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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

#71

Post by vkou »

UFOFlyer wrote: post #60

I think the niche of "personal vehicle that you can take on the metro" is better filled by PEVs. Shrinking down a bike's drivetrain size is harder than just putting together a single wheel, some circuit boards, batteries, and an electric motor to make an electric unicycle. A big advantage EUCs have is you don't have to bother with folding like a bike, just hop off, grab the trolley handle and walk on. Electric scoote…

I usually spend a few minutes waiting for public transit, though - which would be more than enough time to fold up a bicycle.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#72

Post by usrusr »

jbverschoor wrote: post #33

What’s so special about it? It looks like any other folding bike

The seat is attached to the front column, not to the bottom bracket like on most other bikes (folding or not). This seems to give them a better portability return for sacrificing wheel base than other designs. So that's what they did, apparently: the side views look like on the brink of a wheelie from even the slightest acceleration or incline, all while not getting the CoG all too far from stoppie tipovers. The advertised 25 km/h will feel maddeningly fast.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#73

Post by histriosum »

soared wrote: post #51
histriosum wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking at folding bikes like this.. in my case, I'm a private pilot, and I'm looking for ways to solve the last mile issue of getting from my destination airport to somewhere fun to go - ie a nearby beach, or into town for dinner, etc. Size and weight are important in my use case, since general aviation aircraft don't have alot of cargo space. This bike looks like it would be a decent fit, but I'm not sure…

Similarly I like to get very cheap ($40-$70) round trip flights to random town and explore around. Unfortunately my uber from the airport to the town is usually more expensive than the flight. Most small towns don't have much in the way of airport buses.

Wow, that's amazingly cheap.. where are you flying out of and how are you finding those fares?

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#74

Post by gomox »

chews wrote: post #54
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…

Buy a Tern (sp edit), better components on a Brompton frame

They are different bikes for different things.

The Brompton is a much better folded bike (it's a lot smaller, it actually stays folded, it doesn't have exposed greasy parts when folded, you can use it as a shopping cart, etc).

High end Terns (Verge) are more like a normal bike with good components but they are nowhere near as compact when folded (likelihood of walking it into a shop and not getting yelled at is nil, unlike with the Brompton), they don't have as good commuter accessories as the Bromptons and they ride much stiffer (which is good or bad depending on what you are doing with the bike).

Source: own both

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#76

Post by Asooka »

samwillis wrote: post #64
throwaway81523 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That patent was from 1979 so it must be long expired.

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.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#78

Post by andrewzah »

Swizec wrote: post #27
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.

My penny board fits in carry-on luggage, is allowed on airplanes, can be ridden inside airports, and looks cool as heck when you ride in the city. Plus it weighs like 3lbs and costs $100. But it’s a little more work to ride than a bicycle

Also a hell of a lot more dangerous. I'll take a bike any day over pennyboards or longboards.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#79

Post by joshlemer »

samwillis wrote: post #64
throwaway81523 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That patent was from 1979 so it must be long expired.

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.

Re: Folding bicycle small enough to fit in hand luggage

#80

Post by gnufx »

lisper wrote: post #40
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…

> Bromptons are expensive Half the price of a Kwiggle [1]. Seems like a bargain to me. [1] Comparing apples to apples, the base Brompton is a 3-speed for 850 euros. The 3-speed Kwiggle is 1690.

In which country can you get (a new) Brompton so cheaply?
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