Folding Bikes

agleopar, do you have some pictures of your bike?

I'm guessing his current avatar might be a pic.

http://s805.photobucket.com/albums/yy336/agleopar2/?action=view&current=brick.jpg

I've been riding my dahon (speed 7) for about a week now and it is a dream. Only modification is a vintage brookes saddle which is much comfyier than the orignal saddle. The ride is perfect, the gear changes are seemless and rapid for getting away from the lights. I would prefer it ss but that's a mod for summer. If I had the money for a brompton, Id still buy the dahon but going on holiday with

Except for the way I look (and cars think we all look stoopid) my 20 lbs folder is my favorite bike now and actually it puts a smile on my mug when a ped does a belly laugh as I go by. It is also very very nice to blow by some serious fool who thinks that my bike could only go 15mph.

+1, except for today when I was heading into Cov via one of the rougher bits - 4 guys with their wordly goods in bin bags started chasing me for having a "wank bike" 'cos I needed "punching in the face". I dinged my bell at them defiantly as I put hammer down and gtfoot.

Shonky pic of my folder:

cracks me up spinning about cities on folders, while ago in Sheffield had two shouts from peds- second one was 'bad bwoy bike' ?! (it was a friday night....)
^^are they goldfingers you tart?......

cracks me up spinning about cities on folders, while ago in Sheffield had two shouts from peds- second one was **'bad bwoy bike' **?! (it was a friday night....)
^^are they goldfingers you tart?......

:D

goes both ways tho - I regularly get stopped by folks wanting to know how much they are, where to buy, did I get it like this etc etc.

yup to the goldfingers - 8/10 for looks, 6/10 for function (that might be down to my choice of cheap cable tho)

Nice on agleopar. I like the sound of what you've been doing and you're definitely spurring me on to do a fixed folder conversion. Have you got any pics of the 20" you did?

@*m.f and rhb: I used to think the Goldfinger lever was shit when I tried it on my BMX some years ago so I stuck it in the garage and forgot about it. Then when I set up my fixed I thought I'd try it out. I'm using a cable disk on the front and it's the perfect lever. It works effortlessly and stays well out the way. Also, it's nicely rounded on most parts, so I've never caught any part of myself on it like I have with some other levers. Give them a try with different brakes and you may change your mind.

B.D. I can't rcomend a conversion highly enough - The 20 incher is geared and one of Dahons lightest bikes that they do not make any more (2005 Helios SL 17lbs!) so I am leaving it as is.

The thing is I really like the small fold of the 16" wheeled Dahons and if I could get good enough wheels, tires, and a large enough gear I would go with 14". Its just that with 16" wheel and tire technology is at a par with 27" stuff so the old misconception of bad rolling resistance is out the window.

On my next conversion I may leave the front wheel at 14" with 16" in the back and have a shagadelic mini low-pro!

If you have to go with 20" and have the dosh Dahon has the Uno which would be an easy conversion but the Curve SL 16" is what I would go with.

That's the one I was looking at, but I'm not too fussed about size or weight as much as I am convincing the train master that I'm allowed on during peak times! The other one I was looking at was the old Raleigh Twenty shoppers, but I'd really have to not care about weight then!

The weight thing is not that big a deal either riding or carrying but if you use it a lot then it does get old and it is nice to make it as light as possible. On a day in the city I will make 5 - 8 stops folding and baging my bike and after 15 -25 miles I like that it is light.

If your just going and coming then it probably does not matter - although the small fold is nice on crowded trains... Good Luck. Give us an up date when you get on it.

P.S. a very light bag, even a dust bin bag will cancel out any questions about having to convince anyone about your right to the bike + train question.

What's to stop me just cuttin a frame in half on the toptube and downtube and then adding a hinge on both? Couldn't that be viable? If all I want to do is convince the train people that I'm conforming to their standards.

I can only see it in the last (folded up) photo in the series. Could you have a tensioner that only stuck out to take up the slack when the bike was folded?

But yeah. Hmm.

It seems like the chain is tight enough and it only takes up the tension when you fold.

