"Precision German engineering!"
Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
111–120 of 431 posts
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#112I don't think I could ever get over the look of the small wheels. It seems like the fanny pack of bikes: pretty useful but you gotta look dorky if you want to use it. It's vain but I'd find it hard to believe I'm alone here.
We are swiftly destroying the planet because people don’t want to look goofy in a small car, and insist on an aircraft carrier-sized truck. And now the same attitudes go for bikes too?!
Real bicycles also have larger wheels for a reason - its much more efficient and rolls over bumps and ruts much easier.
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmm, will have to dig into it and do some research as, if it is expired, why has no one copied the design? Edit: It seems to have been proven in court that they have copyright (rather than the old patent) of the design. A bit like the coke bottle design I suppose. https://www.farrer.co.uk/news-and-insights/brompton-puts-the...
Ugh, disgusting. Guess I'm never giving money to Brompton.
You find them copyrighting their work disgusting?
Do you use CC0 for all your own work?
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#114I've spent a long time with folding bikes over the years. My advice: bite the bullet and buy a Brompton[1]. Yes, Bromptons are expensive. But they ride like a bicycle, have gears, a stiff enough frame, luggage racks etc. There's very little compromise. The fastest I've done on mine is 45 kph and I've ridden 70km in a day. I carry it on and off buses and trains multiple times a day without issue. In the past I had an…
I rode an A-bike for a few weeks and it was pretty uncomfortable but it was faster than walking.
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#115Intriguing design and it looks like they've sold enough to see some real-world success, but I can't help but think the headset must be under extreme torque with a 150+ lb person sitting on essentially a large lever. That and the small wheels don't inspire confidence dealing with the typical curbs & potholes that one is likely to encounter in an urban environment. What's the use-case for folding bikes like this? Is th…
It'd be nice for short trips where you are concerned about theft. Bike racks are far less secure than just keeping your bike with you.
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#116I've spent a long time with folding bikes over the years. My advice: bite the bullet and buy a Brompton[1]. Yes, Bromptons are expensive. But they ride like a bicycle, have gears, a stiff enough frame, luggage racks etc. There's very little compromise. The fastest I've done on mine is 45 kph and I've ridden 70km in a day. I carry it on and off buses and trains multiple times a day without issue. In the past I had an…
Bromptons are fantastic but there are many folding bikes with gears for much much less money. Decathlon Oxylane 120 retails for €289, with taxes, for example. It's not a Brompton, but for 1/4 of the price it doesn't need to be.
What am I missing. I looked at the Bromton and it’s ~$3,800 or roughly 1/12 of the Decathlon.
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmm, will have to dig into it and do some research as, if it is expired, why has no one copied the design? Edit: It seems to have been proven in court that they have copyright (rather than the old patent) of the design. A bit like the coke bottle design I suppose. https://www.farrer.co.uk/news-and-insights/brompton-puts-the...
Correct, and this is total malarkey.
Filing for a design patent should invalidate any claim to copyright on the features of the design that are claimed in the patent. Pick your IP protection lane, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#118I've spent a long time with folding bikes over the years. My advice: bite the bullet and buy a Brompton[1]. Yes, Bromptons are expensive. But they ride like a bicycle, have gears, a stiff enough frame, luggage racks etc. There's very little compromise. The fastest I've done on mine is 45 kph and I've ridden 70km in a day. I carry it on and off buses and trains multiple times a day without issue. In the past I had an…
Heh I learned about the Brompton from the quirky BBC show "W1A", where it was treated as a kind of strange status symbol.
Hm, that show just made fun of British corporate culture, and Brompton spearheads this.
Although to be fair I never worked for a company where there was at least one Brompton.
Having said that there’s something very British about it IMO. But I am not British.
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ugh, disgusting. Guess I'm never giving money to Brompton.
You find them copyrighting their work disgusting? Do you use CC0 for all your own work?
I'm not parent but since this is framed as if it's a 'gotcha' question ..
a) yes, when it's used anti-competitively; which it almost exclusively is. I haven't been sold on the idea that idea exclusivity funds creative and public works and value-stores. I tend to believe that capitol does that -- and I think capitol can be generated regardless of copyright state.
b) Yes, I have a cc0 1.0 license on anything I release outside of the contracts i'm beholden to from other entities. My thingiverse profile, for one, is filled with general purpose models and assets that are all licensed cc0 1.0 -- these took real person-hours to produce and have actual value for some folks.
other than the occassional irritation with persnickety users here and there I enjoy the work and view it as a social good -- I hope others find the work valuable and use it themselves; surely others exist with the same motivations.
Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ugh, disgusting. Guess I'm never giving money to Brompton.
You find them copyrighting their work disgusting? Do you use CC0 for all your own work?
The concern is obviously not that copyright is inherently immoral, or whatever you're insinuating, even though there are valid objections against the current status quo of multi-century copyrights.
The concern is that they're double-dipping. They had a patent. Patents expire after 20 years, but give you exclusive right to use an invention in the meantime. After a patent expires, what's supposed to happen is that anyone can make use of it.
After the patent expired, they started abusing copyright to kill competition.
It's incredibly unethical to try and have it both ways. They had their patent. Their patents is gone. Competitors should be allowed to use the technology in that patent, without worrying about a random court for some forsaken reason allowing them to abuse copyright to stop competitors from being able to compete.