Folding bikes

Delete this shit thread

>>907827
You do it

no space? use a folding bike, or if you want to carry one in a car trunk.

they're great if you have to travel

mine breaks down in 3 pieces

>>907822
They are not meme or future, just specialized. They've been around in one form or another since forever and are not going away. They pay a very heavy cost one way or another: crap handling, fragile, heavy, and / or expensive. But if you need one you are happy to put up with all this because they go where no other bike can.
I think of them in the same way as fat, cargo, tandem, and city bikes; the right tool for a particular job.
>unless you actually do live in a tiny walk-up and take it on the train, just get a 90's mtb with slicks.

I've got a Brompton in my stable and I'd be happy to have it as an only bike if it came to that. It rides and handles well, is reliable and folds up small. The only downside is no offroad.

>>908308
You don't belong here

>>908311

Behead yourself fred.

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>>907822
>foldies
>future
It's an artefact of the dark past.

In London you'll see massive flocks of folding bikes. You're only allowed to take folders on some transit lines at peak time, plus there are a ton of thieves around so it's good to be able to take your bike in.

It's cool ride your brompton wearing jeans etc and go flying past a dentist on his flat-bar carbon specialized in his team Sky full kit.

>>907822
I use a folding bike for commuting almost every day, 8km every day. It's a cheap bike, a bso basically, but it works and it saves me 70 euro each month. I have had it for 5 years, so the bike is reliable.

I want one, but it wouldn't be practical around here because I live in the midwest

>>907870
>They are not meme
Sure they are, at least I've seen them being used only by the neckbeard-fedora type of guys. People who find it much more appealing than it really is to be able to take a bike with them as hand-luggage.

"Oh I can ride it from campus to uni, from uni to Greyhound station and from greyhound station to my parents place!"

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where can I (in the USA) order folding bike wheels cheap from?
,,,,,,,without having them built that is,,,,,,,,
I would need 349 and 451, and would prefer nutted axles tho that part may not work out
only need one or two of each
I need the rims to be the typical widths used for recumbents, tho I think both these sizes tend to be limited to pretty narrow anyway

there is cheap/used ones on ebay now and then but the people usually use inches and don't use the ISO designation--so it's not real clear what size they are offering

>>908457
>I would need 349 and 451, and would prefer nutted axles tho that part may not work out
wait--that's wrong
I need 451 and 305 mm....

>>908444

Don't buy one then. :3

>>908515
"I won't" said every real cyclist ever.

>>908455
There was a period of time in my life when I used to travel 1000km twice a week Montréal Windsor and back when a folding bike would have been a dream for me. I left my bike for three days out in front of bus station in Windsor, ONCE and it was beat to shit after I came back. They couldn't steal the whole thing so they just beat it up, tacoed my rear wheel. I bet a fucking American did it.
There was also a time when I would commute Montréal Sherbrooke or Montréal Hamilton, twice per semester.

Yes, "taking the greyhound to visit my parents" is a real thing for some people.

>>908457
I don't fucking get what you mean, you want bike wheels that aren't built?

in other words you want bike wheel parts? you can order them from any place that sells recumbent or BMX wheels

axles are pretty much universal to some degree

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1984 bridgestone picnica

the only thing i've done to it is add schwalbe big apple tires. this bike is super fun to ride.

Do any of these not look retarded, and is it really that hard to find a reasonably light one?

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>>908685
Bike Friday. all are sub 20lb.

>>908648
BELTDRIVE?!?!?!?!

>>908699
>>908648

THIS!!!!
Toothed belts have been around a while, but I thought Gates was the first. Where did it come from, and why did the idea not take off?

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>>908685

>>908697
Yeah, I don't think that's less than 20 lbs with those components.

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my B

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Bike Friday Tourist

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>>908786
>>908697
How bad would 35lb be? I just want to cross town, try out some distant restaurants and such, while carrying it with me

>>909109
Annoying. Imagine having to carry 35lb of crap. Now imagine having to carry a 35lb piece of crap that is awkward to carry on top of the other shit you have to carry. It's also going to feel heavy uphill.

What you want is a Brompton if you're going to walk around with it a lot. They have little roller wheels so you can roll it around like a suitcase when it is folded up.

