touring on a folder

[bikercolin]

This has probably been covered, but I fancy a folding touring bike for ease of transport, I note my bike scheme has Brompton M 6Lfor £600 I know gearing is limited but would this make a decent tourer or do I need to look at Bike Friday ect

[tonythompson]

I have considered a Bike Friday towing one of the case cum trailer set ups. Of all the folders this one seemed to offer the most and for me the plus was being able to pack the bike into the case when flying. I found the guuys at BF in USA very helpful with info and advise. With their input I had/may still planned to buy it through the guys in Bath.

But as yet have stuck to a Surly LHT

[syklist]

This has probably been covered, but I fancy a folding touring bike for ease of transport, I note my bike scheme has Brompton M 6Lfor £600 I know gearing is limited but would this make a decent tourer or do I need to look at Bike Friday ect

Check out this thread. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=78357

[bikepacker]

My wife and I toured France a couple of times on Airnimal Joeys using Eurostar and TGV trains.



The Joeys give the best ride of any folder I have used and they now do a suitcase/trailer option.

[Si]

It all depends on where you are going to do the tour, how much you are going to carry and how fast you want to go.

Obviously you can tour on virtually anything if you are forced to but some are better than others.

For some reason people often think that small wheeled bikes can't climb - this is totally wrong, wheel size makes little difference by itself. Where small wheels do suffer is on rough roads - they just can't roll over the holes like bigger wheels. Some makers try to mitigate against this by adding suspension (e.g. R&M Birdy, or the back of a Brommie). It adds comfort but doesn't really make things any easier.

Then you have the problem of luggage carrying. Again, you can carry almost anything on any bike if needs must, but some are more stable than others under load. E.g. the old Brommie used to flex horrendously around the bars when trying to force it up a hill with a bit of a load. Trailers can be a good idea for folders, although the ones that double as a suit case are a little hit and miss, e.g. the old BF one had really poor wheels. You might prefer to go for a proper trailer like a Carry Freedom. this brings you to the next problem, if the trailer isn't designed for the bike, will it attach easily? Try before you buy.

Finally you have the problem of spare parts - many folders use specialist components that are not easy to source at an LBS....if you are in the back of beyond, will the manufacturer/supplier be willing to send you a replacement bit quickly?

In my admittedly limited experience:
Brommie - not enough gears/gear range for hilly touring, too much flex.
Birdy: loads of gears, comfort, carrying capacity, but can feel a tad sluggish at times. Stupid wheel size - hard to find replacement tyres locally.
Airnimal Chameleon: comfortable once you get bigger tyres on it, can carry plenty, has a good turn of speed for a tourer...but older models tended to snap in two (well, my three did). Semi-stoopid wheel size...don'y buy BMX 24s by mistake!
Dahon: good bikes by all accounts but I was put off by the dodgy build quality and difficulty in getting spares a few years back.

[Sweep]

I'd +1 your advice on Dahons.

[andymiller]

I have a Dahon (Decathlon own brand but identical). Build quality is absolutely fine - it's not as well engineered as a Brompton. I'm not sure I'd want to tour on either though - but I guessing you adapt to the riding position.

[bikepacker]

We have used Dahons on fixed base cycling holidays with no problems. In my experience they are fine.

[rootes]

This has probably been covered, but I fancy a folding touring bike for ease of transport, I note my bike scheme has Brompton M 6Lfor £600 I know gearing is limited but would this make a decent tourer or do I need to look at Bike Friday ect

I have done Lejog and C2C on my 2 speed Brompton plus a manual double chainset to get a lower gear

If touring properly then a 3 or 6 speed would be better.

You can get a lot in the front bag system and and increase with a rear saddle bag (I used an Carradice SQR Tour for C2C)

[Sweep]

We have used Dahons on fixed base cycling holidays with no problems. In my experience they are fine.

I note the fixed base. If you get a problem, you can just put it in the back of a car.

I've used a Dahon fixed base (my home) and had to retire it periodically and use other bikes while a dealer tried to source parts.

Sometimes with a certain difficulty.

My Dahon is great fun but mention them to a fair few folk in the bike trade/shops and you may get a sharp intake of breath.

I was using the Dahon in Italy once when I got a simple fault. The town had a Dahon dealer.

Eventually the dealer gave up and handed me the contact details of the importer in Milan.

This kind of mirrored my UK experience.

Eventually at considerable expense I had the bit shipped from the UK by CH Whites who took over a lot of Dahon spares - before they entered the scene the situation was desperate.

Nice pic by the way - glad you had a good holiday.

[jezer]

I did a two week moving on tour in Sardinia a few years ago, using a Dahon with full panniers. It was quite hilly and the bike was very easy to ride having low gears. I did find it a bit flimsy and the brakes were not really up to the long descents. I am rather on the large side, and three others on the tour, all smaller than me, found their Dahons to be ok for the job. I didn't use it again for touring, in fact I sold it a bit later, reverting to my trusty Thorn Audax Mk2 for subsequent tours, including one to the Champagne Region a couple of weeks ago. On a side note I have noticed in the last couple of years more riders are using lightweight carbon bikes for touring. I expect this is because we don't do moving on tours any more, preferring fixed centre ones.

[andymiller]

My Dahon in disguise has standard Shimano brakes, shifters, rear mech (no front mech) and cassette. Brakes, so far as I can tell, are normal V-brakes. Maybe real Dahons are different.

It's not top of the line stuff, but perfectly robust and repairable - it's the same stuff as you'll find on a gazillion entry-level bikes.

OK things like innertubes, rims/spokes, and maybe the front cranket could pose problems if you had to source them but nothing that should present an insuperable problem.

If you lost the bits that lock the frame then you'd have a problem but maybe there's a case for carrying spares.

The only time I've needed a spare part I went to my local Decathlon - this should be an option for owners of real Dahons as well (haven't checked whether Decathlon still sell 'their' B Twin-branded Dahon folder).

[shane]

Bromtpon = Good folder that you can also tour on.
Dahon = slighty better for touring but not so good at folding.

It's largely down to what the primary task of the bike will be, I think for most folks the Dahon wins because of the price.

I like a folder for short trips, not an issue with baggage and easy to jump on a train or bus to skip boring bits or get in and out of big cities easily on a metro/underground/bus or whatever. Ideal for Europe really.

During easter I Travelled 1300km on my brommy in 6 days. Naturally most of that was not cycled but it illustrates that you can cover enormous distances and still see highlights in a short time. http://www.shanecycles.com/the-genius-o ... n-touring/

[bikepacker]

We have used Dahons on fixed base cycling holidays with no problems. In my experience they are fine.

I note the fixed base. If you get a problem, you can just put it in the back of a car.

I've used a Dahon fixed base (my home) and had to retire it periodically and use other bikes while a dealer tried to source parts.

Sometimes with a certain difficulty.

My Dahon is great fun but mention them to a fair few folk in the bike trade/shops and you may get a sharp intake of breath.

I was using the Dahon in Italy once when I got a simple fault. The town had a Dahon dealer.

Eventually the dealer gave up and handed me the contact details of the importer in Milan.

This kind of mirrored my UK experience.

Eventually at considerable expense I had the bit shipped from the UK by CH Whites who took over a lot of Dahon spares - before they entered the scene the situation was desperate.

Nice pic by the way - glad you had a good holiday.

Why would you assume I used a car?

We transported the bikes in suitcases by air to Mallorca, where we often spend some of the winter months.

[bikercolin]

Thanks for the insight and suggestions every one. I think I will try a Brompton with lowered gearing in the future

cheers Colin