Is it safe to do tricks with a folding MTB?
 

Hi! I'm GDA, and im new here. So please forgive if this a newbQ or in the wrong section.

I'm Planning on buying a new bike, a folding duel suspension MTB.I want to know will it be safe to do tricks on it. You know manuals, wheelies, stopples, drops, whips, and so on. OR is it likely to collapse in on me.

Here's the bike im planning on buying...
http://www.amazon.com/COLUMBA-Double...=1LVLABHV04OB4

That could be the best video on youtube for all the wrong reasons.

That's a low-end novelty bike. It's not going to be very strong at all. Most of these bikes use very cheap & flimsy rimsets. My buddy has a Montague folding MTB that he rides carefully in the street & light trail use. It's a hardtail. Pretty cheesy piece of work. Spend the same amount of money for a used quality hardtail bike.

It seems like a very scattered purchase.

You're buying a folding bike. This is obviously a bike designed to be put in small locations, or able to be carried on commuter trains, buses, etc. By its very nature it is designed NOT to be hucked, crashed, smashed and dropped repeatedly. All things that you WILL do when you first start trying to be Macaskill.

I've personally never heard of the company. While I might not be a pro rider, or even one of the better riders here, I HAVE been around biking for the better part of 30+ years. So I'm going to go out on a limb and say its a new, fly-by-night manufacturer, cheaper-than-sin Chinese crap, or a combination of the two.

Cheap and FS aren't synonymous with each other. You've got to either accept that cheap is going to be something in the 40+ pound range and a hard tail (and hopefully a ridged fork too, so you know that some of the cost went into quality ((highly doubtful)) wheels, or else you're just up a creek) or that its a FS which means you're paying for a quality design with proper R&D, a decent suspension system that costs money and years of trial and error.

So my conclusion, that bike is not going to collapse on you. You're going to find it impossible to pedal fast enough to worry about words like manual, wheelies, stoppies, endos, and have to settle for "slowly pedals."

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...IL._SS350_.jpg

How it will look one month in . . right before you tie a cement block to it and throw it off a pier in the warehouse district.

Hahahaha thats funny

Hahahaha thats funny XD

it will work until it breaks!

I had one exactly like that. It broke in two when I jumped from the curb to the street. And I only weigh 120lb and i only had it for 5 months. I also never took it off-road. I always road it on pavement. Save your money and get a better used bike later.

There is only one way to find out. Make sure you video tape it.

Loosen up that frame hinge QR and you could do the most tweaked out whips ever.

Why does it have to fold?

Can't remember ever seeing any viable off the shelf folding full suspension MTB's, only cheap ones like this, which would not survive a good day off road. You can get some hardtails, like the Dahon Flow, but these cost a lot, there oneon Amazon for $2500. You could get a regular bike converted with S & S Couplings, if it was steel, and there are not may Steel suspension frames arround; again these cost alot.

:lol:You read my mind!:lol:

^^ Remember 'Swing Bikes?'

http://bmxmuseum.com/image/img_3892_lg.jpg

http://schwinnstingray.net/gallery/S...r%20skills.jpg

I just got an odd look from the boss from laughing at the Jimmy Osmond signature bike.


Schwing.

Well, i prefer folding because i can take it more places. And a mountain bike, because- well... i can go even more places. I go out of town a lot and i figured i would get a MTB so im not bored on my downtime, while also being able to take it back into the hotel or relative's house im staying in.

Is it bad that I suddenly really want one of these?

Funny, my relatives always get more squirmy about what I'm parking in the driveway than what I'm bringing in the house.

http://www.rvtravel.com/blog/weirdrv...per-771356.jpg



I thought the same thing.

Me too, but then I thought of the extra maintenance required by two headsets.

I would totally rock those goggles though.

:roflmao2:


Gawd, what if it had disc breaks too? :eek:

Well, OP, let's see here...........

It's a CRAP CRAP CRAPPITY CRAP DUNG PILE.

