My Folding Bicycle

[jyl]

A few years ago, I bought one of these, used but hardly so, for a song. The thought was that it would make a good guest bike, since the seatpost adjusts to any desired height and it folds up to store compactly.



As it turned out, it was used by exactly two guests, one crashed it, and the little Dahon Boardwalk D7 was folded up and retired to the basement.

Three years on, I unearthed it while looking for something else, and thought, hmm, I wonder . . . Took a spin and the first reaction was "what a POS", then I brought it to the garage, trued the wheels, adjusted the brakes and shifter, lubed everything, installed some clipless pedals and a proper saddle, and tried again.

Wow. You know, this little-wheel bike is kind of . . . fun. It is very maneuverable, lively, just unstable enough to keep you alert - kind of like an old 911 with A/X toe-out - the 1x7 gearing is good enough for 20 mph, and the ride is reasonably comfortable.

I think this bike has promise after all. Looking for a used road double crank and front derailleur (with an adapter, a braze-on front derailleur can be fitted) to get more gear-inches. Picked up a used bullhorn handlebar, to get a more stretched out and lower position. I'm going to try commuting with it for a while, to get the bugs out. It'll be fun passing people on my 20" wheel folding bike.

The idea is to eventually have a good-riding road bike that I can take on trips. Bringing a full-size bike is usually too much of a pain.

I've done some research on folders, which now convinces me that the better choices would have been a Brompton (for smaller fold) or a Bike Friday (for more full-size-like ride). But they aren't $150 on CL.

[Zeke]

I want it.

[LakeCleElum]

[HardDrive]

Dahon has been around for a long time. I still recall their commercials from the 80s.

[Hard-Deck]

I have two Dahons for my sailboat. Great bikes!

[jyl]

The biggest problem is the saddle to bar dimension. On my road bike, from center of saddle to the tops of the drop bar is 27.5" and to the hoods is 33.0". On the stock Boardwalk, from center of saddle to the flat bar is 24.0". So I need to get another 9.0" of reach. Ideally I'd also like to lower the bar by 2.0". In a perfect world I'd have drop bars, but to preserve folding, I might have to settle for bullhorns.

There are many different Dahon handleposts, and some aftermarket ones, so I think there are a few ways to accomplish this. I'm trying to figure out which is the best.

Another wrinkle is the weird proprietary Dahon rear derailleur and RD mounting. But there is an adapter to mount a standard RD hanger, which would let me put any road RD on the bike.

Doing some gear math. Looks like a road triple with 55/39/30 and a 11-24 cassette would make this an extremely versatile bike. 120 rpm in 55x11 is 36 mph; 60 rpm in 30x24 is 5 mph; the 30 would be a real bailout ring; the 55 would be for most flat riding; the 39 would handle most hills of less-than-sadistic grade. (If this gearing sounds crazy, remember the wheels are 20".)

I can get a used Shimano road triple at the bike co-op pretty cheap. Ditto a 8 or 9 speed Shimano 11-24 cassette and derailleurs.

Getting brake levers and shifters on bullhorn bars might be fiddly. I'm not sure there is an elegant solution. I've seen pictures of integrated shifters (brifters, STIs etc) on the upturned ends of bullhorn bars. Reverse brake levers are meant to go on the ends of bullhorn bars, but then you can't put a bar-end shifter there. You can stack reverse brake levers and downtube shifter using Paul's Thumbie mounts, like:

http://qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-aca2cc8c64c5992fefe5fdf8dcab7a48

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/1337/handlebars.jpg

Oh, did I mention, I hate V-brakes? To remove the wheel, you have to remove the noodle. But if your brakes are adjusted to run veeeery close to the rims, you can't remove the noodle.

[intakexhaust]

John- Ride on! Agree how they handle and feel. Awesome campers, pit bikes.

Some of the twenty inch folders are really neat, comfortable for adults. We have a vintage Raleigh Twenty chro/mo with a 3 speed Sturmey plus all the trim and an unknown aluminum folder with 6 speed Shimano. Both fold different and substantial weight difference. The later is on / off road, more compact and fun. Has the rat trap pedals, more conventional bars, stem to accomodate a 6 ft. 4 in. rider.

