Exactly. One of the rides I go on is pure Wild West. I have seen track bikes, geared up mountain bikes, tandems, and TT bikes. If you can ride safely in a group, that's all anyone cares about. And since it's a drop ride, if you can't hang on, well no one cares. Thanks for playing! See you next week.

I'd "fold" if I tried to keep up in most of the groups rides up here on that bike.
;)

I saw one in a crit.

It's not small wheels that make it twitchy so much as short wheel base. Bike Friday wheelbase is much longer than most folders and closer to that of a road bike.

If you get it geared high enough (easy to do), the OP will be fine.

How does the gearing and small wheels compare with regular size road bikes?

Depends on how it's set up. My '94 Bike Friday came with a high gear of a 60t chain ring and an 11t cog which gives it a gear ratio equivalent to a 52t/13t combination on my Cannondale. If I wanted a higher gear I could switch to a Caprio cassette with a 9t cog, so it's easy to get gearing equivalent to a 53t/11t combination on a 700c bike. Many BFs (incl. the one in the OP) come with internal gear hubs, either by themselves or in combination with a cassette, which also allow a wide choice of gear ranges depending on the chosen chainring and cog sizes.

as much as Bike Friday makes sense, I'd still rather have a ritchey breakaway or similar bike

Clown bikes?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=349899http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=349900

Is it just me, or do they look similar?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/847291-What-the-hell-did-I-buy/page4

http://imageshack.us/a/img7/3288/nu41.jpg

Having used 20" wheeled bikes for several years, including in some group rides, I personally would not use a bike with 20" wheels on an "A" ride, i.e. in a fast, rotating paceline. They're just a little too twitchy.

They'd be fine for almost every other type of club/group ride, if the cyclist has sufficient handling skills.


Folding bikes, hybrids, recumbents etc are allowed on NYCC rides. The only limit is that you can't use aero bars.

It's possible that an "A" ride leader might not allow 20" wheels, but that's up to the leader. There's no policy against it.

This really depends on which particular bikes you're comparing. My 20" wheel Bike Friday Pocket Rocket is significantly less 'twitchy' than my 700c Cannondale (very short wheelbase and marketed as 'crit-geometry'). OTOH, it's more 'twitchy' than my 700c Specialized touring bike. But I wouldn't see any particular problem with any of these bikes in a rotating paceline from a handling standpoint.

True. I never measured it. I would have bet our BF rode lower to the ground, than our regular tandem. But as you point out, it couldn't be 3 inches lower.

So, if the the rider on the BF is not appreciably lower, the draft is going to be better because the following rider can get a bit closer to the BF rider without overlapping wheels.

Isn't it the wheelbase rather than diameter that determines stability? John Howard reached 152 mph motorpaced on a bike with smaller wheels.

Wheelbase is a factor and steering geometry is also a major one. Most of the motorpaced record bikes I've seen use a negative rake fork to increase the trail for more stability.

Not in my paceline.

HAHA!!! Now that there is funny!!

That bike would be fun to ride until your friends saw you.

Does the red nose and white face paint come with that :D I don't care if you can hang then we will see you Saturday morning- the more the better.
Velocity

Well, this guy wouldn't want to slow down to let your paceline hang on anyway.

http://www.bikefriday.com/blog/?p=423

I deleted the "fat girl" comments. Please remember that there are actual real women who post on this forum, as well as users of all shapes and sizes. It's not a locker room.

Would you allow Andrew Starykowicz in your paceline?

112 miles 2013 Ironman Florida in 4:02:17

I can just see the taunts now:

Hey buddy? Why are your wheels so big? What are you trying to make up for? :D

Why would anyone let a triathlete in a paceline?

Boom, roasted.

He did Iron man Florida on a folding bike? Wow!!

I was assuming that was the point of the post. However the pictures show him on a tt bike with what appear to be 700c wheels, specifically an Orbea Ordu.
http://www.andrewstarykowicz.com/201...n-florida.html

http://cdn.triathlon.competitor.com/...41-287x421.jpg