Folding bikes - worth it?

[Dave_P]

You may think your folding bike is easy to ride, until you get onto a touting bike instead. When I chugged about I would regularly cycle 20 miles or so, either to fetch my car or to pop home. Wouldn't want to do that on a folding bike, especially if it's hilly.

Casp,

I have both...

[casper ghost]

Bless you, but no. The Chopper was a kids bike.

 

The Shopper was Raleigh's response to the very expensive Moulton. 20 x 1 3/8" wheels.

Yeah, I know. I have a 1972 Chopper, and a Shopper.

Casp'

[chris667]

Wouldn't want to do that on a folding bike, especially if it's hilly.

Casp,

There are very few hilly canal rides. On my Shopper, I have the great advantage of having the gears enclosed in a little shell in the rear hub.

 

I don't need to think about it, unlike when I had my Galaxy and had to clean it every time I rode through the mud. Plus, do you really want a £1000 bike on the roof of your boat?

[Mrs Trackman]

If you intend to ride then get a proper bike. These folding bikes are too much of a compromise and after going out on them a couple of times you'll stop because they are not that easy to ride.

Casp'

 

you might not but we have had our Bromptons for nearly 20 years and use them a lot. so much that everything on them has had to be replaced. no not cheap but we don't run a car. cycling along unmade towpaths is definitely difficult but doable unless very muddy. They are not as easy as a road bike but we have cycled a round trip of 34 miles on them and regularly cycle a 12 mile round trip. They keep us fit and keep the weight down even though I love food. They are so easy to fold and fit neatly in our engine room.

you might not but we have had our Bromptons for nearly 20 years and use them a lot. so much that everything on them has had to be replaced. no not cheap but we don't run a car. cycling along unmade towpaths is definitely difficult but doable unless very muddy. They are not as easy as a road bike but we have cycled a round trip of 34 miles on them and regularly cycle a 12 mile round trip. They keep us fit and keep the weight down even though I love food. They are so easy to fold and fit neatly in our engine room.

 

now I've read more of thread, yes agree road bikes much easier but less convenient in a boat.

[Lady Muck]

Bless you, but no. The Chopper was a kids bike.

 

The Shopper was Raleigh's response to the very expensive Moulton. 20 x 1 3/8" wheels. Some models, like this one, were called the Raleigh Twenty, then there was the Stowaway which folds in the middle. Plus, of course, all the badge engineered ones from brands that were owned by Raleigh.

 

 

Even today, I bet that saddle would be worth quite a bit of money.

 

These are great bikes, albeit not for very rutted roads. However on a good surface they're a more than a match for any touring bike if you need to carry heavy objects.

those are also now really trendy with London hipsters.

You may think your folding bike is easy to ride, until you get onto a touting bike instead. When I chugged about I would regularly cycle 20 miles or so, either to fetch my car or to pop home. Wouldn't want to do that on a folding bike, especially if it's hilly.

Casp,

I considered a folding bike, but the state of some towpaths, I think I'm better off with my boys mountain bike, its really tough and copes with being slung on the roof. and I use the bike quite a bit for some distance journeys, when we cruise.

[Richard Fairhurst]

You may think your folding bike is easy to ride, until you get onto a touting bike instead. When I chugged about I would regularly cycle 20 miles or so, either to fetch my car or to pop home. Wouldn't want to do that on a folding bike, especially if it's hilly.

Casp,

 

I think that just suggests you've never ridden a decent folding bike.

 

I've done 60-mile days in the Catskills and the Black Forest on my Bike Friday New World Tourist. Closer to home, I've also lock-wheeled Tardebigge on it. It's a superb bike: it'll go into a bike bag for the Eurostar or a suitcase for the plane, but yet the ride is close enough to a road bike that you can easily forget once you're out on the road.

 

And then there's the Airnimal range, which are astonishing machines - Mrs F has an Airnimal Chameleon (folding, 24in wheels) and, riding it on the flat, she easily outpaces me on either of my full-size bikes.

 

That said, for lock-wheeling and shopping use, I would look seriously at the Bromptons, simply because they fold so small and so quickly. The Bike Friday is a great bike and I wouldn't choose anything else myself, but it doesn't fold anywhere near as small as a Brommie. On the other hand, good luck going up steep hills on a Brompton!

 

Cheap folding bikes are a false economy. Yes, you can get one for £150 from Argos or wherever, but you won't use it after a few weeks (been there, got the T-shirt). Better to spend £350 on a good second-hand folder - that's how much I paid for the Bike Friday.

Edited June 2, 2016 by Richard Fairhurst

[Jim Batty]

... Two Bickerton’s fit neatly into my starboard stern locker [matching the portside gas locker] in total security for the rare occasions when wanted.

