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Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

kwigglebike.com

331–340 of 431 posts

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The easy answer is go to a bike shop and do a test ride. I guess it will depend more on your build - how much height is in your legs vs body for example.

I guess Al-Khwarizmi comes from the near East and from 9th century or thereabouts, so there are no local stores for them to try out, but online shopping works perfect since they deliver to all places and to all times. Being similarly tall with longish legs (especially my thigh bone, important for eg. legroom in cars, airplanes...), I'd be extremely weary of jumping on a bike that's not suitably sized, no matter what…

Why would you think that?

Looking at comments, they come from western Spain, there's plenty of Bike shops in say Cáceres‎.

If I was spending €1000+ on a bike I was going to use for the next decade, I'd want to try it out first

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#332
post #24

I'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…

Just my comment to "but I suspect the overall ride experience to be a bit bouncy and flexy".

Kwiggle is a new movement for a flexy human being. Humans have been accustomed to putting their natural flexibility into a rigid posture on a bicycle for 200 years.

If you are thinking the bicycle from the anatomically view, you should invent a bicycle, that could be ridden upright with your flexible natural movement similar to the walking.

This was the first idea of the Kwiggle. And this is an opportunity to get back to your natural flexibility. After a little get used to, Kwiggle will adapt to your movement and not the other way round.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#333
post #24

I'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…

Just my comment to "but I suspect the overall ride experience to be a bit bouncy and flexy". Kwiggle is a new movement for a flexy human being. Humans have been accustomed to putting their natural flexibility into a rigid posture on a bicycle for 200 years. If you are thinking the bicycle from the anatomically view, you should invent a bicycle, that could be ridden upright with your flexible natural movement similar…

My biggest question is the combination of an extremely short wheelbase, small wheel diameter and, perhaps more importantly, the negative fork offset and the steep head tube angle. It seems it would be extremely easy to get thrown over the handlebars when hitting an obstacle... What's your reasoning behind this geo? Is it only space saving?

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#334
post #24

I'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 have had tons of use of Decathlon folding bikes (https://www.decathlon.com/collections/folding-bikes), which are waaay cheaper than Bromtons, and still surprisingly bicycle-like in my experience.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess Al-Khwarizmi comes from the near East and from 9th century or thereabouts, so there are no local stores for them to try out, but online shopping works perfect since they deliver to all places and to all times. Being similarly tall with longish legs (especially my thigh bone, important for eg. legroom in cars, airplanes...), I'd be extremely weary of jumping on a bike that's not suitably sized, no matter what…

Why would you think that? Looking at comments, they come from western Spain, there's plenty of Bike shops in say Cáceres‎. If I was spending €1000+ on a bike I was going to use for the next decade, I'd want to try it out first

Sorry, I was only going with their name: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Musa_al-Khwariz...

I was hoping 9th century mention would give it away though.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#336
post #146
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yeah this is all reasonable. Parent felt a bit reactionary

Going off on someone because they “feel a bit reactionary” is very reactionary, you realize.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#337
post #24

I'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…

How about Strida? I had a folding bike and always found that the chain grease in my pants was a limiting factor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strida

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#338

Thank you for having us here to discuss Kwiggle. I am the inventor and owner of Kwiggle and would like to give you some insights: We have been developing Kwiggle for 10 years and producing Kwiggle for almost 3 years. Every detail has been carefully designed to create a 10kg lightweight folding bike that can even be folded into hand luggage and still go as fast as a normal bike. We have selected materials and manufact…

I'm basically sold on your product but I have a question I wouldn't ask even a month ago, though now it feels relevant. Where do you (and your suppliers) source your raw materials from?

We have 35 manufacturer with different material sources. More than 80 % of our suppliers are based in Germany. 10% of the parts are made in Italy, then we have MKS (pedals) and Shimano (gearshifter) from Japan, some parts come from Taiwan and some from China.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#339
post #24

I'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…

Sure Brompton has the most experience with these kind of bikes, but a steel frame on a bike that is supposed to be carried around? If I would spend that amount of money I would probably go for https://www.r-m.de/de/bikes/birdy/ with additional benefit that it is a German manufacturer ;-)

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#340
post #48

It looks absolutely amazing, but calling it "affordable" at €1600+ is a stretch. You can find non-electric folding bikes for under €200 that are quite sturdy and dependable (although not that small when folded). A few months ago I bought a used folding bike for €100, equipped it with a motor and battery that cost less than €400, for use on train trips. Nothing feels better than getting out of a long-distance train tr…

I got a kick out of the banner at the top of the shop answering everyone's first concern which is "Why is the Kwiggle so affordable?" A clever way of answering the actual first question "why so expensive?"

for a 10kg foldable bike it is certainly affordable. Most of them (if not all) are more expensive
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