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>>909109
I try not to pick on other people's choices, but IMO a folding bike made with full-size wheels is a poor choice.

you give up a lot of frame durability to accommodate the folding design, but then the large wheels keep it from being handy to carry and store folded.
things like the Hummer folding bike are really only easier to transport inside a car. it's still way to heavy to carry around easily.

if you get a folder, get one with dinky wheels,,,, 451, 406 or smaller. it is the way it was meant to be

[pic only marginally related]

>>909111
its really not that big of a deal, when I was younger I had a bmx bike that weighed around 40lbs and rode across town all the time with it. My cheap beater cx bike weighs around 28lbs and I still do 40-50 mile rides on it.

>>909224
Are you carry it around with you? Are you retarded?

>>909109
>How bad would 35lb be?
for riding, meh it'd be fine but notably heavier on hills

for carrying around, not really acceptable. those bigass bags of dogfood at the supermarket are all 15 to 20 lbs, you really want to haul around more than that?

>>909227
A better question is are you a weakling?

>>907822
I rented one in Paris because I'm a midget and couldn't use the city bikes, it was okay. I kept up with the other bicyclists just fine. Probably wouldn't use one as my main bike, I love my 17 inch frame road bike too much, but when I'm travelling and can't bring my bike I would consider renting one again.

>>908873
How fast does it go on an average commute?

I would almost make it the same as that when customizing it but I would add the rear rack with wheels on it.

>>908568
>I don't fucking get what you mean, you want bike wheels that aren't built?
>in other words you want bike wheel parts? you can order them from any place that sells recumbent or BMX wheels
>axles are pretty much universal to some degree
Nope, I wanted to buy front wheels. And I wanted cheaper ones,,, and I was looking on Amazon mainly.

There's lots of bmx places that sell 451 wheels but those start at like $100 for a front wheel because they have decent parts.
I just needed a cheap wheel that is new & straight; almost any kind of aluminum rim and crappy open-bearing hub will work for what I need.

There was a couple cheaper-built front+rear sets listed on Amazon (by Niagra Cycles) for around $100, but no fronts-only.
The problem was that I was looking for { 20 x 1-1/8" } wheels, because that's the dimension that I've mainly heard the size referenced by.
There is a cheaper front on Amazon (it costs about $38) but it is listed as { 20" x 1-3/8" }.

The Sheldon page notes that these rims/tires can be listed with the width as either 1-1/8", 1-1/4" or 1-3/8".
If they just used the 451mm size it would have been easy, but most don't use that notation at all in their product descriptions. :P

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>>907822
Fits gud in back of airplane, gets me from destination airport to groceries/camping. My girlfriend stands on the rack and I pedal. Great fun.

>>910017
We do wheelies wherever we go, and we giggle when we get to corners because LOL HOPE WE DON'T DIE

Thinking of buying one with an igh, but they seem pretty expensive. anybody ever knock their derailleur carrying these around or are they pretty sturdy

I'm considering one for international touring as airlines don't play nice with full sized bikes. Any recommendation? I'm in Europe.

It would be great to have the flexibility to fold it up and throw it in the back of an uber.

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>>908553
>it was beat to shit

Oh, that's a thing too. I, as a Finn did the same thing for a few semesters, but I just ended up having two cheap old bikes in the both ends. No vandalism, once.

A helpful thing though was that I took the bike at my parent's end off from the station for the weekends I was there, as that is a smaller station where underage kids often hang out drinking.

The city absolutely should let go of the unused station building, no one's going to pay a "real estate price" for it at the current state.

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i have a couple of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrymxs5ZIrw

Has anyone here tried one of these?

>>913030
Had not seen this before, it's obvious why these haven't caught on and I'm guessing the price must be absurd if you can even get one still, but some pretty near engineering going on there with the frame design, bivalent freewheel system, and chainstay-mount derailer.

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My trusty Bike Friday given to me by my uncle who bought it new in 1993. Awesome bike and also fits inside an airline legal samsonite hardsides suitcase.

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>>913176

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FRIDAY

>>913256
>>913177
gorgeous bikes guys. damn, now I want one...ugh

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brompton

>>913177

Please replace that poor cable housing on your right brake lever

>>913343
I already did replace all cables and housing. thanks for spotting that.

>>913337

Hipsters will ruin anything

>>913071
It also only weighs 9kg.

