Recommendation for Handybike ??

[Superman]

Hi all,

I am thinking about buying a foldable mini bicycle called "handybike", which is made by a Germany
company. I plan to use it to ride across the campus which is about 1 miles wide. A couple things
that worries
me:

1. Is it durable and sturdy ?
2. The only gear ratio of 52:7, is this usable ?? Would it be too high for slope use ??
3. The speed of the bike: is it too slow due to the small wheels ?
4. If you has owned this bike, do you recommend it to others ? Anything that you like it/don't
like it ??

I like this bike as I could put it in my car's trunk and it's low clearance allows me to put my feet
on the floor in case of accidents. (I don't know how to ride a bike !)

Thanks for your input, Kevin.

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Superman) wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I am thinking about buying a foldable mini bicycle called "handybike", which is made by a Germany
> company. I plan to use it to ride across the campus which is about 1 miles wide. A couple things
> that worries
> me:
>
> 1. Is it durable and sturdy ?
> 2. The only gear ratio of 52:7, is this usable ?? Would it be too high for slope use ??
> 3. The speed of the bike: is it too slow due to the small wheels ?
> 4. If you has owned this bike, do you recommend it to others ? Anything that you like it/don't
> like it ??
>
> I like this bike as I could put it in my car's trunk and it's low clearance allows me to put my
> feet on the floor in case of accidents. (I don't know how to ride a bike !)

Kevin:

First off, 1 mile wide?? That's like 1600 metres. I assume an average campus trek will be about 800
metres between classes. It takes about 6 minutes to walk that far if you walk quickly. I can't see a
folding bicycle saving you more time than the trouble of having a folding bicycle with you all the
time is worth. Have you considered in-line skates?

For distances of under 1 mile, I'm sure any bicycle and almost any gear ratio would be fine. The
size of the wheels will not determine the speed; the gearing will (a small-wheel bike uses a higher
gear ratio than standard bikes to compensate).

Do you have a URL? Is this thing smaller than other folding bikes like this Dahon:

http://www.dahon.com/prestop3.htm

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club