any easy way of improving it. Because the front wheel moves backwards as it moves upwards on a bump, it absorbs harshness disporportionately well considering its suspension travel.

6. I reckon if you were really, really picky, the best bet would be to have the ex-Daewoo rubber fitted and one of the standrad polyurethane bushes in your bag. Then fit the one that works best considering the conditions. I can see that when touring, and the road turns to dirt, I would awfully miss the Daewoo rubber. But on lots of smooth bitumen road climbs, the concentration needed to avoid bounce would irritate me. Swapping the rear bump rubber takes only moments and needs no tools.

JulianEdgar

Jur:
Julian:
The cable ties broke!

(Testing with full load through 10cm deep potholes.)

jur

Were they $2-shop ones?

JulianEdgar

Note sure where they came from. I'll replace them with hose clamps.

tcs

I see on Pacific Cycles web site that there's a Birdy Titanium and the Frog is back.

I thought that was cool. You all probably knew that.

There's probably been a thread about this I missed and can't find with the search feature.

Oh well.

tcs

vmaniqui

just my 2 cents. what if you drill holes and put a lock and nut screws instead. that way you avoid putting cable ties on the front side of the rack. since you spend time on your adapter rack you might as well make it sturdy...

JulianEdgar

Holes through the small tubes would substantially weaken them.

JulianEdgar

...and this family now has a second Birdy, identical to the first (Birdy Blue, as pictured above.)

Price here in Australia of a new Birdy Blue is AUD$2449 (US$2146) but we bought two from a private seller for AUD$1050 (US$920) each. One is as-new, the other about 9/10. (The seller originally bought the two bikes to go touring with his wife. His wife never rode bike #1, and so he eBay'd it (to me). I heard he had a second one, that he rode more often, so I pestered him to sell it to me.)

JulianEdgar

My wife likes a very upright riding position. Pic shows chrome moly steel tube extension with commercial stem added. Positions handlebars higher and more rearwards. The size of the stem versus the required inner diameter of the Birdy steering clamp meant that the tube had to be thicker where the clamp goes. Brazed shim onto the tube to achieve this. I'll see how she likes it then add the little button (that gives the required fail-safe registration) and paint.

JulianEdgar

Weird. But she likes it.

jur

My Birdy came with the upright stem despite the salesperson's assurance. i swapped it for a sport version. I suppose you could do the reverse.

JulianEdgar

The stem height extension is, I think, more than the standard one would cater for.

Milfordpearson

I have a Birdy Light and really like it. Great little bike, and best of all my wife loves it too. I figured that because I ride mainly on coastal paths and forest tracks I would need suspension for my folder. And it works a treat. It's such a nice bike as well.

I have been looking at the hard case and wondered if anyone has experience with the trailer kit which is available for it so it can be towed behind the Birdy in the same way as the BikeFriday trailer works.

Brian

yangmusa

I didn't know R&M did a case for the Birdy, and had to hunt around a bit before finding it on their site. It's on page 35 of the folding brochure: https://www.en.r-m.de/fileadmin/medie...ten_2010_E.pdf

I see two problems with the case - it's too big to fly as normal luggage (201 cm = 79 linear inches), and it weighs about 19 lbs (8.6 kg) - even without the trailer kit - which eats up a lot of your weight allowance too. The nice thing, given the size, is that you need to do very minimal disassembly.

If you can stand to do a little more disassembly, I'd go with the Bike Friday case. It meets luggage limits and is much lighter. I borrowed the Bike Friday case from a friend of mine and the Birdy was an easy fit: all I needed to do was to remove the wheels and the stem/handlebars. Lots and lots of additional room for other luggage.

chagzuki

How much travel is there in the Birdy suspension?

energyandair

The Bike Friday suitcases are Samsonite F'lites. It looks as though they have now moved to the new model with the D handle. we have the older model with the U handle. You can see both here: https://shop.samsonite.com/s?brand=s&...Keywords=flite.

We have been happy with ours which will hold an old style Birdy, 2 helmets and a bunch of other stuff. The new one is quite a bit lighter so if you get the opportunity I would compare the 2 for strength. We don't have the gear to use it as a trailer so I've not checked the fit with that. As a Bike Friday will fit in it, I would also expect a Birdy to do so but would want to check before committing.

You can see my photos and those of others here: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...t=#post9057232

Milfordpearson

Looking at the rules for European flights, there are no linear measurement rules. Just weight of 20kg. So bag at 8.6 and bike at 10.6 (Birdy Light) might just squeeze in. Trailer would have to go in hand luggage!

To explain my plan. I am 60 and have a free bus pass here in the UK. So bus ride to local airport. Fly to Geneva, train, boat or bus to Evian (60 miles, might even ride there) and then ride to son's house just a few miles along Lake Geneva. Flight cost is only about £35 so I might be able to go there very cheaply next year. I can leave a set of clothes there so only need bike and some waterproofs! Leaving car at the airport and hiring a car in France is costing a fortune.

Thanks everyone for help and advice.

Brian

yangmusa

If you don't have to worry about size, it's a nice case since the bike fits to easily.

On the other hand, Bike Friday list their Samsonite case as 13lb (5.9kb), while Samsonite list the F'Lite GT 31" as only 5.0 kg - either way, it's quite a bit lighter than the R&M case. If you have any hills on your route you might care about 3 kg?

I would keep an eye on eBay and see if there's a big price difference between the Birdy case and the Samsonite...