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Old 02-10-05, 07:10 PM
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zodiac
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: WA
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Bikes: 92 Paramount Series 5 (Pretendamount) 72 P13 Basketcase

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I have seen several threads regarding the Montague folding bike in its various incarnations, especially the “Hummer” version which I see draws much derision. I actually owned 1 of these for a time, so for those interested I’ll pass along my 1st hand experience. First of all I will point out, that time I was a long-haul trucker, so actually had a good reason for choosing this particular bike, the version I had was the camouflaged “Paratrooper” and paid $600? (possibly $650).
First the good: the primary task was to have it take up as little room as possible while driving and to be easily gotten to and setup when needed, in that respect it was quite good. It fit perfectly between the passenger seat and the dash on the floor, I could open the passenger door, grab it out, have it assembled in 1 or 2 minutes and be on my way. A few times when observed at a truck stop performing this operation I felt a little like James Bond. As for the bike itself, although Montague is based in Massachusetts the bike itself is of course like most things now, manufactured somewhere in Asia. The actual frame seemed to be well constructed aluminum with nice looking machine welding. The folding mechanism is ingenious and when locked in the “riding” position is totally secure and has a relatively stiff responsive feel, the overall weight was lighter than I had expected and made for enjoyable pedaling. This was my first experience with indexed shifters and wow what an improvement! These were Shimano something or other (I forget) shifters, with a thumb lever for downshifting and a longer lever you pulled with your index finger for upshifting, for me they worked flawlessly every time.
The not so good: after receiving it UPS I went and did the “some assembly required” the front disk brake caliper attaches to the fork with a bolt and a sort of indexing type prong, well someone didn’t get the prong indexed correctly and went and tightened the bolt down this chewed up the caliper assembly somewhat but after realigning it and tightening it down everything seemed ok, in actually use however the front disk brake is a joke, the worst feeling brake I have ever used, and it had nothing to do with the initial alignment, it is obviously a el-cheapo component, ditto for the telescopic fork, there purely for looks alone. On to the other components, after 5 minutes in the rock-hard saddle I knew that would HAVE to go, a average quality saddle with some padding made all the difference, but tack another $50 on the price for that. The tires as well are bottom-grade specials and will soon need replacement… more $. The rims and hubs looked to be more of the same cheap stuff, but held for the 6 months I had the bike. One thing that really left me cold was the stamped chang-ring assembly…ultra el-cheapo.
Conclusion: A shame better components couldn’t have been used as I think the general design and the frame itself is quite good and for the price the’re getting would be justified. But as it is, unless you absolutely need the folding function I’d have to say it’s simply not worth the money they want, I haven’t looked at any other folding bikes so have nothing to compare it with however. What happened to my bike? I had it chained in the back of my pickup and SOMEONE apparently thought it cool enough to saw the chain in half.
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