Folding Bikes

my friends mum had one when i was a kid, they are great fun to ride with the bolt took out of the middle so they can fold :)

its quite fun to ride with the handlebars to the side of you.
 
I've had a Brompton for about 6 weeks on a 'try before you buy' scheme. It's a really horrible bike to ride. The steering is squirrely and it makes the bike unstable. You can't take a hand off the handlebars to signal because it'll start to wiggle and you'll lose balance. It's not the small wheels that cause this because I've got two other small wheeled bikes and neither of them suffer from that problem.

On the flipside, being able to swing the back wheel underneath and the fact that it stands up by itself when you get on a train is a major selling point and so handy that it puts me in a position where I really want a bike that does that, but I could never live with the way it rides. It's simply dangerous.

Bromptons are about £700 and up. They don't have any direct competition from what I can work out.

I've also had a Universal 20" folding shopper which is nearly identical to a folding Raleigh Twenty. It just folds in half. It's cumbersome and quite heavy but rides perfectly compared to the Brompton. The Dahon folders appear to share the same geometry so will also ride well.

I recently cut the Universal up and remade it into this:

IMG_6134.JPG
 
JayToukon said:
Who knows anything about them? GF wants one for xmas and i don't have the foggiest.
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I know about them but you've not exactly given much info anyone to work with.
Budget?
Folding bike for leisure, commuting, full size, street bike, hybrid, mountain bike etc?
Brand new or prepared to go 2nd hand to get a lot better bike for the money?
You could spend £100 or go over £2000.
 
Jonny69 said:
I've had a Brompton for about 6 weeks on a 'try before you buy' scheme. It's a really horrible bike to ride. The steering is squirrely and it makes the bike unstable. You can't take a hand off the handlebars to signal because it'll start to wiggle and you'll lose balance. It's not the small wheels that cause this because I've got two other small wheeled bikes and neither of them suffer from that problem.

On the flipside, being able to swing the back wheel underneath and the fact that it stands up by itself when you get on a train is a major selling point and so handy that it puts me in a position where I really want a bike that does that, but I could never live with the way it rides. It's simply dangerous.

Bromptons are about £700 and up. They don't have any direct competition from what I can work out.

I've also had a Universal 20" folding shopper which is nearly identical to a folding Raleigh Twenty. It just folds in half. It's cumbersome and quite heavy but rides perfectly compared to the Brompton. The Dahon folders appear to share the same geometry so will also ride well.

I recently cut the Universal up and remade it into this:

[img*]http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/bikes/shopper/IMG_6134.JPG[/img]
Click to expand...

I did my master's final year project outfitting a Brompton with full suspension and sorting out the handling...the reason it's so squirrely is a combination of the small wheels (at high speed they generate less gyroscopic force to stabilise the bike) and the small trail length. Trail is the distance between the intercept of the steering axis at the ground and the contact patch of the front tyre on the ground. That's all academic - you're right, they're quite unstable. They're also very overpriced.

There are alternatives, the major one I think being Dahon. I'm not a bike guy, but the bike shop behind Bath train station carries all the major brands. Try here, if only for what brands are available.
 
Well it's her dad buying it but she doesn't want to ask him for something over £200-£250 and it's solely for commuting, but frequently. So something comfortable and stable to ride, and preferably light weight.
 
they are rubbish at being bikes, but great for a couple of miles to/from train stations. It's worth paying a bit for a decent one, brompton/dahon/giant (the higher end giants have funky one-legged forks)
 
I completely fail to see the point of Bromptons and similar devices. Fashion accessories IMHO.

And yes - I'm a cyclist. I ride a Pinarello ( road ) and a Cube ( MTB ). :cool:
 
I rode the Brompton 6km from home to the station twice. I wouldn't do it again; it scared me too much, I got a lot more grief from drivers and two pretty girls laughed at me :p

I wouldn't want to ride it for more than a few minutes at a time and keep the speed down.
 
Draeger said:
I completely fail to see the point of Bromptons and similar devices. Fashion accessories IMHO.

And yes - I'm a cyclist. I ride a Pinarello ( road ) and a Cube ( MTB ). :cool:
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No offence, but you don't commute on packed commuter trains and have to fight your way through London at the other end. I don't particularly like them but there's no way I can dispute their convenience. If I was given the choice of getting the tube or getting soaked in the rain on a Brompton I'd still take the Brompton.
 
Jonny69 said:
No offence, but you don't commute on packed commuter trains and have to fight your way through London at the other end. I don't particularly like them but there's no way I can dispute their convenience. If I was given the choice of getting the tube or getting soaked in the rain on a Brompton I'd still take the Brompton.
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Agreed. I'm simply making an observation from a personal point of view. :)
 
The last one I built was a dahon speed d7 and for a middle of the road model it seemed to be really good quality.

Used to work with a guy with a brompton and it was nice but seemed stupidly pricey.

The design cheaper bikes use to fold is fail in comparison to either brand though.
 
Jonny69 said:
I've also had a Universal 20" folding shopper which is nearly identical to a folding Raleigh Twenty...
Click to expand...

Raleigh Twenties are fun little bikes, and they're great to mod :)

I picked one up on ebay a while back and fixed it up for my missus as a little run around.

I've been scooting around on it myself while she's away, and it flies (not literally though :))

GreenMachine.jpg


Cool advert :D

R20poster.jpg
 
I love my brompton, I cycle everyday 14 miles on it. I would say the commentsin johnny 69's first statement are true but a little harsh on it, I have no trouble signalling with 1 hand on the bar. Although I must agree on it being over priced but that's just how the market is. there are other folding bikes of course, I was going to get the mezzo D10. But the brompton is a great bike. I'm 15 stone and it holds me no problem.
 
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