Surprised more people aren’t aware of Montague. https://www.montaguebikes.com/
Or Bastille, which folds without having to remove the front wheel:
The Joy of Folding Bikes
151–160 of 199 posts
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Praised by whom? The btwin folder is a low-rent and low quality version of a Dahon-style Chinese fold-in-half folder. That folding design is about 95% of the folding market, and has no clever design features whatsoever. It is simple to manufacture, has no patents, and is pretty bad in general riding use. It is neither fast to fold nor compact, and is very bad in customization, particularly with regard to the rider's…
Praised by most customers, probably. As an engineer I appreciate Bike Friday's attention to detail and I own a good few "artisan" devices myself, but the reality is that most people want a mass-produced bike that is "good enough" within their budget. There's no doubt that your bike is higher quality than the Decathlon one, but the average customer doesn't appreciate how well engineered it is or how many patents (??)…
Having lived in Italy and used the btwin folder quite a lot, I can assure you there are lots of basic folders in its category and price range which are much better. I'd look into Dahon and Tern for a basic folding bike.
Folding bikes are complex and hard to make safely, and the folding mechanism is costly to engineer right. This means that the manufacturer of a cheap bike is either providing you with a dangerous folding mechanism, or is putting a lot of the cost of the bike into the folding mechanism, so there's not much money left for the rest of the parts. Either way, it means that cheap folding bikes are a bad choice, and the btwin folder is a good example of that.
As to patents: yes, there are patents.
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
Decathlon btwin one second has been praised for its design and easy unfolding; it’s relatively cheap and still being produced. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XX2VSaXmAoo
Praised by whom? The btwin folder is a low-rent and low quality version of a Dahon-style Chinese fold-in-half folder. That folding design is about 95% of the folding market, and has no clever design features whatsoever. It is simple to manufacture, has no patents, and is pretty bad in general riding use. It is neither fast to fold nor compact, and is very bad in customization, particularly with regard to the rider's…
The Decahlon folder folds faster than a Brompton. A friends of mine has both and he's trying to convince me on buying the cheap decathlon bike over a Brompton. The demonstration was convincing.
I'm a big fan of the fact that you can push a Brompton while folded. A feature that other folders miss.
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#154Piling on with the Brompton love here. Apartment friendly. Car trunk friendly. Motorcycle sidecar friendly. Their hardcase makes it airplane friendly. Theft-resistant, since it's carried and stored next to you more often than most bikes. The Brompton luggage system (its mount and low, forward position) is amazing. Bags can be massive and carry a lot of weight and the bike still feels great to ride. For pedals, I use…
Can you explain what makes the Brompton design genius? Edit: the top comment (at this time) has a youtube link that shows it fold/unfold in like 8 secs. I can see the genius in it now
Most of the parts are proprietary, so if you bork a derailleur you get to wait 6-8 weeks for a replacement from the UK
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#155Over the years I’ve acquired road bikes, MTBs and time travel bikes. Of all of them the only little kids regularly tell me is “sick” is my Brompton. It paid for itself in saved fuel and parking fees in the first year I had it.
I’m a Brompton admirer but if your kids rate it higher than time travel bikes they have no taste.
Haha, cheers Apple.
A time travel bike would be pretty cool… I could go back fix all my typos. :P
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#156Piling on with the Brompton love here. Apartment friendly. Car trunk friendly. Motorcycle sidecar friendly. Their hardcase makes it airplane friendly. Theft-resistant, since it's carried and stored next to you more often than most bikes. The Brompton luggage system (its mount and low, forward position) is amazing. Bags can be massive and carry a lot of weight and the bike still feels great to ride. For pedals, I use…
"Theft-resistant" I have two Bromptons (a 3 and a 6 speed). Unfortunately, I've also had TWO stolen .. painful. This was years ago now and both were locked up in central London. The second time, locked via a "Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit", a good U-lock. An angle-grinder gets through these easily and they're battery powered. I don't believe ANY bike lock is safe now and never lock the Brompton up outside. Great…
Ouch. I also live in a city where bike thefts are … fuck, just part of life. Which is a horrible norm to have to accept.
You’re right that a grinder-proof lock does not exist. Having read reviews and listening to bike shop owner experiences (they hear everything) … I have Kryptonites, motorcycle chains, Abus folding locks, but my personal favourite that I’m “trusting” (ha, delusions) is the Hiplok DX1000. Check it out. As good or better grinder results than nearly all others, it seems. But nothing is grind/pry/jack-proof.
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#157My fiancee and I just bought two used Brompton P-series foldables this week. Use case: commuting in San Francisco, as well as weekend trips around the Bay Area. We live in SF in a 2-bedroom apartment and don't own a car. I had a locked bike stolen out of a college dorm bike room before, and we like the convenience of having the bike with us 99% of the time instead of locking it outside.
Those Brompton P-lines were expensive even used (around $2000), but thanks to the brand value, we believe that we wouldn't lose too much money if we ended up not liking the hobby and wanted to resell. It's more a question of: do you want to lock up cash and get most of it back when you sell, or do you want to spend less now but lose more on the sale? Typical dilemma with high brand-value products.
What I appreciate about Brompton is there is a well-established hacking culture. This is true for bikes in general, but because the design is so specific, it's great to know there is a strong community on Reddit, YouTube, etc. to get inspired and ask questions.
The Brompton community seems to have no shame in using unofficial AliExpress parts, especially if they are better in some way (lighter, better roller rack balance, etc.). This is additionally true because many official parts are expensive and often out of stock.
There are a bunch of Brompton clones out there, especially copying the old-school C-line. I have mixed feelings about clones in general, especially when they are straight knockoffs. With that said, if I really got into the hobby, perhaps I'd try to hack together an ultralight custom "BrompNot," something like the T-line but customized to my own needs.
One more thing: if you ever take the EuroStar, get a bag for your folding bike! We saw someone almost miss the train in London because they didn't have a bag for their Brompton. I assume this may also apply in some transit scenarios where bikes are not allowed; even folding bikes might be gray area. The IKEA DIMPA bag is cheap and works well for this purpose.
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#158[dead]
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#159The article touched on it, and I agree, the biggest benefits for me are the portability and storability. I can easily fit my folding bike into my car trunk, and very easily fit another one in the back seat. This enables you to drive to the start of a distant cycling route without having to deal with bike racks behind or on top of your car. So much less friction to you just going somewhere and cycling around. And the…
I love my Brompton, have taken it for short tours, and use it for a weekly grocery run (big front bag and a back pack). You can carry quite a lot, actually, though probably not a Costco run for a family of four. (That's what my cargo bike is for.)
The Brompton bike is also quite bombproof. It's heavier than other options, but solid as hell.
Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
I still think the strida folding bikes are the ones with the highest nerd quotient. Never ridden one myself, but been tempted a couple of times. In particular the low weight compared to any other folding bike is appealing. Unfortunately they are difficult to find for test rides and they look quirky enough that I'd want to do a test ride before buying
Unicycles probably have a higher nerd quotient. No folding needed!
When I was at nerd school in the 80s. This was a super-popular intracampus (and occasionally extracampus) transportation option. I never managed to learn myself.