Which Folder?

Phil Cook said:

So I think I can discount the Brompton, that seems to have two things
against it in my book: small wheels

Though small wheels aren't the best thing off the smooth they're not
nearly as bad as some people would have you think as long as you're not
dealing with chunky rocks or monster holes.

Quoted message said:

and lack of stiffness in the
frame. I am leaning towards either a Birdy Red or a Mezzo D9

No experience of a Mezzo, but the wheels look like the same size as the
Brom, if that's still a worry. The various Birdies are pretty good for
frame stiffness, the wheels are 2" bigger and the suspension is (a) very
good and (b) makes the small wheels less of a problem than they may
otherwise be.

The Green is a good option if you prefer a hub, the Blue gives you a
bigger range with a DualDrive which you might appreciate for the
"Scottish Hill Tracks" thingy. The 10th anniversary special has 20"
wheels so a poorer fold but slightly better ride. You choose, you lose...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On 08/02/2005 12:08:49 Phil Cook said:

OK so it has probably been covered before.

Quoted message said:

The location at which I start work is shortly to be changed. Where I
finish work will remain the same and I'll be blowed if I'm going to use
public transport to get back from where I end to where the bike would be
if I carry on as now and use my road bike commuter to get to work. So I'm
in the market for a folder. The thing is I'd like to kill two birds with
one stone and get one that will be OK on roughish tracks in a
Sustrans-towpath-Scottish-Hill-Track stylee as well as commuting in
London.

Quoted message said:

So I think I can discount the Brompton, that seems to have two things
against it in my book: small wheels and lack of stiffness in the frame. I
am leaning towards either a Birdy Red or a Mezzo D9

Quoted message said:

Comments?

Have a look at the Dahon range as well.

--

Buck

I would rather be out on my Catrike

http://www.catrike.co.uk

Phil Cook <[email hidden]>typed

Quoted message said:

OK so it has probably been covered before.

Quoted message said:

The location at which I start work is shortly to be changed. Where I
finish work will remain the same and I'll be blowed if I'm going to
use public transport to get back from where I end to where the bike
would be if I carry on as now and use my road bike commuter to get to
work. So I'm in the market for a folder. The thing is I'd like to kill
two birds with one stone and get one that will be OK on roughish
tracks in a Sustrans-towpath-Scottish-Hill-Track stylee as well as
commuting in London.

Quoted message said:

So I think I can discount the Brompton, that seems to have two things
against it in my book: small wheels and lack of stiffness in the
frame. I am leaning towards either a Birdy Red or a Mezzo D9

Quoted message said:

Comments?

I managed to get my groceries home off-road on a Brompton.

I also managed a 100km ride round New Forest cattle grids on it.

It folds so well that I wouldn't consider faffing with anything else at
a station.

I like the Brompton so much I bought another one just over a fortnight ago.

I can't ride a bike any more...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

I managed to get my groceries home off-road on a Brompton.

Coming out of B&Q with a pannier full of DIY goodies once, I met some
pals off for a ride, wondering if I'd like to come along. Sounded good
to me... we did some disused railways, and on the way back through
Templeton Woods a fully enlycrad MTBer joined from a connecting path
just in front of us. A couple of hundred meters later when he looked
over his shoulder he was /very/ surprised to find me still right on his
tail!

Did bugger it up a few minutes later going across the grass in
Camperdown park, letting the front wheel down a bank onto the road, to
find a ditch there almost /exactly/ the same diameter as a Brom's front
wheel. Oops. Exit over handlebars as back wheel folder under. Well,
we all make mistakes, said the dalek climbing off the dustbin.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 12:08:49 +0100 someone who may be Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

OK so it has probably been covered before.

Many times.

Quoted message said:

I'm in the market for a folder. The thing is I'd like to kill
two birds with one stone and get one that will be OK on roughish
tracks in a Sustrans-towpath-Scottish-Hill-Track stylee

Two possibly very different things. Folders will cope happily enough
with the former, but not do so well on the latter.

Quoted message said:

So I think I can discount the Brompton, that seems to have two things
against it in my book: small wheels

In the absence of reliable folding wheels, most folders have small
wheels to reduce the folded size.

Quoted message said:

and lack of stiffness in the frame.

Compared to what?

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen said:

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 12:08:49 +0100 someone who may be Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm in the market for a folder. The thing is I'd like to kill
two birds with one stone and get one that will be OK on roughish
tracks in a Sustrans-towpath-Scottish-Hill-Track stylee

Two possibly very different things. Folders will cope happily enough
with the former, but not do so well on the latter.

The latter is going to be an occasional thing I was thinking mostly of
the tracks regularly used by vehicles rather than the really rough
ones but given the state of London's roads they're not all that
different.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So I think I can discount the Brompton, that seems to have two things
against it in my book: small wheels

In the absence of reliable folding wheels, most folders have small
wheels to reduce the folded size.

Yes I was under the impression that the Brom had really small ones but
they are 16 the same as the D9 and my favoured Birdy has 18 only a
smidgin larger.

What is the folded size of the Brom?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and lack of stiffness in the frame.

Compared to what?

Yeah I know, I need to go and get a few demonstration rides in,
luckily there are plenty of oportunities for that in London without
making a trip to Bath.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

I like the Brompton so much I bought another one just over a fortnight ago.

I can't ride a bike any more...

I must confess to being intrigued. Are the two statements above linked?
Are you prevented from riding altogether, or is the Brompton better than
a "normal" bike in some way?

