Originally Posted by
Freem@n
Pinholecam I will reach out to you via FB - curious to check out your TI N+. My ideal bike is titanium but its expensive as hell and I am not too comfortable with the idea of a breakaway at this point (as said I am not very technical though I want to learn) and i prefer a bike where i can use for loaded touring. As mentioned I was leaning towards the Birdy (its compact, multimodal) and looked at my brother in law's Bike Friday NWT but with my eventual goal being as touring bike i noticed everyone (even foldingtales) eventually moved up 18" > 20" > to a full size bike made me ponder that larger wheels is the probably the way to go.
I am curious I was reading the Changebike the 650b MTB full bike weighs 12.9kg with mid range components - and you mentioned that your bike setup seems heavier at 14kg? So i am wondering where I can get some savings in terms of weight.
My current foldable MTB is around 17kg all in with accessories so I am hoping to shed at least 5kg to justify the effort where I am even struggling as you mentioned to find the first component which is the SRAM XG1150 cassette - seems like ebay, Lazada the few options i found seem to be OEM/counterfeit parts.
I've had many folding bikes over time. 18" Tyrell IVE, Alex Moulton TSR (406), Bike Friday Pocket Rocket super pro (451), etc.
Suspension robs climbing power and power when going really hard (eg. sprint or surges) - not an issue if you only ride and don't do these 2 with the bike.
Smaller wheels, don't roll over bigger road defects and trails as well, unless its some sort of 406 wheel with 1.85-2" type tire (I'd reckon) - not a problem if you don't do trails and bad roads.
Not that one can't tour on them, plenty of people do.
Depends on type of tour, terrain, load, fitness, time, etc.
If your plan for tours are on roads/pavements, then a workhorse like the NWT may work real well. (do note that it does not really fold conveniently, nor push/rolling after fold too. )
My bikes weight of about 14kg is with rack (probably 700g-1kg), leather saddle (1kg), suspension seatpost (1-1.5kg). Take those away and the bike should come down closer to 10.5-11kg.
Oh yeah.. a shout out for the Tyrell IVE if you are considering a bike like the Birdy.
Seriously under rated locally as people chase the 'safe' well known options.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...fXP97CA4E_pT4Y