 

... set up properly, they are astonishingly versatile. I have cycled mine for many months at a time around the world, clocking up something well over 10 thousand miles on it; on and off road across sandy deserts and snowy mountains; through jungles and cities, and accompanying me when folded on every other mode of transport imaginable.

 

 

Crikey, sounds like serious travelling.

 

Reminds me of a guy giving a lecture at the London Globetrotter's Club once. He had a folding bike, an inflatable dinghy and a paragliding kit. At any one time two of these modes of transport fit onto the third ... and he travelled the world with these. I think the hi-light photo of his talk was a shot of him gliding (?) off Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio with the bike and boat bundled up on his back. Remarkable.

[bag 'o' bones]

Dawes folding kingpins (richer mans Raleigh twenty) come up on ebay quite regularly for peanuts. Bit heavy but very well made.

 

The only problem is they run 500a wheels which are now unobtainable. You can still get the tires ok.

 

Interestingly they are slightly easier to ride as 500a is a larger diameter 20"

Edited June 2, 2016 by bag 'o' bones

[roggie]

Last lock in the Deepcut/Brookwood flight my morse cable broke.. I know we should all carry a spare but.... Towed to the next mooring, 3pm and lock only open on specific days at 9am. Highly unlikely RCR would come in time so quick phone call to Pyford Marina, out comes the Brompton and within 2 hours I was back with 2 new cables. Just under 20 miles round trip. Wouldn't have been cheap by cab and given they closed at 4.30 no time to use public transport. Good job it wasn't a Tuesday when they are closed.

 

Bromptons may be state high end of the price scale but you often get what you pay for.

[bag 'o' bones]

Last lock in the Deepcut/Brookwood flight my morse cable broke.. I know we should all carry a spare but.... Towed to the next mooring, 3pm and lock only open on specific days at 9am. Highly unlikely RCR would come in time so quick phone call to Pyford Marina, out comes the Brompton and within 2 hours I was back with 2 new cables. Just under 20 miles round trip. Wouldn't have been cheap by cab and given they closed at 4.30 no time to use public transport. Good job it wasn't a Tuesday when they are closed.

 

Bromptons may be state high end of the price scale but you often get what you pay for.

Quite, friend of mine bought one of those cheap Chinese non-descript folders a while back, it was cheap to the point of being dangerous in my opinion.

[casper ghost]

 

I think that just suggests you've never ridden a decent folding bike.

 

 

I also suppose it depends on how tall and big you are. I'm 6'2" and about 15 stone, so I do tend to find almost all fold up bikes to be a bit small for me.

Casp'

[jmacg]

I bought my partner a new cheap(ish) folding bike for a significant birthday (and that £170 is way above our usual spend for presents!). Tasks such as doing the Wolverhampton 21, Audlem, etc were transformed. Lockwheeling in a long flight has become much less of a chore (we're now in our 60s...). But even when folded that bike takes up rather a lot of space under the cratch, and it's rather awkward (and heavy) to lug on and off the boat. So, as we now commission our next boat (which won't have a cratch) we will probably put my mountain bike and the steel folder on ebay or take them to a car-boot sale, and, now that we're converts to the possibilities of folding bikes we'll buy a couple of the more expensive, properly engineered specialised folders.

 

So, why not look around for a second-hand 'basic' bike and see whether or not it suits your needs, before spending significant sums on the specialist models? But you'll probably find that you wonder how you managed without a bike.

 

[chris667]

I also suppose it depends on how tall and big you are. I'm 6'2" and about 15 stone, so I do tend to find almost all fold up bikes to be a bit small for me.

Casp'

I am a good bit heavier than you and manage. Certainly they are more than capable of carrying your weight, in It's all about choosing the right seatpin and stem.

[David Schweizer]

Jan and I both have Bropmton bikes, and they are very useful on the boat, we use them fo shopping and visiting places of interest too far from the canal to walk. I also find mine very good for lock wheeling long flights where the locks are just a bit too far apart for walking all the time. We also take them on non boating holidays, and in France they are invaluble for exploring country lanes and visiting markets etc where there is no nearby parking.

 

Bromptons are not cheap, but if well maintained do not loose their value, in fact bot of ours would probably sell for more than we originally payed for them.

[roggie]

Bikes on a flight mean you can nip off to the next one and be back in time to open or close gates, whether somewhere like Hatton where they are close together or 'Heartbreak Hill" where they are further apart. As long as you make sure no one is coming the other way of course. Then again I'm not that good with walking.