>>913337
That's fucking rad.

>>913337
>>913345

please tell me some cager killed it...I mean it is in so much pain...poor bike...

>>908648
its a proto-strida, nice

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Nice to see a few Bike Fridays in this thread.

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Bb

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My side bb

>>908515
pls b my boyfriend

:3c

>>908648

Holy shit you have one of these? You win life

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>>908739

> The Bridgestone Picnica line of bikes, some models featuring belt-drives, were introduced in the early 1980s and carried in the Bridgestone Cycle USA catalogs from 1985 through 1990.[1][2] It weighs 29 pounds and belt-drive models use a tooth-belt drive like auto timing belts and Harley-Davidson drive belts, along with a novel two-part chainring that increases belt tension with increasing load. The Picnica is a folding bicycle, and part of the appeal of the belt drive is cleanliness. It is a small wheel bicycle, so belt tension may be less than on a bicycle with standard-size wheels.

>The Picnica was apparently commercially successful, but was offered mainly in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgestone_Picnica

>>913177
>>913176

What are those bars? Bike Friday specific? I always thought somebody should make bars in that shape

>>913750
yes. bike friday makes them. They call them "H" bars. they're super comfy. also, they separate in the middle to make packing the bike in the suitcase easy.

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>>913748
>miniature bike
>29 pounds

>>913748
>the first belt driven bike
what did all the rest use?

>>913831
chains?

>>913799
>>miniature bike
>>29 pounds
steel is real...... heavy

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>>913799
>>913865

I actually own one of these and i can tell you that the weight actually contributes to the smooth and steady ride of this bike. with the short wheelbase and small wheels this beauty would be a wheelie machine without a little heft.

I own one. They're OK.

>>913942
i mean, OK, but it weighs more than my old steel 63cm road bike on 27s. that's ridiculous.

>>913942
>I actually own one of these and i can tell you that the weight actually contributes to the smooth and steady ride of this bike.
We only mock it half-heartedly.
It is excusable to be so heavy, as it is fairly vintage.

-------

If you get a modern multi-speed cheap folder it will weigh about that much (32 lbs), but if you can spend a bit more ($400-$500) you can find a few single-speed choices that are around 24 lbs. The Dahon Speed Uno for one. The basic Strida is another around 24lbs, and also has belt drive tho it costs up around $700.

I tend to believe that single-speed in a folder is acceptable, as they're generally not intended to be long-range bikes.
Fold up fast & small, and "riding good enough for 5 miles" is all they need to do.

>>913023

these crap bikes or these nice girls?

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>>913942
>>913748
>>908648

I'm working on upgrading a Picnica right now! It's going to weigh around 22 lbs when I'm done.

>>913748

That folded form doesn't seem very practical

>>914441

So jealous
You better post when done

Chinese carbon rims do it

>>914441

So jealous

Post when you're done

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>>914493
I could go 16" 349mm rear wheel and 16" 305mm front wheel. or (pic related) i could order and 16" 305 wheelset. what do you think?

>>914545

>slam the stem
>16" front
>20" rear

ultra pursuit picnica

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>>914858
that would be retarded and cool, but unfortunately 20" won't fit rear.

inb4 >that's what she said.

>>915426
Sweet jesus. What is this stealthy beast?

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my dahon dove (bya412). it's a tiny bike but it's fun as hell.

So I'm about to start a job that's a 20 min train journey away plus a 45 minute walk after (15mins if I were to cycle). Since the train policy (Northern Ireland) puts less restrictions on folding bikes, I'm thinking of getting one. I don't own any other bikes already. Could any recommend me some good buys?

I'm looking for cheap and reliable, up to £200 maybe, since I'm just starting this job I dont have a lot to spend right now. Or are there any brands I should keep a look out for secondhand?

>>908352
>thieves
We all know you mean black people so why not say it you cooky cuck

>>918895
here you go:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/dahon-mu-uno-great-folding-bike/1152867944

this is a good quality single speed.

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>>919121

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>>919123

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>>919126

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>>919128

>>919019
cheers anon

>>919179
hope it works out well for you, mate.

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>>919121

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http://blacklemag.com/design/small-italian-bike/
Velocino.
I don't need to explain myself, fuck you.

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>>920836

>tfw no Abicino