Ride One of the Full Size Folding Bikes

Full size folding bikes are designed to also fold into a compressed form as other folding bicycles. They facilitate excellent storage and transport.  When these bikes are folded, you can carry them easily into your apartment, house, and other buildings and on public transportation. You can also mix up your commute by traveling to the train station in your car and switching to your folding bike commute. Full size folding bikes can also be stored easily in boats, on a plane and in the trunk of your car.

Different Mechanisms

On all folding bicycles, mechanisms will vary, with each bike offering a distinctive blend of speed, ease, weight, ride, compression, cost and sturdiness. Many of the full size folding bikes are distinguished by their individual complexities in their folding method; some offering different structural necessities, more parts, and possibly more market appeal. Your model selection should be based on more than just cost. In other words, it may be a matter of practicalities such as fast folding, size and its compactness. It is difficult to tell whether full size folding bikes are the same as regular bikes. It has an elegant, but simple folding mechanism that is almost invisible. The locking system is like a tube within a tube, separating in seconds by releasing two bolts located on the seat tube and the down tube.

Going Mainstream

Many people are becoming more interested in finding ways to save on transportation cost. This includes finding how to stop paying those high gas prices, increased parking fees and saving the planet. For this reason, full size folding bikes have graduated from being novelty items, but more mainstream. In fact, at the airport, you can now check in these bikes as personal luggage when going on your business trip. If you commute on a bus or train, you will find them very handy too. They offer high performance than other bikes that cannot be folded. 

False Impressions

There are so many false impressions about full size folding bikes. Many people might be concerned that the smaller wheel size will someway render a slower ride. Some worry that these bikes won’t be able to adequately climb over a hill while others think that they won’t be as durable as conventional bikes. These things are not true. Folding bikes are specifically designed to conquer these challenges.

Downtube

Downtube is a bicycle company that has a full line of expertly designed full size folding bikes. They are trendy, stylish and feature contemporary elements, folding small enough to be placed in the back of a closet or trunk of a vehicle. The entire frame of these folding bike revolve around the seat tube, successfully permitting you to pretty much, ‘break down the bike in half.’ You would first take off the front wheel. You would then break down the frame. To do this, you would release the ‘skewer’ on the upper tube, then swing the front part of the bike around. When it is folded completely, it can fit into any sedan trunk. You can even pick it up and easily carry it around. That is brilliant, isn’t it? 

Broken Down

Most of the time a bike can seem clumsy to move because of its jagged size and shape. However, when broken down like the Downtube full size folding bikes can, it becomes more manageable, elevator friendly and ideal for storage. The 8 speed model is designed so that you have little maintenance while owning it. It has an internal hub with all the gears operated from the grip of the handlebar. With a full front suspension, it cushions you against bumps in the road or rough bike paths. 

Regular Bike

When you buy one of these full size folding bikes, you will get the feel of a regular size bike with the convenience of riding a folding bicycle. What that means is that you will have a comfortable, yet faster and transportable ride because of its portability.  The Downtube folding bike is the ideal for a rider who loves the idea of having a folding bike that operates just like a regular bike. Pretty cool, you would think, right? You definitely cannot go wrong with full size folding bikes, especially if you are searching for a cool way to avoid the heavy traffic and still get to work on time.



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Multi mode transportation with a bicycle

Cycling to work is a great way to get fit and save money on gas. Many people cycle while using their boat or RV to help with transportation and assist with personal fitness. Below we will discuss different to use your bike with other forms of transportation.

1. Car and bike: This is a great option for people travelling on unsafe routes, or individuals living very far away from their destination. Ideally one would drive close to their destination, and then use the bike to finish the trip. Driving can help make the ride manageable, while cycling is faster within major metropolises and minimizes parking delays. Cars can complement bikes, and vice versa. For this type of transport you can use any type of bicycle.

2. Bus and bike: Buses can be used with bikes just like cars. This is a great option for riders in big cities with dependable bus service. Some cities have a limited number of bike racks on the front of buses.

Standard bikes are a great option here, as long as there is space on the racks. Folding bikes are better because they are always allowed inside the bus, which is especially important when the bike racks are full.

3. Train and bike: This is an ideal option for cities with subways or regional railway. Logically they are like buses; however they are more comfortable and much faster. Standard size bikes are normally not allowed on trains, but most trains allow folding bikes. Bicycle bags are always a good idea to hide your bike on trains, to minimize the risk of problems.

4. Boat and bike: This is a method of transport if you travel by boat and anchor at a dock. Folding bikes are the standard choice for boaters since space is a major issue. Normally men get bigger 20” wheel folding bikes and women prefer the smaller 16” wheel folders. Normally boaters travel to restaurants and shopping via bicycle. For security they can fold their bike and place it in a shopping cart while in stores.

Boaters always prefer internal hub bikes with belt drives to minimize corrosion issues, and to keep the bike safe in rough seas. They also prefer having bicycle carry bags to protect the bikes from the elements.