What's to stop me just cuttin a frame in half on the toptube and downtube and then adding a hinge on both? Couldn't that be viable? If all I want to do is convince the train people that I'm conforming to their standards.

Go for it - thats what those coupler things that screw together are for...

Well I was just thinking about full suspension mtbs, the back end of a lot of them are held together by a spring that is bolted at either end. Presumable a couple of stiff rubber bushings and some bolts and you're away.

I didn't realise but there is already a fixed gear folding bike on the market, made by Montague Bike
It doesn't even look all that bad.

From what I can see it looks like they use a headset where the seattube is and a quick release in the middle to hold it together. If I'd have been thinking the way I am now, but 5 years ago, then I reckon I'd have made the first one of these in my shed!
It does mean that the ideas are already there though, and it'll be a whole lot easier for us lot to make our own folding bikes to our spec. There is a distinct lack of 'homemade folding bikes' on the internet. Come on guys, lets find some friends that can weld and get on with it!

It looks really good but it still is big and I guess that is alright for you but i will still go with the little wheels - they do just fine and that is compared to some very expensive hardware some of my road mates ride.

As to building your own - definitely the way to go.

The Raleigh Twenty is a good compromise, Having ridden the Brompton it's a lovely little bike, but the wheel is defintely in the small size (even though it ride and handle fine, just a lots twitchier), the 20" wheel size of the Twenty is much nicer to handle than the 16" of the Brompton.

check out my bird(y) here:- http://www.lfgss.com/thread27801.html

Well I suppose by building your own you get the ride that you want, or at least expect anyway.

On another note there are these 20" fixed bikes which I had the chance to have a go on the other night. It felt OK actually, so there is chance yet that I'll be comfortable on a 20" folder.

And here's a converted fixed folder I came across.

[I] 1970's gobby folding bike, made here in Arizona back in the day. its been converted to fixed. this bike is only used for monday night bike polo in tempe, where it excels with its maneuverability. original 1-piece cranks converted to 3-piece via american-to-euro bottom bracket conversion. gearing is 48/15, with 140mm truvativ jr.bmx cranks.*[/I]

DREDGE!

So - have things moved on since 2009? Are any of the cheaper folders worth looking at (Tern, Dahon etc) now or is it a false economy and it's off to Brompton for me?

Oh - little wheels - not them big ones.

Hmm, how about this:

My Dahon Espresso Road Project:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77981342@N02/7145844537/in/set-72157629608204628

I've just finished this project with a Dahon Espresso frame I was able to buy off ebay before xmas... it's not single/fixed, but you can see that 700c wheels with caliper brakes (long drops) can be fitted...

Ha, that looks hilarious.

Why did you do it, just for fun, or is there a practical reason?

Ha, that looks hilarious.

:-)

I currently ride a folding Dahon Jack (that's a full size 26" MTB type folder with the same frame as in the pic) across east London most working days. I need a folder as I have a train element to my journey. The frame is alu, a simple mechanical fold and the whole unit works well + cheap.

With the recent Dahon/Tern history, I've been looking for a spare frame in case of damage and I cannot source a replacement. Just before Xmas, a seller on Ebay was selling new Espresso/Jack frames for £60, and I could not resist. The nice thing about this frame is that it's just polished alu (the Jack is matt black painted + marks easily) and all elements/fittings are standard sizes, so no special parts to worry about.

Ok, so I keep on knocking into this spare frame in the garage and I'm now thinking, can I stick 700c wheels on this and make it a "sunny day" commuter + audax bike? The worst that can happen is that it has a rubbish ride, I then just remove the road bits and buy a "proper" road frame instead.

Budgetwise, I've been on a lean cost basis, but kicking the numbers round has led me to a cheap Tiagra 2012 groupset from ebay and low cost parts elsewhere. No carbon except for the forks.

Weight wise, my Dahon Jack MTB commuter weighs in around 14.5Kg, this weighs in around 10.2Kg.

Either way, it's an interesting project to play with. So far, I've just got it built and will be folding it onto the train in the next few weeks. Looking forward to cycling with drops - the last time I was using drops was in the early 90's...