Where can I find one of these little rides? Non folder but me like

[Racerbvd]

You need a Moulton if you want a small bike.

MOULTON Bicycle Company

[herr_oberst]

[herr_oberst]

[nota]

i have a strida the black one with belt drive

do not like it much

I think some rear suspension mountain bikes
[depends on where the pivot is]
with an added quick release on the rear shock mount
could be folded fairly small with the wheels removed

[mph911]

I've started to look for a folding bike. Living in a city apartment it has its advantages. I think they look cool, a nice change from the glitzy road bikes getting around my neighborhood, only to be parked at a cafe
My grandfather used to pack one in his Piper Cherokee when I was young for when we flew away for the weekend.

[herr_oberst]

Resurrecting this old thread.
Of course there are races for the Brompton, and who but the Brits could do this particular thing with this much panache?

[Otter74]

I have a Brompton and I freaking love it. You look ridiculous riding it, like a circus bear, but who cares?? I fully embrace the ridiculousness. I use it a lot for multimodal commutes, and it’s also very useful at work when I need to move vehicles around, as it allows me to do by myself what would otherwise take two people and another car. I’ve taken it to Portland OR twice and rode it right out of the airport both times. First time I carried it to the gate (it fits in X-ray machines) and gate-checked it, the second time I carried it on and fit in the overhead bin (fits there, too, in the larger ones.) When I arrived I carried it off, unfolded it, rode it (slowly through the terminal, out of the airport and to the bike path along the Columbia and right to where we were staying. And I had a big-ass smile on my face the whole time. When I need to go to the grocery store, I just half-fold it and wheel it through the store like a grocery cart, putting my shopping in the bag. It’s designed to fold into the smallest possible package as quickly as possible and it’s absolutely brilliant at this. It also continually get lots of attention. The security guard in the lobby of my office has a ritual with me where she unlocks and holds the stairwell door for me while she watches me fold it because she finds it so entertaining.

Before I got the Brompton, I had a Bike Friday for a couple of years. In 2016, my mom rented an old farmhouse in the Dordogne for a month (it had been a dream of hers for years) and I went there for a week. There was no way I was going to go to the Dordogne for a week without bringing a bike, but briniging one of my normal bikes seemed like too much of a hassle. (I didn’t learn until after the fact that I could have done it for an entirely reasonable amount of hassle), so I bought a Bike Friday with its travel suitcase-trailer off of an acquaintance from a bike list I’m on. Picked it up when I was in New York for a weekend and took it home as a checked bag. It came with a modified Samsonite hard shell suitcase that would turn into a trailer so you could pick it up from baggage claim, assemble it, add the wheels and hitch to the case, hook it up, put your bag in the case and ride away. I was dying to do this but ended up doing it first in the Brompton. Once I got the Brompton I had no real need for it any more, so I eventually sold it.


Between the two, given that the OP was looking for a “good-riding road bike that I can take on trips”, the Bike Friday is hands down the better choice. The Brompton is designed as a commuter bike, designed to fold down as quickly as possible into the smallest possible package, and it does his brilliantly (and I never stop getting reactions from people when I am out and about with mine). A Bike Friday is designed to ride like a normal bike while disassembling into a suitcase that you can take on a plane or put in a car trunk, and it does a great job at this. My normal road bike is a Vendetta custom and it wasn’t as nice as that (it’s a joy to ride, so that’s a tall order), but I can genuinely say that it really does ride like a normal bike and it was at least, say, 90% as fun and a ton less hassle than packing a full-size bike into a box.

[LWJ]

Saw a hairy hippy on a Moulton today. People sure love them.

[fanaudical]

I have test-rode both the Brompton and the Moulton. A bit different but very capable. I think they make good city bikes.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by mph911

My grandfather used to pack one in his Piper Cherokee when I was young for when we flew away for the weekend.

Excellent. Imagine if this was designed integral to every large vehicle as a plan-b. GA. Semi. RV. Pickup.
The tires are 3-stage airless rubber foam tweel whatever and guaranteed to work for 50 years.