Tips for a cheap folding bike
 

Hi,

Recently bought just about the cheapest 20" wheel geared (6) folding bike available.
"Airwalk" badged, but sold under many the names, the stickers were easy to remove.
£95 delivered in the UK, from e-pray. The frame is an obvious Dahon Curve clone.

Some will say they are rubbish. but TBH i'd say extremely good value.
I'd say the only major gripe for my bike is lack of handlebar overhang.

I'm very near average height and weight, but not fitness due to age.

The obvious stuff about adjusting bikes in general I won't detail.

1) Get a new decent saddle. I got a nice one for under £10 with rear rubber springs.
Set the (new) saddle as far back as it will go, due to the lack of handlebar overhang.
(Forget about KOP - if you know what that means - here its not relevant.)

2) Seat height - not as complicated as all the knee angle articles make out. Simply
put if you lift up on the pedals for bumps you should clear the seat but not by much,
say under 1", this will guarantee a near ideal knee angle at the bottom stroke.

3) For me the above seat height meant setting the handlebars to the minimum height,
so they are about the same, YMMV, but the minimum height is not good for the smaller.

4) If you plan any reasonable distances fit bar-ends to the handlebars. Not incredibly
useful but just having occasional alternative hand positions helps with overall comfort.

5) Finally and most importantly understand your tyres and tyre pressures. Run the front
at far lower pressure than the rear, and don't run off to "upgrade" your tyres to high
pressure types. The wider the tyre the lower the pressure it needs, and the 1.75"
/47mm types typically fitted are in fact a very good choice for 20" wheels.

Most of the weight is over the rear wheel and your rear "suspension" is the tyre
and any springing built into the saddle. Running the front tyre at the same pressure
is pointless and very harsh, with poor grip and rolling resistance. Drop the front to
to at least two thirds to about half the rear and you get front suspension for free.
You will also get more grip, more speed and more comfort.

6) Alleged Upgrades :

Tyres - probably not all - what is fitted work well at the right tyre pressures.

Gearing - seen "upgrades" claiming more or less gearing is needed, both by
changing the cranks to bigger or smaller - make your own mind up but take
your time. Personally think (for my age) the typical 6 speed 2:1 (14-28)
rear is somewhat limited in range, but then again the young can do with
one speed, so I think its a question of increasing your own flexibility.

rgds, sreten.

in other words, save your money until you can afford a better bike.

Just googled it - that looks like quite a deal. Better looking frame hinge, tyres, seatpost and steering column than other cheapies for a start.

The saddle on almost any bike will need to be changed anyway IMHO. If my cheapie is anything to go by saddle height is a no-brainer; just extend the seatpost as far as it's allowed to go (I'm a short legged 5'5" and I needed to).

One little cosmetic tip for those with a plain seatpost is to mount the saddle clamp upside-down, inside the saddle, for a cleaner look.

Grumpy today? Did your mother teach you to greet newcommers like this?

Hi,

That is hardly the point of my post, its a perfectly usable
bike, at a very good entry level price, and many more
expensive bikes have the same basic limitations.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/HI-TEN-STEEL-...GSQ~~60_12.JPG

Most of the comments I've received are along the
lines it must have cost a lot more than it did.

I don't understand e-pray pricing, they now want
double the price I paid, its not worth that much,
and similar options are available for much less.

No mechanical problems with it at all, except
a very stiff main hinge - which I can live with.

rgds, sreten.

Good tip about the seatclamp, it does look a
lot cleaner in its extreme forward position.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Coloured-Hand...Un!~~60_12.JPG

£3 a pair delivered. Added some spare grips I had.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...aL._AA300_.jpg

£3.50 delivered.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/TIGER-UNISEX-...F7g~~60_12.JPG

£10 delivered.

Welcome sreten.

I agree that even inexpensive folders can be a decent value however from what I've seen their achilles heel is the main frame hinge. These models have a mid frame hinge (under a lot of stress) made of aluminum (theoretically lighter than steel but not as forgiving) and the hinge mating surfaces aren't matched nor is the hinge bushed, both of the latter characteristics contributing to a hinge that will wear relatively quickly and end up with sloppy tolerances. I've seen some of these folders come from the factory with sloppy hinges straight out of the box.

Congrats, sreten. It is a nice looking bike. It seems to have an aluminum frame?

Hi,

The frame and forks are hi-tensile steel as it most of the rest of the bike. The only
alloy parts are the handlebars with its post and the rims, (and the bar-ends I added).

(And the brake levers - I broke one of the original plastic brake levers
by accidently letting the bike fall over, they didn't fail in any sense.)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

£5 a pair delivered.


I agree the frame hinge is probably very dodgy if you were folding the bike say 12
times a day. In fact all the folding adjusters would be a pain except the fronttube
hinge, as they have to be set very tight not to slide in the plastic bushes used.
(The hinge is steel - and fairly basic - cant see any bushes - but seems to work.)

