folding handybike

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

Quoted message said:

Has anyone tried this thing?
www.handybike.com

I am looking for a light foldable bike to take on public transport and
cycle 10 blocks to and from work. Regular bikes are too cumbersome to
carry around. I tried a Dahon Presto, it might be OK, but it's still
heavy (18 lbs, like my racing bike) and it takes forever to fold and
unfold (and to adjust again and again).

? This is 8 kilograms, which works out to ... 18 pounds.
The US web site, www.corratecusa.com doesn't seem to work.
6 inch wheels seem small -- my BikeE (and many folders) have 16 inch wheels,
and that seems plenty small.
I haven't tried it, but this cursory look doesn't seem promising. The women
on the website are photographed well, but that's not much of a reason to buy
the bike.

Quoted message said:

Has anyone tried this thing?
www.handybike.com

I am looking for a light foldable bike to take on public transport and
cycle 10 blocks to and from work. Regular bikes are too cumbersome to
carry around. I tried a Dahon Presto, it might be OK, but it's still
heavy (18 lbs, like my racing bike) and it takes forever to fold and
unfold (and to adjust again and again).

18 pounds is actually quite light for a folding bicycle. The Brompton is
12.8 kg, unless you opt for the titanium model. The Presto Lite would
be a good choice, and once you learn how to fold/unfold it, it won't
take forever.

See, when folded the Dahon is not significantly more convenient to
carry around than when it's unfolded. A unfolded Dahon looks, well,
like a bike, but a folded one is essentially a pile of metal and rubber
with sharp parts sticking out. But I guess it's true for all foldable
bikes. To me an ideal bike would be smth I could jump off, spend 5 sec
max filddling with, and rush down the escalator to catch the train.
Repeat the same steps in reverse order when off the train. Doesn't
quite work with my mntn and road bikes. Don't see how it can work with
the Dahon. Since the handybike is so small, I thought It could be worth
trying, but noone has it in stock here in SanFran. As for 6" wheels, I
have skates wth 6" wheels (rollerskis, to be precise), and they can
handle all kinds of bad pavement.

Quoted message said:

See, when folded the Dahon is not significantly more convenient to
carry around than when it's unfolded. A unfolded Dahon looks, well,
like a bike, but a folded one is essentially a pile of metal and rubber
with sharp parts sticking out. But I guess it's true for all foldable
bikes. To me an ideal bike would be smth I could jump off, spend 5 sec
max filddling with, and rush down the escalator to catch the train.
Repeat the same steps in reverse order when off the train. Doesn't
quite work with my mntn and road bikes. Don't see how it can work with
the Dahon. Since the handybike is so small, I thought It could be worth
trying, but noone has it in stock here in SanFran. As for 6" wheels, I
have skates wth 6" wheels (rollerskis, to be precise), and they can
handle all kinds of bad pavement.

Skateboard?

Quoted message said:

Has anyone tried this thing?
www.handybike.com

I've never even heard of it, but it looks unwieldy to me. The seat
appears to be set very far back from the crankset, which might affect
pedaling and comfort badly. Also, your center of gravity would be
almost vertically above the rear wheel. I expect that would make it
bad handling in general, and prone to wheelies at the slightest uphill
and/or acceleration.

And I'll join those who judge the wheels to be far too small.

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a light foldable bike to take on public transport and
cycle 10 blocks to and from work. Regular bikes are too cumbersome to
carry around. I tried a Dahon Presto, it might be OK, but it's still
heavy (18 lbs, like my racing bike) and it takes forever to fold and
unfold (and to adjust again and again).

The Handybike is barely lighter than the Presto, and it's very unlikely
to ride anywhere near as well. I know you're putting a higher priority
on folding, but any bike needs to be _somewhat_ rideable.

Folding a Dahon shouldn't take more than two minutes, especially with
practice. You should mark the position of anything adjustable (for
example, seatpost) so you don't have to do trial and error. Slide it
to the mark, clamp it and ride.

