folding bike advice

cycling psychologist

rhext wrote:

cycling psychologist wrote:

philipjohnson - you are absolutely right - she will be with me even if the job doesn't work out - and for £20 she didn't even break the bank :-)

Popularname - I have a backside of steel!....... and an armchairy type seat :-) The seat is on a dahon vitesse.

You should get that upgraded to carbon fibre or Titanium: might make you even faster up the hills ;-)

Ahhh of course! I shall investigate an upgrade forthwith!

the_hundredth_idiot

Dahon Vitesse for £20? That sounds like a bargain even if it did need a little tidying up.

I test rode a couple of Bromptons yesterday: an S2L (in white) and an M3L (in shocking pink - it was the only one they had in stock - but I think I'm man enough to carry it off ... temporarily 8) ).

I'm still undecided - the S2L felt nicer to ride, the gear change felt slicker and more definite, but the gear ratios didn't feel quite right for me. A top gear of 75 inches is a little high for a pootle around town and I can see that the lower gear of 56 inches might not be low enough for the occasional hill/headwind (bearing in mind that I'll be suited and booted so don't want to arrive at my destination a sweaty mess). So maybe get the lower gearing option which gives me a 69 inch top gear and a 52 inch bottom gear? My fixie has a 72 inch gear and that seemed a good all rounder as I could get up to about 25mph on the flat but still get up hills with a bit of sweaty effort. So a 69 inch top gear suggests I could easily get up to about 20mph without spinning like a hamster. And do I really need more speed given the likely usage?

The M3L felt like it had a better gear range - but I suspect I would spend almost all time in the middle gear (64 inches) as the top gear (85 inches) does take a little effort to push. I wasn't so keen on the handlebars - made the "flight deck" feel a little more cluttered compared with the S2L. I also didn't like the gear change lever - I found it had a much less positive action than the S2L's.

So I reckon I'd get reduced gearing whichever one I plump for. At the moment, it's down to an S2L (-7%: 69/52) or an S3L (-12%: 75/56/42). The S2L then feels like it has a better all round gear (69) but the S3L has a better range with a useful bail out gear for when the going gets tough (like a normal geared S2L but with a bail out gear).

Or maybe I'm just thinking about all of this a little too much ...

phillipjohnson

This might sound obvious, but if it helps... on my M3L I tend to be in lowest gear when pulling away or going uphill (pretty much any type of gradient), middle on the flat then top when going downhill... and sometimes on the flat if its a really smooth road. I use all the gears fairly evenly.

ZoomZoom

Thread hijack again!

I'm also looking for some advice on which Brompton to buy, currently using an M3L (on hire from South West Trains) and find that I am in top gear most of the time and regularly look for a higher gear and find that there isn't one. Commute is a couple of miles and mainly flat.

Are the 6 speed Bromptons that much better or is it wiser to buy the 3 speed and then upgrade the gearing? Are the latest 2011 models any better than 2nd hand models a few years old?

Sharkyssurfers

if you lke the look of the dahon, have a look at the montague range as well, they have some folding bikes with 700x23 tyres, so they will offer you the speed and rolling resistance needed for a long commute, i have the paratrooper and it s a heavy bike easy to fold though, but now have seen the cheaper range and wish i had got one of them.

t4tomo

Zoom Zoom, with the 3 speed, there is a choice of the "normal" front chainring (52 tooth I think) and the larger front chainring 56 tooth, which ups each gear by 8%.


With a 6 speed you get both front chainrings and the 3 speed hub gear at the back, so the gears 1-6 alternate as in 1RSF, 1RLF, 2RSF, 2RLF, 3RSF, 3RLF (i.e 3rd gear in REAR hub and Large Front chainring). IMHO I think at having to chain one up and one down to change to the next gear is a pain and adding the front derailleur adds one more thing to go wrong on a bike and more expense. I'd opt for 3 gears if primarily commuting for that reason.

I reckon you'll have the 52 tooth on your hire bike as that is standard, you should get 56 tooth chainring (zero cost option I think). I got mine with the 56 tooth after I borrowed a friends with the 52 to try out and found it was too low geared for a mainly flat commute, as you did.

To my mind the higher gearing is much better, you can get a decent lick of speed in 3rd and I'm yet to find a hill I can't get up in 1st, and I alternate between 2nd (setting off) and 3rd (once upto speed) on my commute (although with refernce to dilemna above, I'm yet to do the Tourmalet on it and concede having the lowest cog might be useful then!)

I have the S type bars, (with some aftermarket tiny bar ends) and it feels much more like a proper bike than with M bars.

There are virtually no differences between the new Bromptons and the ones produced since they introduced the different bar types and titanium rear triangle/seat post/forks options. I've spotted on the trains that the new mudguard have a natty stripe down them, but that's it.

The titanium bits are an expensive option for a minor weight loss. I reckon the titanium forks ride better as there is a bit of natural damping in titanium, but that may be me subconciously justingfying my £300!.

Depending on mileage its done you may want to change the chain and rear sprocket on a 2nd hand one, factor in £20 to do that yourself or £50 at a bikeshop.

bikeboon

cycling psychologist wrote:

Hi All,

I'd like to upgrade to a folder that is less likely to make my knees cry.

Siobhan

In my opinion Dahon's 20" rims offer a much better ride quality compared to 16" Brommies. Also, in my opinion, internal hub gears do not perform as well on hilly terrain (you need to reduce the tension on the chain to step up).

Cheaper Dahons are heavier, and with the exception of the stem hinge, are rather reliable. There was a thread on finding a cheaper model as they supply universities and marine(?) organisations at a fraction of retail price.

Wrt to your knees - keep an eye on that cadence and change gears appropriately. Low cadence (<60-80) is not going to be good for any knees.

Noddys

+1 for the Dahon Speed Pro.
I picked one of these up second hand for about £350 and it goes like $^!!t off a shovel. My commute is 26miles a day but between replacing road bikes I used this for 70+ training rides with ease.

It does have its limitations of course, it's a folding bike and no Airnimal. Spokes are weak, but cheap to replace/rebuild, frame is a little small and flexible, but I'm a big chap so I forgive it. Overall it's nippy, fun, with a full gear range and a great laugh when you take out the local racers in team kit. It's the FCN Destroyer.

My two p.

Noddys

Oh yeah, definitely +1 for the proper setup too chief.