Originally Posted by
mams99
I appreciate the responses, but WHY is it not recommended? or why do you not want to do that? Is it hard to tighten? Does it wear the parts out? There has to be a real reason and I just want to understand why.
For sure, a simple fold and toss in a trunk (not really tossing, but you get the point) is simple and I WILL keep my folder for jaunts nearby where I'm not carrying a load with me so I don't need to worry about a weight limit (as I'm not over at or over the weight limit) I just WILL be for a bike tour.
I'm talking about folding a bike maybe once a month tops, or once every few months (more likely) for when I want to go a bit farther from home for a bike ride needing to put on a train or in the trunk of a car ( live on the east coast, so train travel is a thing, but it's also rural with lots of rail trails everywhere too). I'm talking about taking it on Ragbrai, etc. (That will be a once in a lifetime thing I want to do - hopefully next year - And doing the Katy trail, etc.) I grew up in Iowa - doing RAGBRAI is definitely on my list of things to do. My husband is from Europe, I would like to do some riding there too. They are FULL of rail trails!
I have a used NWT already, but I fear I'll top it out when carrying gear (maybe I shouldn't worry about that? I'm NOT topping out upper weight limit now, but carrying gear, I will go over weigtht limit... but if I have a travoy attached to a rear rack? is that better/easier on the bike (I already own a Travoy with adaptor for a rear rack hitch).
I just don't want to be in the middle of nowhere when it breaks because of being overstressed.
What is your goal with an S&S coupled bike? Is it just for splitting a bike in half to make it easier to put inside a car? Or take onto a train?
The Amtrak policy on folding bikes is clear that they have to fold. If you can convince Amtrak that your coupled bike also deserves to be considered a folder, then it should work but you would likely have different Amtrak employees each time.
Do you really see inexpensive used S&S coupled bikes out there? I do not recall how much extra my S&S bike frame cost to get it from the manufacturer with the couplers, but it was not inexpensive. If you really see a used S&S coupled bike in your size at a good price, go for it.
I do not know how important it is to use the special S&S grease on their couplers. I bought the grease and have been VERY frugal with it because it is not cheap. Maybe you can get by with cheap grease?
I see no reason that you could not split the frame on a frequent basis.
If you get an S&S coupled bike, carry a S&S wrench all the time. A few years ago one of my couplers started to loosen on a long ride and at that time I did not carry the wrench, so I had to stop a few times to try to tighten it by hand.
I used a mountain bike inner tube to make some sleeves for each end of my S&S "nuts" to keep the dirt and grime out of the coupler threads. If you ride on gravel, you may consider that, see photo below.
The downtube coupler gets a lot of road grime thrown up on it.
And, if you do this, you might want to carry some worn out socks so that you can slide a sock over the side of the coupler that has exposed threads for when you travel with the frame split. And maybe some rubber bands to keep the socks in place.
If your weight rating on the Bike Friday is on the frame, not any of the components, maybe buy a new frame and move the components over to it? I have no clue what a used Bike Friday frame is worth, but you should be able to get something for the old frame.
I bought my S&S coupled bike frame to save on airline oversize fees. The couplers and the case paid for themselves, but soon after my last flight where they did pay for themselves, American and Delta canceled their oversize fees for bikes. United followed soon after. S&S couplers are not as popular now that they do not offer as much in savings.
And if you are thinking of flying to Europe with an S&S coupled bike, you need a case for it. And it takes a lot of time and work to turn this (next photo) into the assembled bike (in the photo after that).
The above photo is most of my bike in the S&S Backpack Case. The rear rack and a few other parts went into my other checked luggage bag.
Another option are Ritchey Break Away frames, but I think if you are talking about a heavily loaded bike, I think the S&S couplers are stronger than the Ritchey downtube coupler.