The GoBike - Another Snappy Folder
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 07.21.06
Around for a few years winning design awards, but not widely available at retail, the GoBike does appear to be popping up a bit more now. The iXi, Birdy, Bike Friday, Moulton and Brompton will have to welcome a newcomer to their ranks of hip, compact bicycles. Designed in Canada and made in Taiwan, the GoBike is made of aluminium, weighing in at about the 11 to 12 kg (24-26 lb) mark. It is said to ride and perform just like a full size bike, suiting riders from 142cm (4 ft 8 in) to 193cm (6 ft 4 in). As the pic indicates it can fold up to a tiny package - and like the Bike Friday - fit inside a suitcase. Yet it still sports high performance attributes, like a anti-dive front disk braking (rear disk brakes optional), and a very cool looking monoblade (single fork) front suspension. A plethora of accessories are available including carriers and panniers and travel bags. As is a non-folding frame version, known as the Tango, which has its own very trippy frame (see photo after the fold, so to speak). Their official website is a frustrating work-in-progress, but after much digging we did unearth another far more useful site complete with technical specs and photos. In Europe prices seem to start around €1,249, while in Canada expect to pay $1,500 CAD for base model. ::GoBike, via Corporate Knights.
The Tango (with non-folding frame, well rear forks to be precise.)
Other views of the folding GoBike
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Wow- that is a nice looking bike. It's like the Transformers cartoon.
A word of caution from a folding bike owner. The GoBike has won all kinds of compliments for its design, but just go ahead and try to buy one. If you can manage that, try being able to get replacement parts.
If you want more info, there's been some regular discussion on the GoBike in the Folding Bikes section of bikeforums.net. Offhand, I can only recall one person who was able to get his hands on one of these, a fellow named "Chop!" from the UK. He had to track them down to a distributer (in Belgium, I think), and while generally pretty happy with the bike, has had a lot of frustration in dealing with the company over some parts/warranty/upgrade issues.
The cantilevered hub is cool and allows for changing flat tires without removing the wheel, but is all but non-upgradeable. If other treehuggers out there want to get a bike with this type of wheel design, I would personally recommend getting a Giant Halfway, which has a much more proven track record.
If the GoBike folks get more on the ball with actually selling and supporting product, rather than sending out press releases and making the rounds of trade shows and design juries, then I wish them the best of luck. GoBike folks, there are a fair amount of people who *want* to buy your bikes. Get out there and sell some! :)
Also in general, I encourage Treehuggers to take a closer look at folding bicycles. They are a great, healthy, practical way of getting around. They are also fairly friendly with trains, busses and bosses. Mine sits next to me, under my desk at work.
That really is a damn good idea for a bike. Too bad there aren't more companies out there that create folding bikes. Hmmm... me thinks possible idea for a US start up.
> me thinks possible idea for a US start up.
There are quite a few manufacturers of folders, the ones mentioned in the original blog posting are just a few. The real oppurtunity is in making folders popular with potential bike riders and then retailing or distributing them. A good dahon can be had for a decent price. The trick is convincing people to buy them.
I have a dahon helios and have seen a number of other dahons in and around downtown Boston.
"Armand" (the first reviewer here) recommended a Giant Hallfway as a better alternative. Sorry to contradict him but I own one and they have a design flaw which leads to the frame cracking near the bottom bracket (look at online reviews) as well as there being a problem with the frame latch coming loose which holds the bike together! Also the components are low spec for the price of the bike. I didn't research the bike well enough before buying it. I've had my Halfway for a month now and the handlebar stem had to be replaced as there was too much play in the hinge when when fully tightened. I've been told a Brompton is the way to go - I have not read any bad reviews on it yet.