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The Joy of Folding Bikes

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Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#51

Post by massysett »

Gigachad wrote: post #30
afavour wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the frustration but also bikes take up a lot of space. When someone brings one on the NYC subway at rush hour it’s definitely an inconvenience.

I feel like the failure here is that it gets so packed that there isn't space for a bike. Because it's not just bikes impacted here. If you can't fit a bike, you can't fit a wheelchair, you can't fit a pram, you don't have space for someone who needs to sit down, or someone who can't handle being pressed in at all sides by other passengers. It's a wrong allocation of resources where we decide everyone can have 4 empt…

The thing is, everyone can't have 4 empty seats to drive to work in New York City. There's only so much space on the streets and in the bridges and tunnels, and now there's a congestion charge on top of that.

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#52

Post by hamdingers »

YawningAngel wrote: post #17

I don't fault OP for this, but it's pretty frustrating to me as someone who's quite attached to his non-folding bike that the main benefit of folding bikes is that, unlike regular bikes, they aren't banned from pretty much all public transport

Thankfully uncommon in North America. Growing up in Los Angeles where every bus has racks and every train car has bike spots, I was shocked the first time I visited SF and found I couldn't bring it on Muni trains.

I know DC bans them and Boston/NYC/Toronto have limited hours, but every other city with a metro seems to welcome them.

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#53

Post by mh2266 »

hamdingers wrote: post #52
YawningAngel wrote: post #17

I don't fault OP for this, but it's pretty frustrating to me as someone who's quite attached to his non-folding bike that the main benefit of folding bikes is that, unlike regular bikes, they aren't banned from pretty much all public transport

Thankfully uncommon in North America. Growing up in Los Angeles where every bus has racks and every train car has bike spots, I was shocked the first time I visited SF and found I couldn't bring it on Muni trains. I know DC bans them and Boston/NYC/Toronto have limited hours, but every other city with a metro seems to welcome them.

NYC subway allows bikes 24/7, only MNR and LIRR have time restrictions

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#54

Post by Gigachad »

jmm5 wrote: post #48
Gigachad wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the failure here is that it gets so packed that there isn't space for a bike. Because it's not just bikes impacted here. If you can't fit a bike, you can't fit a wheelchair, you can't fit a pram, you don't have space for someone who needs to sit down, or someone who can't handle being pressed in at all sides by other passengers. It's a wrong allocation of resources where we decide everyone can have 4 empt…

Pretty much any decent mass transit system in the world is packed at rush hour. The whole advantage over private vehicles comes from the fact that people take up less space.

I agree it's a fairly common issue but I feel like it's not an impossible issue to solve. A person and a bike is still massively smaller than a person in an SUV. The system is basically designed with just enough capacity to barely work. But I feel like if we really wanted PT to be the obvious best choice it should be provisioned a bit over the least possible capacity.

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#55

Post by MattSayar »

shric wrote: post #15
rjh29 wrote: post #9

They're obviously great for commuting. For general use, they are in theory thief-proof because you can take them everywhere with you. The downside is they're expensive so you HAVE to take them everywhere with you. Leave them out and they'll get stolen. For that reason I think the happiest I've been is with a dirt cheap bike in Japan. Didn't even lock it properly (just a key built into the frame) and could park it out…

I have owned a AU$7,000 (US$5,000) ebike in Sydney, Australia for a few years and have parked it everywhere without worrying about it getting stolen. It has a built in lock that blocks the front spokes, an alarm and I use a $200 chain lock around the frame to fix it to something.

I taped an Airtag-equivalent to one of my bikes as well

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#56

Post by mh2266 »

Gualdrapo wrote: post #4

I'd like to try a folding bike but (1) bromptons around here are filthy expensive and cheaper options (that can be found around 1/20th the price of a brompton) are really low quality, and (2) none of them come with big gears that I'd need to get home, with sections that can reach 22%

maybe I'm missing something, but just put a smaller chainring on? or do you need something like MTB cassette amount of range?

given the tiny wheels, a chainring that would be "normal" on a 700c 1x gravel bike should be very easy for climbing on a folding bike.

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#57

Post by mh2266 »

a bit nitty, but "never get punctures" is just an attribute of the tires, not the bike. if you stick Gatorskins on a Tarmac SL8, you'll also never get punctures. but that's like putting tractor tires on a sports car, and you'll be slower and have a less comfortable ride than you would with GP5Ks.

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#58

Post by throw0101c »

jodrellblank wrote: post #29
eCa wrote: post #18

I know it's not for everyone, but it is also a reasonable touring bike if done within its constraints. I've probably done closer to 40 days on my 16" Brompton, longest was a two-week 1000km ride. On the topic of leaving the bike out-of-sight: In those 40 days I've left it locked a total of 20 minutes, otherwise it comes with me into restaurants, supermarkets, public restrooms, hotel rooms.. The biggest downsides are…

> " a reasonable touring bike if done within its constraints " Yes; for example, YouTuber Susanna Thornton does bikepacking and wild-camping on her Brompton: https://www.youtube.com/@susannathornton/videos and Darin's Adventure Chronicles: https://www.youtube.com/@darinsadventurechronicles/videos Many other one-off videos exist too under searches for brompton bikepacking and brompton wildcamp.

Also:

* https://www.youtube.com/@2Bikes4Adventure/videos

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#59

Post by throw0101c »

Waterluvian wrote: post #43

I dunno about elsewhere but in Ontario the legality of a bike being on a sidewalk is based on wheel diameter to permit kids bicycles. So there ends up being kinds of adult bikes with intentionally tiny wheels, and it creates a real menace to pedestrians. Some municipalities also have age restrictions to combat this. What are the more legitimate reasons for little wheels on bikes? I guess the goal like with this one i…

> I dunno about elsewhere but in Ontario the legality of a bike being on a sidewalk is based on wheel diameter to permit kids bicycles.

There is no Ontario-wide law, per the Highway Traffic Act, §185(2):

> (2) The council of a municipality may by by-law prohibit pedestrians or the use of motor assisted bicycles, bicycles, wheelchairs or animals on any highway or portion of a highway under its jurisdiction. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 185 (2).

* https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK286

London:

> 2.12 Motor vehicle - bicycle - on sidewalk - exceptions No person shall, without lawful authority, either by himself or by permitting others, operate a motor vehicle or bicycle along a sidewalk. This section shall not apply to a person who, […] or (d) being under the age of 14, operates a bicycle along a sidewalk.

* https://www.trekbicyclestorelondon.com/about/cycling-law-lon...

Toronto:

> Chapter 950-201 C(2) of the Toronto Municipal Code states that “no person age 14 and older shall ride a bicycle on a sidewalk of any highway.”

* https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-tra...

Nothing about diameter/radius.

Re: The Joy of Folding Bikes

#60

Post by drzaiusx11 »

mauvehaus wrote: post #45
drzaiusx11 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 16" tires killed all the joy I normally get from riding a bike tbh. I tried better seats, shock absorber posts, different gear ratios, everything. Just sucked the joy out of the ride for me. Hiding "throw away" bikes around the city and far off bus stops etc ended up being my solution and it worked better for me at least.

My other option was leaving my all-weather beater bike down at the station near work. I ended up not doing that just because I didn't want to have to haul it back and forth a couple times a year for maintenance. But yeah, valid solution for sure.

I went with the simplest possible design for mine: fixed gear, v breaks sealed bearing wheels. Was basically zero maintenance as I only ever used the brakes for emergencies and used foot power for planned stopping etc. had gater tires, worked fine in the snow in Boston round all year.
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