5. RV’s and bike: Space is a limited resource in RV’s, hence most buy folding bikes. RV’ers prefer internal hub bikes, because they are simpler to operate and they are maintenance free. Everything moves around inside an RV’s when they are moving, hence bicycle carrybags are important for RV’ers to keep the bikes safe and secure.

6. Airplanes and bike: Space is extremely limited in small aircrafts, hence they always prefer folding bikes. Both 20” and 16” wheel folding bikes fit in the baggage compartment in small airplanes (such as Cessna).

Folding bikes can fly on commercial airlines with no issues. 16” wheel bikes can fit in regulation sized suitcases and 20” wheel models can fit with minor accommodations. There are some soft suitcases which collapse and can be carried on the bicycles once you reach your destination.

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Disc brakes on folding bikes, do they make sense?

Today folding bikes are much better than those in the market ten years ago. In today’s retail market it is hard to buy a “bad” folding bike. We will assume everyone has a nice folding bike for the purposes of this article.  We will discuss disc brake upgrades and when they make sense on folding bikes. We will also compare the cheapest folding bike in the USA that is 100% disc ready, the Downtube 9FS (MSRP $549).

Disc brakes are a very popular upgrade however they are not for everyone.  To use disc brakes you need to have disc hubs (6 bolt are standard) and disc tabs on the fork and rear frame to install the caliper. Very few bikes under $1000 have disc tabs on the frame and fork, even less have disc hubs. There is one, the Downtube 9FS folding bike, which is 100% disc ready with disc hubs, tabs on the fork & frame, and it even includes cable routing for the housing. Bikes that do not include disc hubs will require a wheel upgrade that will cost around $250, a fork upgrade will run over $100, and the disc brakes will run about $100 per wheel. Therefore the financial cost of disc brake install is normally over $550, the Downtube 9FS does not require any component upgrades, it is 100% disc ready at $549!

Most riders do not need disc brakes. Rim brakes on machined sidewall rims stop bikes very quickly (not so quickly on non-machined rims since the brakes slip). The machined sidewall gives the brake pads a rough surface to bite down on, making the brakes super-efficient. Additionally disc brakes have some risk; once the rotors are bent the brakes will squeak with every revolution, which is extremely annoying. Rotors are more likely to bend on portable folding bikes, since the risk increases every time you fold your bike. Therefore most customers should stick with the cheaper V brakes with machined sidewall rims. Do not settle for non-machined sidewall rims, they do not allow the brakes to engage properly because the brake shoes will slip on the rims surface.

Riders that live in mountainous environments require disc brakes. On long windy mountainous descents rim brakes will melt from the heat generated by using them for a long period of time (they never get a chance to cool). Once they melt you will not have any brakes, hence you can either engage your brakes on the descent and they will melt by the bottom or risk not using them on the descent so they will operate at the bottom of the mountain.

I lived in the Virgin Islands in 2003 and lived on just such a mountain.  Usually, I chose to not engage my brakes until I really needed them at the bottom. This was a dangerous daily commute, and I would highly recommend disc brakes be used in any mountainous terrain. Volcanic islands and big hills in the Rocky's and Appalachian mountains require disc brakes. Otherwise stick with the rim brakes, they will save you money and you will be much happier with the quiet results long term. If you decide to go with disc brakes take a look at the Downtube 9FS folding bike it is the best disc ready folding bike in the USA, and retails for under $550.

What is better a Full size folding bike or Small Wheeled folding bike? Why is one better than the other?

Full size folding bikes are approximately half the size of a standard bicycle. They are allowed on most trains, and can fit on boats and RV’s easier. However they are just too big with an average size of 36”x36”x13”, most small wheel folding bikes are around 32”x23”x12”. You can almost fit two 20” wheel folding bicycles in the space taken by one full size folding bike, hence they do not allow one to make efficient use of space.

Smaller wheels are more efficient up until 16mph, hence bigger wheel bikes are harder to climb hills and slower on recreational rides. However the bigger wheeled bikes descend much faster than their smaller wheeled cousins. Nowadays most bikes are of very good quality; hence buying a good bike is easy.  So a shopper must make sure the bike fits their body properly. Most 20” wheel folding bikes are one size fits all. How is that possible you ask? The higher a rider lifts the seatpost implies their inseam is longer. Most people have arm length that is correlated to inseam length; since the seat tube is angled back the correlation of arm/leg length is built into the frame. Hence small wheel bikes really are one size fits all. Unfortunately big wheel folding bikes do not share this feature. You need to know the frame size ( seat tube length ) fits your body, otherwise you will find yourself crunched up or leaning to far forward.

Overall big wheel lightest folding bike are nice and compact, about half the size of a normal bike. However small wheel folding bikes are about half the size of the big wheeled folders, and that’s the sweet size. Two small wheeled folding bikes can fit into a standard car trunk, as opposed to one big wheeled folder. The small wheeled folders can fly on airlines with no oversize fees, this is not possible with large wheel bikes (unless you disassemble them). The small wheel bikes are designed to be a one size fits all option so the entire family can enjoy one bike.  It seems that big wheel folding bikes are nice, however they cannot match the advantages of their 20” wheel little brothers. Please shop around and decide for yourself.


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