fietsbob

Being in Portland Drop by Clever Cycles... I Own a Brompton and a Bike Friday Tikit .. The Tikit was made to be their fast folding bike.
quick was their hyperfold cable release... a bit unwieldy is its folded state..
PakIt replaced the Tikit, It like the rest of the line mixes folding and knock down, now .. bar mast removed,& front wheel
Brompton is a better folder , more compact , their frame is a rugged one..

My Brompton option was hub dynamo powered lighting , a real benefit in the long Dark season.. motion creates power for light.

lwylie

For....? A drivetrain cover? FWIW they don't carry BikeFriday anymore, and my view of Bromptons is the same as linberl's. Don't want to hijak this thread, maybe I can start a new one re: drivetrain covers. I was just hoping to get in touch with linberl. Guess I'll need to make another 8 posts to some threads or other so I can start PMing :-)

linberl

Hey, sent you a PM so maybe you can respond.

Jipe

The Pakit replaced the beloved Tikit.

It is indeed faster and can be lighter than the Tikit so an improvement for these two points but the fold is a regression compared to the Tikit.

To completely fold the Pakit and have a small folded bike, the front wheel must be removed which is maybe not a big problem in good, dry weather but after a ride on wet roads the wheels are dirty and after removing the front wheel, also your hands and maybe your clothes.

Another problem: forget the hub dynamo if you need to remove the front wheel often !

I do not understand why they didn't use a folding fork like Tyrell folders ?

linberl

I've never removed the front wheel to fold; the quick fold with turning the fork around is very compact. You only need to remove the wheel if you use the silly backpack thing.

fietsbob

Bike Friday Makes bikes , in an order queue, for the ordering customer , they don't have dealers.. you have it shipped
(Or Take Amtrak to Eugene & pick it up)


Brompton's front wheel is folded over the drive-train covering it , by design .. PakIt using order option of Belt drive wont be so dirty ..





...

Jipe

What is compact ? It depend of each user and the use of each user.

For me 38″ x 24″ x 10″ (96 cm x 61 cm x 25 cm) cannot be called very compact if you need to carry your folded bike in a bus, a train, a supermarket shopping trolley...

linberl

Well, I've taken my pakit on many busses, one train, light rail (often), put it in car share trunks and fit it every week in a supermarket cart (trolley, I guess, to you). and it fits in the supermarket cart along with the folded burley travoy trailer, lol. It is longer than a Brompton but
it is narrower even with the front wheel on. Ymmv......

Jipe

I guess that you have bigger supermarket trolley/cart than we have in Europe ? My experience is that a folded Brompton always fit, a folded Birdy sometimes not. Much bigger almost never fit. Therefore the solution of removing the front wheel foreseen by Bike Friday.

linberl

Well, I've never actually measured our carts here, lol. But I just measured my pakiT quick folded with the wheel turned (size small frame) and it is less than 30". I put it in the cart diagonally which gives me a bit of spare room. We do have different size carts here, Costco has jumbo carts (could fit 3 pakits in them!) and regular markets have what looks like what you pictured, and some smaller produce shops have tiny carts that are the size of a single paper sack (obviously no go there). But if I'm shopping at the produce shop I don't take their cart, I fold and carry my barely 19lb pakit in one hand and put my groceries in a hand cart with the other.
Removing the front wheel was so it could fit in their special backpack but honestly, you'd knock half a store over if
you went in with it on your back. I don't know anyone who has a pakit that uses it. But - the front wheel removal is nice if you're packing the bike for airline travel.

fietsbob

Costco has Big ones..

lwylie

Thanks linberl. Looks like I'm not able to receive PMs either until I've made 10 posts (the forum no doubt wants to make sure I'm not a bot or spammer). So I'll try to add some value to some threads to get up to 10 posts:-)

lwylie

Linberl, your feedback about shopping is very useful since that's what I'd use a PakIt for too. You'd mentioned before that you strap the PakIt to the top section of the Travoy. Is that not awkward from a weight-balancing perspective, at least if the lower section of the Travoy doesn't have as much weight?

Looks like Jipe is in Belgium (lovely country!) Carts there are definitely smaller than than in the USA. Many stores are too, for that matter. Burleys are really slick the way you can half-fold them and wheel around the store with you as a de facto trolley, putting your groceries into the front bag. But not useful for 40lb bags of dog food.

linberl

Ha, ha, I bring a 40b bag of dog food home on mine from Costco every month. Works great with the Travoy. It's funny I have never ever seen anyone use a Brompton in a store like that here. I have, otoh, seen them locked up outside markets - which I think is insane given the bike theft rate. I never lock my pakiT, it doesn't leave my hand. In those instances where I know I will need to lock up I take my Dahon Mu Uno (my equivalent of a beater bike, it's 22lbs single speed). I bought it used and the world would not end if some stole it (although I would be very pissed).
Fwiw, I no longer put the pakiT on the Travoy. If I'm just buying a few things, I'll just fold and carry the bike in one hand (sub 19lbs) and toss the groceries into a backpack hanging off the ahead stem and not take the Travoy. If I'm buying more than a lilttle, I fold and put the bike inside the shopping cart, fold the travoy in half and put it on the rack below. With the whole Covid thing, they don't want people loading stuff into their bags before purchase, and now I'm used to this way and will probably just continue. Our carts are definitely big enough, without removing the front wheel. Half the time I don't even take the stem/bars off, just fold under the rear triangle and stick it in the cart.

Jipe

I guess that the quick fold with front wheel turned is as on the picture below ?

This fold is about 36" long (Bike Friday specs and also measured). How do you come to less than 30" (= more than 6" less) ?

lwylie

I meant "Brompton", not "Burley".

linberl

For fitting in a shopping cart the measurement only needs to be at the lower point below the "tab" on the back end so you don't need to compensate for the angling back of the seat mast (that happens above and outside the cart). Also I have a small frame, pakiTs are not all one size, unlike Brompton. And I ride slicks so there's no tread on the tire either. The bike fits in the cart like a trapezoid with the smaller end down. And in most carts there's enough room, since the bike is so narrow, that you can shave an inch or so by angling the front wheel better.

fietsbob

The Tikit Fold included a handle bar mast catch that kept the front wheel pointed straight
and could be lifted by a handle in the rear section and rolled on its front wheel, folded.

but that added weight ... Yea Rear rack Brompton owners put inline skate wheels & such on to roll those while folded..

more easily..




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