[MtB]

Bikes on a flight mean you can nip off to the next one and be back in time to open or close gates, whether somewhere like Hatton where they are close together or 'Heartbreak Hill" where they are further apart. As long as you make sure no one is coming the other way of course. Then again I'm not that good with walking.

 

 

Totally agree.

 

Even when single handing I use my bike extensively in flights.

[bizzard]

 

 

Totally agree.

 

Even when single handing I use my bike extensively in flights.

Hope its got a CofA and a transponder?, I've not seen it on Flightradar24.

Edited June 3, 2016 by bizzard

[Just Heaven]

We have two Tern C7's and use them a lot. Very useful for shopping where the shops are too far from the canal to walk. Also useful just to get around when in a town or city e.g. Oxford.

 

Steve

[Nightwatch]

We are nearleeds at present. Our bikes are near Portsmouth.

 

We don't use them often!!

 

We may well do soon as they will be on the boat in about a week.

 

They are not folding bikes, but just normal, you can't bend them, mountain bikes.

[Dave_P]

I also suppose it depends on how tall and big you are. I'm 6'2" and about 15 stone, so I do tend to find almost all fold up bikes to be a bit small for me.

Casp'

Again... I'm 6'2". I'm 14.5 stone. A couple of years ago I was 19 stone. Yes a folder is a bit small but I find the trick is to make sure the saddle is sufficiently raised. Of course it's never going to be as quick or smooth as a similarly priced full sized bike but the benefits of easy storage on the boat are huge. As others have said, there's a huge variation in quality with folders. I've tried one or two which I wouldn't want to cycle 100yds with.

[RichM]

Thanks for the info guys. In the end I decided to go for the Milan Explorer for £169.00.

 

http://bicycles4u.com/products/milan-explorer

After having an expensive Giant MTB stolen, I just didn't like the idea of buying another expensive bike. I'd rather do without the worry. But I appreciate that it's not going to be a Brompton!

Edited June 3, 2016 by Armitage Shanks

[Dave_P]

Thanks for the info guys. In the end I decided to go for the Milan Explorer for £169.00.

 

http://bicycles4u.com/products/milan-explorer

 

After having an expensive Giant MTB stolen, I just didn't like the idea of buying another expensive bike. I'd rather do without the worry. But I appreciate that it's not going to be a Brompton!

Looks stylish but also looks too small for me. I guess you're not 6'2"?

[RichM]

Looks stylish but also looks too small for me. I guess you're not 6'2"?

Unfortunately not, 5'6" in my case. Though it does have some advantages. Having said that, their website says it's suitable for riders up to 6'7" and the saddle can be raised quite a lot. Though, I think a 6'7 rider on one of these might receive a lot of attention.

 

Received the bike. From close up, you can tell it's not a premium bike but it looks reasonably well made for the money. It does feel a little unstable before I'm off, but I hear this is a common complaint of folding bikes? Once I'm going, It handles rough tow paths fine but I do have to pay more attention to which line I take. Hopefully will be OK come the winter though may benefit from tyres with a more aggressive tread pattern. It isn't quite as effortless to ride from what I recall of riding a mountain bike but it's certainly suitable for doing journeys of a few miles which is realistically all I will need it for. Anything more than that I'd strongly recommend a mountain bike over this.

 

It will fit on the deck of my semi trad stern without overhanging past the doors even when it isn't folded up. Can't do that with a mountain bike. The rack on the back makes it useful for taking rubbish to the bins and also good for shopping. I have considered transporting my elsan cassette on the back but I think that is potentially a rather embarrassing accident waiting to happen! Though I'd be interested to know if anyone has managed this. Another benefit is that I can easily chuck the bike in the back of my saloon car which again wouldn't possible with a mountain bike. So all in all I'm pleased with it and I'm glad I didn't go for the smaller 16" wheel version as I think it would struggle with the towpaths here. Though I think I'm going to invest in a new saddle. My bottom and the current saddle are not quite in agreement!

 

Spellings

Edited June 5, 2016 by Armitage Shanks

[Lady Muck]

My next boat related purchase will be a bike trolley, we've got one less elsan on the Lea and that means having to cruise from a beautiful spot before we want to. So we think a bike trolley will be ideal for transporting cassettes and also taking rubbish to the tip. Because there are now less bin sheds too.

Plus some places we go, would be useful for collecting groceries and coal.

Our canoe was in use for cassette ferrying when we were at Cropredy last summer, we lent it out to several boaters in the run up to the festival.

[Alan de Enfield]

My next boat related purchase will be a bike trolley,.........................................

 

They are great, keep the centre of gravity low, will carry up to 40kgs and much easier than a rucksac.

 

Edited June 6, 2016 by Alan de Enfield