I have recently bought a Rodriguez for the propose of tour.

In order to provide perspective to the review I feel a need to provide few facts about me before the review. I live in China and prefer to use public transportation in order to go on holiday. Public transportation from my house to my local airport of Shanghai Pudong begins with a 30 minute bus ride to the train station then a 90 minute train ride followed by an hour-long subway ride which has a subway train transfer before arrival at the airport. All told that is about 1.5 km walk with the bike box as only bikes in boxes are let on the train and subway. Having done this with a bike box a couple of time I can tell you it goes poorly for a 5'6" 150 lb. woman. I decided that I needed a to be able to wheel my bike thought the transportation.

I started my search by looking at regular s&s coupled bike but discovered that I would have to find a way to ship the suitcase from my starting point to the endpoint as most my tours to date have been A to B tours not loop tours so I am so I cannot plan on being able to leave the suitcase and come back to it.

I've tried several folding bikes and I've never quite been fond of him for a ride for long rides with much weight on them. At this point I saw an advertisement for the Rodrigues six-pack however when looking for information about the bike it seems like well they've sold some nobody's read many reviews for them.

In the summer of 2015 while home in America visiting family I made a trip out to Rodrigues in order to properly fitted for a six-pack. During the fitting I test rode a different bike what should I had built and on his hand which was built up to my measurements I also test rode the one and only six pack that they had in the store however it was not built to my measurements. Due to the fact that I fly to the start of my tour and locations I am more interested in a bicycle which is able to take all my bags on the back instead of needing four pannier simply so I have less to carry throughout the airport and other transit states before beginning my bicycle tour. Knowing that I would be on able to get the bike before I left the state I did not commit to buying it at this time.

I paid for the bike over the year but due to import laws in China where I learned that I would be charged a 200% import tax of the sales receipt with the bike I decided that I would not pick it up until the summer of 2016 when I would return to America. I have a bike shipped to my parents unfortunately with the bike came very scant directions in fact after reading all the stuff that came with the bike I receive more information about proper upkeep about my rohloff hub then I did about special features of my bicycle.

This was a large issue as in order for my bike to be more packable my stem actually can be pushed down into the bike frame causing it to be shorter however not understanding about this little feature cause me to take my first test ride when I arrived at my parents house after a ride of 10 miles and being so upset with my bike that I was about ready to throw in the hat, do to the pain of that ride. I called Rodriguez unfortunately I will point out that the customer service is that point was not so grand as they mistakenly believed that they had shipped it to a shop and began and extraordinarily technical explanation of the problem and how to fix it well unfortunately this wasn't a very useful explanation to either me or my father. I later that evening emailed them and a reply to my email sent from the shop owner in the email apparently it was much more clear nobody was a bike mechanic who currently had the bike, and Dan was able to explain the stem was a very old design and how to properly adjust the stem by raising it approximately 3 inches in order to make the bike friendly for me.

The change was night and day at this point the bike fit me well and I was able to enjoy going out riding on it before I left Salt Lake I would write approximately 100 miles with my father most of this at good speed and in comfort. We attached a secondary bar in order to attach my handlebar back and made a couple other small changes to the bike at which point I will take the bike by plane to Pittsburgh where I would ride the gap and see you know trail to DC. With this I tried putting my bag my bike in the back it worthwhile the bike does fit in a standard suitcase.

The bike road great to be honest I couldn't tell that I wasn't riding a full-size bike like normal. Even with my load completely on the back I have no problem with the back trying to wiggle wobble the bike it'll be real limit her to speed going down hill was no structural problem with the bike but I'm just not happy race and downhill. However I have a problem shutting the S&S clamps all the way this was discussed when I was being fitted for the bike the bike is perfectly safe to ride with out the s&s clamps being 100% closed so because I cannot get them 100% closed every couple of days I need to check them and tighten them. When riding you can tell when get to the point they must be tightened as the frame gets a bet of flex but generally if I check them every couple of days that is not a problem for me. For a normal person I don't think that the S&S clamped loosening would be a problem in the slightest.

Other dislikes about the bike is that they coated the chain in some unique black oily substance which when it transfers onto my leg is very hard to remove. When I stopped to take pictures I commonly tilt my bikes so that the chain ring is sitting against my calf as such the end of my three weeks of touring my leg had been scrubbed pretty raw and that section of my leg was quite red and sore due to the amount of scrubbing I ended up doing trying to remove bicycle grease on a daily basis. In order to fix this problem I'm planning on transferring my bike to gates belt drive.

Pros
Great ride
Good fit
Very pack able (15-30minutes)

Con
Cost
Very limited instructions

Please note while I like the bike if you are not making 4+ international flights a year I would not buy this model.

A question and a suggestion:

Question: Did you consider the S&S soft-case? When I traveled with my (full-sized) S&S road bike, that's what I used. It has a snap-together plastic "spine" which provides crush resistance (in addition to the crush-protection brace piece). When disassembled, it allows the soft case to turn into a 10" x 26 " x 2" bundle that can be transported or carried, certainly more easily than even a standard suitcase. The packed bike is quite safe with the case padded out with clothing and whatnot. It has external handles, as well as straps that allow it to be carried on one's back as a (rather large) backpack.

Suggestion: To get more leverage on the S&S coupler wrench, use a length of metal pipe that's just large enough to fit over the handle, but maybe 2x to 3x longer. Also, always lubricate the threads on the couplers before assembling and tightening. Because they're made of stainless steel, they "gall" when unlubricated: it both makes the coupler collar harder to turn and damages the threads.

1- sweet bike. Always cool to see alternative touring bikes and understand where they excel.

2- if this is your preferred method for vacations, what method is it better than...travel via camelback?

2 it is better than A touring near my home in China, and b taking a taxi to the train station and then to the airport, as the metro is closer to the train exit and a lot cheaper. The shortest possible route is 120 km from the airport by hired car which is very costly. The bus stop/taxi pick point at the start to about 100meter from my apartment building. Also there are 40 trains a day from my town to Shanghai a day.