- Frank Krygowski

yeah. I've never ridden one though, and I am too old to learn.

<[email hidden]> wrote: (clip) Folding a Dahon shouldn't take more than
two minutes, especially with practice. You should mark the position of
anything adjustable (for example, seatpost) (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I ride a Dahon some, and I can back up what Frank K. says. After you've
folded and unfolded a Dahon a few times, the little snags and glitches seem
to disappear. It actually takes me longer to slide the carrying bag onto
the folded bike than folding it.

The seatpost is the ONLY adjustment, and even if you don't mark it (I
haven't) you get to know how high it should be in relation to your belly
button (or whatever.)

Quoted message said:

yeah. I've never ridden one though, and I am too old to learn.

Only if you believe that.

Quoted message said:

See, when folded the Dahon is not significantly more convenient to
carry around than when it's unfolded. A unfolded Dahon looks, well,
like a bike, but a folded one is essentially a pile of metal and rubber
with sharp parts sticking out. But I guess it's true for all foldable
bikes. To me an ideal bike would be smth I could jump off, spend 5 sec
max filddling with, and rush down the escalator to catch the train.
Repeat the same steps in reverse order when off the train. Doesn't
quite work with my mntn and road bikes. Don't see how it can work with
the Dahon. Since the handybike is so small, I thought It could be worth
trying, but noone has it in stock here in SanFran. As for 6" wheels, I
have skates wth 6" wheels (rollerskis, to be precise), and they can
handle all kinds of bad pavement.

A Brompton can be folded in less than ten seconds, and folds very
compactly with the chain on the inside. But even the lightest Brompton
is close to 10 kg, and is quite expensive.

Quoted message said:

Has anyone tried this thing?
www.handybike.com

I am looking for a light foldable bike to take on public transport and
cycle 10 blocks to and from work. Regular bikes are too cumbersome to
carry around. I tried a Dahon Presto, it might be OK, but it's still
heavy (18 lbs, like my racing bike) and it takes forever to fold and
unfold (and to adjust again and again).

Remember that the weight generally goes up as the wheel size goes down
because it means more frame, seatpost, and stem, and less wheel.

I.e., the Dahon Helios SL is only 16.7 pounds but uses 20" wheels, while
the Dahon Presto Lite uses 16" wheels and weighs 18.7 pounds.

Quoted message said:

yeah. I've never ridden one though, and I am too old to learn.

Fold-up scooter?

http://www.sidewalkerusa.com/micro_photos.htm

[email hidden] wrote in news:1138577958.276205.89380
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

Has anyone tried this thing?
www.handybike.com

I am looking for a light foldable bike to take on public transport and
cycle 10 blocks to and from work. Regular bikes are too cumbersome to
carry around. I tried a Dahon Presto, it might be OK, but it's still
heavy (18 lbs, like my racing bike) and it takes forever to fold and
unfold (and to adjust again and again).

I have one of these hanging on my wall. If you can find someone still
selling parts, please order me a rear wheel.

This is in theory a fabulous short-haul ride -- I've folded it up and
taken it to and from airports and on the plane. Has a custom bag, too.
But the first generation had manufacturing that didn't meet the goal of the
engineering. The rear rim would dvelop internal flaws and puncture tubes
from the inside; the fold-up mechanism would stick, and the scooter-style
hubs did _not_ wheel freely.

Never the less, I'd like to get mine back in riding shape.

--ag

Collin O'Neill said:

Quoted message said:

yeah. I've never ridden one though, and I am too old to learn.

Fold-up scooter?

http://www.sidewalkerusa.com/micro_photos.htm

[Goes into other room, measures time to dismount and fold Micro, then
reverses operation.]

It took me approximately 15 seconds each way, but with practice I could
get it down to near 10 seconds.

However, the Micro is still a fairly large package when folded.

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley