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Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

kwigglebike.com

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Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#391

Post by yupper32 »

hgomersall wrote: post #312
yupper32 wrote: post #16

I 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.

Genuine question, do you seriously worry about that? I mean, what are you concerned about? That people would think you uncool? What sort of people would think that? People you want to think highly of you? Your position seems so strange to me, I'm just trying to understand it.

I mean it's the same as fashion for me. I could wear poorly fitting clothes and poorly matched items of clothing, but I don't.

I care about how I look and present myself. That's not exactly unique, and it doesn't have to be strongly tied to me caring if people think I'm "uncool".

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#392

Post by brudgers »

locallost wrote: post #387
brudgers wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I leave my car outside because rain doesn't effect it's powertrain lubricants. It has integrated locks and unlikely to be stolen. It can't be picked up and thrown in the back of a van. Or just ridden off. I come out and the seat isn't wet and the chain isn't rusty. Everything is dry and ready to go.

It's a funny list considering bikes were described as a compromise with floor space. As it's possible to park 10 bikes for one car. As for the rest, I lube my chains rarely and they are rusty on extreme occasions only and stand in the rain often. Belt drives also require no lube at all. A bike can be dried up in 5 seconds or you can use a seat cover which costs around 50 cents on average unless you get it for free. Y…

I don’t need to park ten bikes because I only have one and it folds up and fits in a closet or can roll behind me somewhat like a carry-on suitcase.

I don’t disagree with your experience regarding maintenance. Mine has been with a bike in Florida rain, where the streets run yellow with pine pollen in spring, and where the fog is of the Pacific’s salt air.

With my folding bike, I just find a place to park the car and peddle the last mile or don’t and just walk. A car doesn’t require me to park close.

Car or bike or foot, I tend to maintain my chill about the same frequency. I stopped competing for parking a few years ago. Cannabis helped. YMMV, but it helped on the internet too.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#393

Post by MrKwiggle »

JeremyNT wrote: post #381
MrKwiggle wrote: post #314

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 very interested in your product, however it's a big leap of faith to buy it sight unseen! When I buy a bicycle I'd like to try it out and ride it around. Do you have any intention to sell it from bike shops or retail channels in the US? I know you've collected some positive anecdotes but I don't see many reviews from third parties out there yet, so I really can't commit to it. Is this simply because the product i…

I can completely understand your concerns. we sell directly to the customer. we do not calculate retailer margins in the price. We have delivered the first Kwiggle by the end of 2019. 95 % of our sales are currently still generated in Germany. we have started selling to US in december 2021. We have now sold Kwiggle all over the world and Kwiggle is now already riding on every continent. Our first customers have made more than 5.000 km and up to 8.000 km with their Kwiggle. You can't do such a complex product with a lot of high tec parts with a production of some. You have to set up big production lots.

There is a first test report from a journalist of SPIEGEL:

https://www.spiegel.de/auto/faltrad-kwiggle-im-test-achtung-...

Kwiggle was part of a test of folding bikes from BikeBild:

https://www.kwigglebike.com/web/image/37936?unique=b95a1aead...

There will be further longer test reports from various journalists/media this spring.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#394

Post by MrKwiggle »

bambax wrote: post #286
kwigglebike wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is affordable for the workmanship and materials used. All stainless steel and aluminium.

That's not what "affordable" means, sorry.

thanks for your comment. we have adapted the translation on the page.

Two of the most important advantages of a folding bike, namely the weight and the folding volume, are also the largest cost factors in the product price.

The price is a matter of quality of material and manufacturing and number of parts. The lower the weight, the higher have to be the quality, the more compact, the more high-tech parts are required. the more expensive will be the bike.

You can't produce a folding bike with only 10 kg and only 55 l of folded volume that can easily be ridden up to 25 km/h and is stable for people from 1,30 m to 1,95 m and up to 100 kg for prices below 2,000 euro, unless you produce 100,000 or more in a year or you sell directly to the customers.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#395

Post by lmm »

brudgers wrote: post #373
lmm wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Storing vehicles is a social problem not an individual one, given that by their nature people tend to use them to commute, go shopping etc.. (If you live in some crazy jurisdiction that has decided to allocate lots of public space to car storage and not bike storage, then you have a problem, but, uh, don't do that)

My bike is actual not theoretical. Storing it is very much my practical problem. The solutions are orthogonal to the presence or absence of parking lots, quays, and hangers in my community. For me, folding it up and putting it in a closet seems simpler than changing civilization. YMMV.

I actually did emigrate for the sake of a better life that includes a much better bicycle culture, FWIW :).

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#396

Post by jodrellblank »

laurieg wrote: 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…

Why are they all so big? Is there no fancy material that can make the frame as thin as a drinking straw and still strong enough?

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#397

Post by unicornporn »

MrKwiggle wrote: post #345
unicornporn wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

First of all: The fork offset is needed to obtain the same trail as with a normal bike. Large wheels need to bend the fork forward in order to reduce the natural trail for easier steering. Small wheels need to bend the fork backwards in order to get the same effect, because the natural trail of small wheels is to small. Just look on a shopping cart. The fork of the steering wheels is bent backwards too. On Kwiggle yo…

Thanks for taking the time!

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#398

Post by brudgers »

lmm wrote: post #395
brudgers wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bike is actual not theoretical. Storing it is very much my practical problem. The solutions are orthogonal to the presence or absence of parking lots, quays, and hangers in my community. For me, folding it up and putting it in a closet seems simpler than changing civilization. YMMV.

I actually did emigrate for the sake of a better life that includes a much better bicycle culture, FWIW :).

Better bicycling in the public sphere is among the benefits of my relocation.

The folding bike improves the situation in my domestic life.

In general a bike is a both-and to an automobile not an either-or.

Each is a tool that is better for some jobs and worse for others. As tools neither is moral or immoral, virtuous or evil, inherently right or wrong.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#399

Post by lmm »

brudgers wrote: post #398
lmm wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually did emigrate for the sake of a better life that includes a much better bicycle culture, FWIW :).

Better bicycling in the public sphere is among the benefits of my relocation. The folding bike improves the situation in my domestic life. In general a bike is a both-and to an automobile not an either-or. Each is a tool that is better for some jobs and worse for others. As tools neither is moral or immoral, virtuous or evil, inherently right or wrong.

I'd argue that a tool is inherently immoral to the extent that it tends to impose negative externalities on others.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#400

Post by wolverine876 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #382
wolverine876 wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> lie Can we do better than this? It is not welcome here, per the HN guidelines, and poisons everyone who sees it. It's also an accusation without evidence, and therefore meaningless in regard to the accused.

If you don't think "lie" is the appropriate word here, then might I suggest "deliberate fraudulent misrepresentation" instead? There's evidence that this company has been misleading customers about order status for at least 7 years. How much more evidence do you need?

The comment in question said they lied here. Where is the evidence?
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