Ignore me if this constitutes a request for more detail than you wish to
give.

Jon

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:12:30 +0100 someone who may be Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Yes I was under the impression that the Brom had really small ones but
they are 16 the same as the D9 and my favoured Birdy has 18 only a
smidgin larger.

The outside diameter of Birdy wheels is little greater than those of
the Brompton, far less than the difference between the claimed 16"
and 18" wheel sizes.

Quoted message said:

What is the folded size of the Brom?

They have a web site, which I believe contains such information.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

Phil Cook said:

OK so it has probably been covered before.

The location at which I start work is shortly to be changed. Where I
finish work will remain the same and I'll be blowed if I'm going to
use public transport to get back from where I end to where the bike
would be if I carry on as now and use my road bike commuter to get to
work. So I'm in the market for a folder. The thing is I'd like to kill
two birds with one stone and get one that will be OK on roughish
tracks in a Sustrans-towpath-Scottish-Hill-Track stylee as well as
commuting in London.

So I think I can discount the Brompton, that seems to have two things
against it in my book: small wheels and lack of stiffness in the
frame. I am leaning towards either a Birdy Red or a Mezzo D9

Comments?

Have a look also at the Airnimal Joey or Rhino also.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk ('') said:

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

I like the Brompton so much I bought another one just over a fortnight
ago.

I can't ride a bike any more...

I must confess to being intrigued. Are the two statements above linked?
Are you prevented from riding altogether, or is the Brompton better
than a "normal" bike in some way?

DKUATB. Helen suffers a progressive degenerative disease, and can't ride
a bike any longer. She recently bought a Brompton for her partner, who
can.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Copyright (c) Simon Brooke; All rights reserved. Permission is
granted to transfer this message via UUCP or NNTP and to store it
for the purpose of archiving or further transfer. Permission is
explicitly denied to use this message as part of a 'Web Forum', or
to transfer it by HTTP.

Simon Brooke said:

DKUATB. Helen suffers a progressive degenerative disease, and can't ride
a bike any longer. She recently bought a Brompton for her partner, who
can.

Apologies Helen. I did recently clear huge swathes of news, by marking
as read, and I have tended to avoid Brompton related threads (Apparently
there's a regular here who was intending to get one... do we know what
happened?).

Jon

Jon Senior said:

(Apparently
there's a regular here who was intending to get one... do we know what
happened?).

AIUI He's given up cycling. Now to be found on uk.rec.origami

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Jon Senior said:

Apparently
there's a regular here who was intending to get one... do we know what
happened?).

The Darkside was strong in young Guywalker but eventually he folded ;-)

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The Darkside was strong in young Guywalker but eventually he folded ;-)

Perhaps the rate at which he was folding the frames of his Streetmachine
gave him the hint that what he really needed was the relaxation of fold --
unfold -- fold -- unfold -- fold -- unfold -- fold -- unfold -- fold --
unfold -- fold -- unfold --

;~)

David Hansen said:

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:12:30 +0100 someone who may be Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Yes I was under the impression that the Brom had really small ones
but they are 16 the same as the D9 and my favoured Birdy has 18 only
a smidgin larger.

The outside diameter of Birdy wheels is little greater than those of
the Brompton, far less than the difference between the claimed 16"
and 18" wheel sizes.

6 mm difference in rim diameter. Depending on the tyres fitted, the
Brompton may even have a larger overall whel diameter than the Birdy.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Whatever it is, I'd like it in mango & passion fruit, please.

Tony W said:

Perhaps the rate at which he was folding the frames of his Streetmachine

Point Of Order: Guy has been folding Optima Stingers, not HPVelotechnik
Streetmachines. Just don't want people going away thinking SMGTs aren't
built like rather strong tanks...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tony W said:

Perhaps the rate at which he was folding the frames of his Streetmachine

Point Of Order: Guy has been folding Optima Stingers, not HPVelotechnik
Streetmachines. Just don't want people going away thinking SMGTs aren't
built like rather strong tanks...

He's quite big and powerful though, he might be quite capable of bending an
SMGT too. :P

LSMike said:

He's quite big and powerful though, he might be quite capable of bending an
SMGT too. :P

He might...
Darth Ben managed to slightly misalign the rear triangle on his original
Streetmachine by taking it stunt-jumping Big Air on a few occasions, so
it's /possible/ to bend them. But *breaking* them would be a whole
different ball game. Compared to the Stinger the frame is CroMo steel,
which is easier to weld well, and there aren't so many bends in it,
which should help with integrity too. And HPVel have a reputation for
stereotypically German over-engineering while Optima (without wishing to
suggest they have a reputation for weak building) don't.
So I won't rule it out, but I've seen a lot of bikes I'd expect to get
borked a lot quicker than a Streetmachine.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Jon Senior <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk>typed

Quoted message said:

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

I like the Brompton so much I bought another one just over a
fortnight ago.

I can't ride a bike any more...

Quoted message said:

I must confess to being intrigued. Are the two statements above linked?
Are you prevented from riding altogether, or is the Brompton better than
a "normal" bike in some way?

Quoted message said:

Ignore me if this constitutes a request for more detail than you wish to
give.

Quoted message said:

Jon

I have multiple sclerosis & can't ride anything. I bought the Brompton
for boyfriend when full-size bike in bag seemed unmanageable for
forthcoming holiday.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.