Originally Posted by
auldgeunquers
When you say truck do you mean big truck? I carried along a folder when I was trucking, but mine was a 20" - I did not carry it in a side box, but it lived in front of the passenger seat in the cab of the truck. That cheap little singe speed big box folder was one of the main things that got me back into bicycles after so many years of being distracted by motorcycles - and it saved my sanity a couple of weekends when my dispatch stranded me far from home for the weekend.
Point is, if you can find room for it, opening your search to include 20" folders gives you more options, as well as making the gearing choices less critical to get some top speed out of the bike.
Fairly large truck, International 7500 series box truck, set up as an expediter. The side boxes are under the 22 foot box.
As for weight and top speed, I'm not a racer. I was happy with the speed of my Tank Mini 16, if memory serves, it had a 52 x 14(?) drivetrain. I know it was low enough I could take on the hills where I was, without having to dismount, and on the flat, I could hit around 15 or so mph. I never did mount a cycle computer to that one.
As for weight, I find that irrelevant. I am going to add roughly 170 pounds to the bike when I get on ... maybe more if I need to wear the snowmobile suit to say warm. If I use a side box, I only have to lift it up maybe a foot or less. If I have to put it in the box ... well, I'm "dock high" ...
I'm thinking of maybe just getting a 20 incher or a Huffy/Schwinn retro beach cruiser (with fenders, frame tank, and big chain guard, of course) and putting it in the back. 50 - 60 pounders is what I rode when I was young ... heck even my Sting Ray was a 45 to 50 pounder.
Anyway, I think "light weight" is a bit over rated. I'll bet that if the peloton trained on 3 to 7 speed (or even 48 x 18 single speed) balloon tired, steel frame beach cruisers of 50 pounds and up, they would be
much faster and have more endurance, without the use of drugs, when they got on their lighter than a fart race bikes. Especially if they got to where they could get the "clunkers" to an average drug free speed of 20 - 25 mph or more.
Not a bike, but I did pick up a Fusion Sport Board kick scooter (4 wheeled) for $8 at a second/third hand store. Until I can get a bike, I'll just use it. (Talk about a work out! I rode a Razor push scooter 4 miles (round trip) a few times back when I lived in the Keys. Admittedly, it was flat there, but still, going a half mile uphill back to the hotel (truck is in the shop) on that Fusion really got my vintage antique blood pumper going ...