I'm under no illusions that it is a cheap bike, but it does look at first glance
somewhat more expensive than it is, and TBH set up properly it rides quite well.

Fortunately I don't have to fold it for everyday use. Given that,
at a barrel scraping price I think its actually quite good.

rgds, sreten.

Hey welcome Sreten to the fold .... dont let anybody talk you down cause of the bike..
EVERY bike which gets loved and ridden is worth it no matter what. You dont need a Brommy or High end Tern or Dahon to have fun ....
Eventually you want a better bike and than you will know what you are looking for ...

soo keep us informed about your mods and if you run into a question, dont hesitate to ask around here ....

:-)
Best Thor

how about a photo of the bike in its final guise?

Just the fact that the bike is steel, even if only hi-ten, will extend the service life of that hinge. I wouldn't be surprised if your Airwalk was built by the same company that built my Miami Citizen. They look very similar.

Hi,

Another tip - though this getting towards bikes
in general, is to move the rear brake lever inwards
by about 1" so you you can only normally reach it
with your first two fingers, rely on the front brake.

rgds, sreten.

Hi,

In my student days I had a "Mayfair" folder
from "House of Holland"- Sturmey Archer 3
speed, dynamo and all that, that I generally
hammered around all over the place.

The brakes weren't good, the only other
problem was bending the cranks by going
over the pedals hammering round corners.

(Stepping out as the pedal hits is interesting...)

That bike came to its demise sauntering
down a steep hill nonehanded, one big
drain, one buckled front wheel and one
broken arm, but it was a fun bike to ride.

May be old age, or reticence, but I don't
trust the front end of this bike, yet.

Perhaps I need to tweak all the bearings for
minimum play, like I did many years ago.

rgds, sreten.

That is probably the best thing you can do to a new bike with non-sealed bearings regardless of price. I would make sure there is enough grease in there and adjust the bearings. I do not know what type of headset they have in there but the bottom bracket and wheel bearings should be adjustable. Many bikes come with bearings adjusted too tight.

pardon me. it wasnt my intention to sound rude. in my first reading of your initial post, i interpreted it as "what to do to make a cheap-o bike rideable". from personal experience, i am not a cyclist who would ever advocate buying cheapy chinese bikes. however, upon second reading i find that the points you made are quite valuable insights for any cyclist riding any bicycle. so.. thanks!

May I ask what would you advocate buying? Expensive Chinese bikes? :)

Expensive Chineese bikes...like Terns?

Fortunately or unfortunately, many bikes are made in China (Mainland, Taiwan, Macau). The folding bike industry may have the last a few left with not-made in China bicycles.

Dahon has two major Chinese factories (one for exporting and one for Chinese domestic consumption) and another Eastern European factory.

You are in this business so May I ask where are yours made? In a different thread, you made a Japanese connection but I doubt they are made in Japan.

The full size bike (cheap or expensive) industry is well under the Chinese control and here is a read:

http://inrng.com/2012/02/who-made-your-bike/

A company in ShenZhen, China can give a couple dozen of different folding bike designs and any non-Chinese company can pick which one and market under its brand.

dollar for dollar they might seem expensive to the untrained eye.
If you really part by part frame by frame ....compare them with so many "cheap" bikes they dont seem to be expensive at all....

But peeps who work in the industry or peeps being around bikes and maybe ridden a few .......know that anyhow
Nothing new here

thor

Our bikes are hand-made in a small factory in China. I would love to make them in the US, but the level of regulation here (EPA, OSHA, etc.) make it difficult (not impossible). Our name comes from Japan.

Thank you for your straight forward answer!

Others would try to hide that fact (made in China) but it is pretty easy to find out.

origami fox:

http://txedbike.en.alibaba.com/produ...nted_bike.html


good example and interesting article, loubapache. this is the very reason i have previously cited for avoiding chinese mass produced products. also, as a designer myself, i have a rather intimate knowledge of how that supply chain functions. it's abusive, extraordinarily corrupt, and nearly lawless. i'm not going to waste time explaining it all again. suffice to say, when you see a bicycle, complete with fenders, grips, folding mechs, racks, and even a bell attached, for 300usd, just ask yourself, "how the hell is that even possible?" the answers may shock you.
routinely, people will say, "it's a good value for the money." they should be asking themselves, "what are MY values with respect to how i spend MY money." the more garbage we buy, the less likely we will be to afford anything else..

Ya, that is the Fox, made in the same city where the famous Flying Pigeon was, is, and will be made.

Pinigis:

A few days ago, I saw this Origami Crane Folding bike but with a Huffy head badge. :)

This is not one of your bikes, or is it?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Shimano-E...p2047675.l2557

NO! That is definately not one of ours. I have never seen this bike before. Thanks for pointing it out to me. I need to contact the seller for some information.