The Folding Bicycle Steps Forward
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 08. 2.06
Folding bicycles seem to be gaining popularity of late. The added versatility of putting your bike in the trunk of your car, carrying it on the train during rush hour, or just storing it in your ultra-efficient apartment seems to be more appealing than ever. The technology and aesthetics too seem to have leaped forward. I remember the Dahon my father had when I was a kid. He bought it to stash in the hold of his sailboat so he could have something to pedal around when he went ashore on new and exotic islands in Boston Harbor. Folding bikes seem to have come a long way in a short time yielding a panoply of choices for different functions, budgts, and styles.
Pictured above is a concept design called the Locust by Czech designer Josef Cadek. The unique feature of the Locust is its circular frame and overhang mounted wheels that would allow for a more compact and visually pleasing folded state. Because folding requires severing the drivetrain, Cadek replaces the conventional chain with a toothed belt system that can be disengaged.
Hard to tell if this will be the future of the folding bike, or even if the folder will have much of a future at all. TreeHugger has covered a host of folding bikes in the past (listed below) and they always arouse people’s interest.
Josef Cadek can be contacted at josef_cadek at yahoo dot com, and his work can be viewed here.
TreeHugger has covered other folding bikes:
A-Bike
The Go Bike
The Di Blasi
Cannondale's Jacknife concept
Xootr Swift
Strida
The very affordable Citizen
When will it be time to get your first folding bike? When will it make perfect sense?
Folding bikes are very popular here in Shanghai where you can take them onto the metro. However this one looks way cooler. The ones here are really dorky looking and have stupidly small wheels. While trying one out I felt like I should be wearing a fez.
How about a little love for Montague Bicycles?
they're good enough for the U.S. Marines!
http://www.montagueco.com/
or what about Dahon? these guys aare the innovators behind the folding bikes... these guys have great products.
Looks dopey.
It looks very Dr. Seuss. No way I'm riding that. I'll stick to my brompton, thanks.
Since other folding bike manufacturers have been mentioned, I'll throw in my 2 cents. I think Bike Friday makes the best foldables on the market today. I wouldn't mind owning a PocketRocket
www.bikefriday.com
I highly recommend Downtube folding bikes. Inexpensive, solid, and the owner of the company offers hands-on service. Lots of writeups on bikeforums.net, which is a great resource on folding bikes in general.
=v= Dahon isn't really much of an innovator. What it does do is make folding bikes cheaply.
And don't forget the Brompton.
73, doug
who now owns 3 different folding bikes
Dahon makes a good product. It's not as highfalutin as some of the botique brands but it's a good bike nonetheless. They are passionate about what they do.
Just received my Downtube IXFS folder - cost just £180 on Ebay (the only way DT sell in the UK). Very nice looking bike, great ride, attracted loads of attention, well put together. Compares well to other folders costing 3 times as much (but such are the new economics of manufacture in China...) Needed a bit of work to set up the gears, but within a couple of hours of emailing the company's owner in the States, he mailed me with his home phone number inviting me to call him so he could talk me through getting it sorted. Superb service from what is still a very small start-up company in the States - you wouldn't get anything like this from a larger company's call centre. I cannot over-recommend - log onto Ebay and buy one now before they grow huge and become like any other corporate...
Just ordered my new Downtube mini directly with the owner of the company - that's a first! Bought the one he recommended for a very hard to fit small rider - will be back with how it worked out...
I own one of these. They are great!
http://www.montagueco.com/
I'm a pretty big fella, the bike has no trouble carrying my 250+lb bulk and I can fold it and stash it in the back of my Honda Civic. :-D
If you are looking at a folding mountain bike. I would recommend the montague. I bought the Hummer version last Nov and it functions as a normal MT with the added bonus it folds. It saves the time of attaching a bike rack to a car when you want to go for cycle out of town.
Shay
Check out http://www.bikesthatfold.com - a resource for folding bikes
Downtubes have their share of problems. The chatter on bikeforums.net about them is mostly from bike fanatics who enjoy tinkering, and even they generally acknowledge that Downtubes often have quality problems right out of the box. The tinkerers love them because Downtube mostly uses standard bike parts . This is a big selling point for those who enjoy endlessly upgrading their bikes, or in the Downtube's case, making a silk purse from a sows ear.
And fyi, Downtubes sold on ebay go for the same price you'd pay buying directly from Downtube'swebsite, but don't carry nearly as good a warranty. And trust me, you'll need that warranty. Downtube's feedback on ebay is also an eye opener, go to toolhaus.org and type in downtube1 to see all the negative and neutral comments. They also keep their auction bidder lists private, a questionable practice often used by shady sellers who employ shill bidders to drive their auction price up.
Unless you want to become a bicycle mechanic and replace half the basic parts like the crank, bottom bracket, derailleur and wheels from the onset, then save yourself some headaches and buy ANYTHING else - a Dahon, a Brompton, a wheelbarrow with a flat tire, anything else except a Downtube.
Downtube1 has over 4400 feedback ratings. As of today he has 621 total feedback ratings for the past year. 621 are positive. 7 are neutral. 4 are negative. I sell on eBay and can tell you that is a good record. Toolhaus filters out the postive comments and gives you the negative ones.
I suggest that people take the time to go to visit the folding bicycle forum at bikeforums.net then read the feedback eBay.
Shay sounds like a jealous Dahon dealer to me.
Here's a review of a downtube bicycle at The Folding Society which is one of the more authoritative sources on the internet for folding bicycle reviews:
http://www.foldsoc.co.uk/Mike/downtube.html
For other reviews check out roadbikereview.com and do a search.
Downtube bicycles are fine for regular people who aren't bike snobs.