Think I heard one of the neighbor kids say that....

But it applies. Not even as good(?) as a Walmart Mongarbage.

Gdashizal, what they are trying to tell you (albeit with failing humor) is that this bike is unsafe for the application that you need. Doing tricks on a folder is not something that would be advisable. The bike would be under loads of stress and any place where the bike would have folding joints are susceptible to fail and you can get hurt very badly. They were not designed to take rough hits.

Might want to check into something more durable for what you want to do with it.

A regular mountain bike with the wheels removed doesn't take up much more space than a folding MTB. Cheap & better quality, too.

In a word - NOT RECOMMENDED!

Not just because its a folding bike - but because I don`t know of ANY mtb bike in that price range that I`d recommend would be OK for that.

Bikes aren`t really much different from cars - color and style are big selling points in both and a `sporty` look appeals to lots of people in both.

The reality is that any mtb bike that costs less than $500 or is equipped with Shimano Tourney or Altus or Acera or Alivio components is intended for city driving , light use and any suspension system is purely in name only.

Burton: "The reality is that any mtb bike that costs less than $500 or is equipped with Shimano Tourney or Altus or Acera or Alivio components is intended for city driving , light use and any suspension system is purely in name only."

Then I guess all the Trek 3 and 4 series hardtails, are only meant for light use, and not designed to take off road? Because they are all equiped with the above components.

^^ That's the beauty of the free interwebs: anybody can post anything about any subject - - ensuring that we all get the best possible information :rolleyes:.

^^Yup, because price is the sole determining factor in quality. So if you ever find something like, say, a Specialized Stumpjumper for under $500, you just give me the number & I'll call the seller up & let them know they're selling utter crap. Don't buy it, just send me their number. ;)

To be fair, I assumed we were talking about new bikes, not a pre-owned Stumpjumper. And the bike the OP was asking about is a $260 bike. As far as doing tricks goes, you can't even find a new BMX bike for $260 unless you want one made of Hi-Ten.

You certainly don't need to pay $500 for a bike that's suitable for tricks though. I would NOT use the Trek 3 and 4 series hardtails that Joe mentioned either, but I don't remember paying much more than five bills for this (new off eBay), and 99% of people aren't going to break that (and the other 1% knows who they are and aren't asking this question).

^^ There you go derailing a thread with logic, Zeph . . . a regular logic-troll.

Oh Zephyr, you know I'm just playing :) I'd never be lucky enough to find a Stumpy for that price..

But yeah, there's plenty to be found out there in the BMX world for $500, new or used. Not too long ago I was checking out CL for a decent used cruiser, & didn't find anything I could afford in the 24" world, but did see several Haro's & Redlines used for <$300.

Opinions are easy to come by so I try not to post anything thats just speculation or entirely my own opinion.

If you check the Shimano Retail Catalogue and go to the section where they classify MTB components, you`ll find exactly what diciplines each component group is targeted for. It specifies what catagory of bike, what activities, what terrain and what style of bike the components are suitable for.

For your benifit I`l translate from the French copy I have here. I guess you might order your own in English if you can.

Starting with the Tourney group for example, the group is targeted for `Velo de ville` or City Bikes. and the activity is `Practique recreative en ville` or recreational city bicycling; the terrain is given as `Route a paves en ville` or paved municipal and city streets; and the style is given as `Imitation VTT` or MTB look-alike.

The original question was `is it SAFE to do tricks on a folding mountain bike` and it turns out that not only does it have dual suspension- it retails for less than $300.

You can do all the tricks you want on any cheap bike it you don`t care how fast you break it. I do deal with Konas and Haro BMX`s and there are different grades there too. And what I stated applies to those Konas just as much as to your Treks.

Price is actually a good indicator of quality. For five bills you can get a good BMX. You can`t get a good dual suspension MTB and I personally can`t recommend a single MTB with a decent front fork for that price.

But if you`re really only going to drive it to school on paved roads - its all incidental.