Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Folding Bikes
Reload this Page >

Some lightweight tuned folders

Search
Notices
Folding Bikes Discuss the unique features and issues of folding bikes. Also a great place to learn what folding bike will work best for your needs.

Some lightweight tuned folders

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 03-18-10, 06:32 PM
  #1  
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 339
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 105 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 38 Times in 20 Posts
Some lightweight tuned folders

I've been busy building a sub-4kg road bike for a while, meanwhile some of my mates are building some crazy light folder mods. Here I show some of them: I bet there are among the lightest folders out there so far.

Birdy Classic, 7.5kg







KCNC seatpost
KCNC crankset
KCNC brake
Sachs shifter
XTR RD
Recon titanium cassette
I-link cable
C64 carbon saddle
Eggbeater 4ti pedal
Custom elastomer
Custom handlepost and seatpost QR
Custom 20" wheelset

Brompton Singlespeed, 7.29kg






Zipp 300 crankset
Custom wheelset with titanium spokes
KCNC seatpost
KCNC brake
Wellgo ti spindle pedals
Mortop carbon handlebar
I-link cables

Presto Lite Singlespeed, 6.48kg









Zipp 300 crankset
KCNC seatpost
KCNC brake
Nokon cable
Custom wheelset
Carbon saddle
Raxel is offline  
Old 03-18-10, 06:40 PM
  #2  
Raleigh20 PugFixie, Merc
 
LittlePixel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: London UK
Posts: 1,997

Bikes: 1982 Raleigh Twenty Hotrod Fixie; 1984 Peugeot Premier Fixie, 2007 Merc Lightweight folder

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3 Post(s)
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
With these weight weenies you are spoiling us!
Nice to see more Pr!mo Champ wheelchair tyres on a Brompton!

I got my Merc/Brompton down to about 8kg. It would've been less with some Eggbeater Ti pedals, (but so expensive!) and then I added weight with an aberhallo stem, drop bolt and pantour suspension hub.
I hear you can lose more grams if you drill the spokes like an airframe
LittlePixel is offline  
Old 03-22-10, 09:41 AM
  #3  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 300

Bikes: Dahon Mu Sport & Mu Ex

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Lightes folder ever

Wow, fantastic!

The lightest folder I know of so far is the Rob English custom BF Pocket Rocket:
https://community.bikefriday.com/oreg...madebikeshow07

weight is a claimed 15lb (=6.8kg)

Birdy is a different league as it is suspended.

The shown Brompton and Presto are Single Speed, and also lack a rear brake.

Do you know the frames weigth?

BTW, I am maintaining a weigth parts list for folding bikes here (in German): https://www.faltradforum.de/viewtopic...4&t=168&p=2508
pibach is offline  
Old 03-22-10, 09:54 AM
  #4  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 218
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
Another Birdy, 7.9 kg

https://bike.gn.to/7_9bd-1.htm
fwd-bwd is offline  
Old 03-25-10, 09:51 PM
  #5  
Bromptonaut
 
14R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Jersey City, NJ
Posts: 1,736

Bikes: 1994 Diamond Back Racing Prevail ti; Miyata 914, Miyata 1000, 2017 Van Nicholas Chinook

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 23 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
I personally don't think the cost effectiveness of these bikes are an intelligent approach. Don't get me wrong, the cool effect is awesome, but I would rather have a bike slightly heavier than these with some gear options, a fitted saddle and front and rear braking power than save 3 or 4 pounds. Specially because unless you are down to 4% of body fat, you can lose a lot of bike-user weight by reducing your body fat.

Does it make any sense?
14R is offline  
Old 03-26-10, 08:23 AM
  #6  
New usename ThorUSA
 
brakemeister's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Southern Illinois USA
Posts: 2,469
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by 14R
I personally don't think the cost effectiveness of these bikes are an intelligent approach. Don't get me wrong, the cool effect is awesome, but I would rather have a bike slightly heavier than these with some gear options, a fitted saddle and front and rear braking power than save 3 or 4 pounds. Specially because unless you are down to 4% of body fat, you can lose a lot of bike-user weight by reducing your body fat.

Does it make any sense?
of course that make sense .... most of these bikes were designed to take the daily grind

however,
Porsche Ferrari Lamborghini Maserati Bentley ....... dont make sense either .....but they are all cars to drool over ..

same as these bikes .... absolutely stunning

thor
__________________
www.thorusa.com
Dahon : Freedom Unfolds
Tern : all about the ride
brakemeister is offline  
Old 03-26-10, 09:28 AM
  #7  
Senior Member
 
edwong3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 908

Bikes: 2023 Zizzo Liberte

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 66 Post(s)
Liked 71 Times in 46 Posts
Originally Posted by pibach
The shown Brompton and Presto are Single Speed, and also lack a rear brake.
It could be that they don't have a rear brake due to using a fixed gear setup. That's what I'm assuming anyway, I could be wrong.
edwong3 is offline  
Old 03-27-10, 03:50 PM
  #8  
my nice bike is at home
 
kraftwerk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Brooklyn, NY USA
Posts: 954

Bikes: 2011 BMC Race Machine / 2012 BMC Road Machine / Trek 2300 / '90's Merlin/ '70's Raleigh 20/ Ti-'swift' folder / Erickson w/S&S couplers

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 66 Post(s)
Liked 34 Times in 24 Posts
I would like to see more of these bikes which weigh less than the rest.
Makes sense to have a light folder. Something I think about as I lug my Raleigh 20 around the globe....
kraftwerk is offline  
Old 03-29-10, 03:20 PM
  #9  
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 339
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 105 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 38 Times in 20 Posts
Light weight is essential for portability- and why should we ride folders if we don't care about portability?

I really hope that dahon reintroduce a single speed (or fixed) version of presto lite.
Raxel is offline  
Old 03-30-10, 10:36 PM
  #10  
Senior Member
 
randya's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: in bed with your mom
Posts: 13,696

Bikes: who cares?

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
sorry, but they look expensive, impractical and uncomfortable
randya is offline  
Old 03-30-10, 10:46 PM
  #11  
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
 
Sixty Fiver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: YEG
Posts: 27,267

Bikes: See my sig...

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 67 Post(s)
Liked 129 Times in 96 Posts
Originally Posted by kraftwerk
I would like to see more of these bikes which weigh less than the rest.
Makes sense to have a light folder. Something I think about as I lug my Raleigh 20 around the globe....
My Phillip's 20 lost 12 pounds when I converted it to a fixed road bike and still has it's original fork and stem... the fenders went back on as did a rear rack and a Wright's saddle.
Sixty Fiver is offline  
Old 03-31-10, 09:34 AM
  #12  
my nice bike is at home
 
kraftwerk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Brooklyn, NY USA
Posts: 954

Bikes: 2011 BMC Race Machine / 2012 BMC Road Machine / Trek 2300 / '90's Merlin/ '70's Raleigh 20/ Ti-'swift' folder / Erickson w/S&S couplers

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 66 Post(s)
Liked 34 Times in 24 Posts
My folding twenty with no original parts what so ever, weighs over 20 lbs... 25? I forget now..
kraftwerk is offline  
Old 03-31-10, 10:48 PM
  #13  
hipster traffic dodger
 
ChiapasFixed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 596

Bikes: IRO Mark V Pro, home made bamboo track bike, eddy merckx corsa extra, Airnimal Joey commute, UGADA Tikit

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I seem to remember seeing a 7kh tikit on a Japanese website somewhere....
ChiapasFixed is offline  
Old 03-31-10, 11:02 PM
  #14  
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
 
Sixty Fiver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: YEG
Posts: 27,267

Bikes: See my sig...

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 67 Post(s)
Liked 129 Times in 96 Posts
Originally Posted by kraftwerk
My folding twenty with no original parts what so ever, weighs over 20 lbs... 25? I forget now..
The stock weight on a Twenty is actually just a little over 35 pounds... with some work you can get them down into the low twenties and have a bike that can handle apocalyptic riding conditions.

You will always be limited by that frame which weighs something like 8 or 9 pounds... the integrated kickstand weighs a full pound by itself.
Sixty Fiver is offline  
Old 04-01-10, 08:42 AM
  #15  
New usename ThorUSA
 
brakemeister's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Southern Illinois USA
Posts: 2,469
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I like this stuff .. no doubt ...
However, I would be careful with the weights provided by the proud owner ( who just dumped 2 grand into his bike ) .... sometimes its a little wishful thinking, manufacturers are bad enough ...lol

I have seen bikes hanging on scales at Tradeshows , just that if you took the bike off the scale the scale was showing MINUS 3 lbs ...

Bikes with no inner wires in brakes and derrailleurs... middle /low end bikes with Columbus SL tubing which in production was more a hi ten "gas"pipe and 4 times as heavy ...

than we had those CLB alloy outer housing brakecables... they didnt really work as the alloy housing dekompressed awfully and made the brakes BARELY work.... every year before the show season a handfull of BIG names in the industry would order a handfull ....
price was no issue... ( I did make a killing on them as long as they lasted )

:-)
Its almost as good as all the "just riding along" stories

but back to folding bike po..



thor
__________________
www.thorusa.com
Dahon : Freedom Unfolds
Tern : all about the ride
brakemeister is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Raxel
Folding Bikes
56
07-27-21 09:14 AM
bugly64
Folding Bikes
6
01-10-19 11:16 AM
Raxel
Folding Bikes
58
09-08-18 11:07 AM
JeffOYB
Folding Bikes
30
09-23-15 07:02 AM
keyven
Folding Bikes
7
10-24-14 10:27 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.