Recommended Foldable Bike?

[roverhi]

Have had a Bike Friday New World Tourist <bikefriday.com> on boat for a number of years. It fits into a suitcase that can double as a trailer. Ships as a bag, not a bike, on airlines so way cheaper. Underway. stored the bike in its suitcase on the V berth. In port, would fold it into a travel bag for dinghying ashore. Or just lift it onto the deck while in a marina.

Bike Fridays are real bikes that you can ride seriously if you want. Was a fairly dedicated rider in my younger days and had a 4-5 road/mountain bike collection. Have sold them off because I like riding the Bike Friday so much.

Used to commute to the boat in Alameda from Kona, worked for an airline so commute costs were right. Would fly into Oakland, assemble the bike, turn the suit case into a trailer and ride the 10 miles or so to the boat in Alameda and repeat on the return. Son and family lived in San Ramon. Would ride over to the BART station in Oakland and take that to San Ramon where I'd ride to there house. Didn't have to inconvenience them driving into Alameda to pick me up. No rental car or taxi costs.

Bike Fridays are real bicycles. Have ridden mine on many trips over 10 miles. The panniers were good for hitting the supermarket for provisioning, buying most boat parts or just getting around Alameda, over to Jack London Square in Oakland or anywhere in the Bay Area that Bart ran. If i had anything big, it would usually go in/on the suit case trailer. The frame is steel on the Bike Friday but the components are all aluminum. The frame has held up well after nearly 10 years of use on and off the boat. The only real issue with the frame was some paint that was scraped off a chain stay while shipped on a plane. touched it up with a little paint. Doesn't look so good but killed any rust.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by ShaktisBoy

Downtube 9FS is a great folding bike at a reasonable cost. It doesnt have that clown bike feel soo typical of folding bikes. We have one now and are getting another shortly.

+1 on Downtube. We have an older 8H model, front suspension. A world of difference in the ride between Downtube and Dahon. The only problem is it's a little heavier than the lightest Dahon model by ~3lbs.

Downtube is coming out with a belt drive internal gear folder. No chain to grease, no derailleur to adjust.

[ranger58sb]

We have the 8H or something like that. Front suspension only (a good thing, since that means a hard rack will work on the back).

Still lots of parts on a Downtube that will rust in a heartbeat. Mostly the toggle bolts, hub nuts, cable end fittings, etc.

It helps to hose down the bikes after a boat run, and to use spray-on corrosion protection. It would have helped even more if I had adopted that regimen from day 1.

-Chris

[Sandibar]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

These E-Scooters are a blast to glide around on. My Wife Loved it. No sweating.

Block Island is pretty hilly and it was not problem for these scooters. We passed a lot of bikes going uphills.

These are rated for 220 lbs

Cotemar, really cool scooters. I did not even know there were electric models.
I got a goped know-ped (no engine) scooter just a couple of weeks ago. The boat does not really have space to stow a real folding bike. The know-ped is good for shorter commutes on relatively even roads, even hard gravel works. Uphill is useless. Folds and stows nicely.
Not available in Europe unfortunately so had to import from the US which almost doubled the price :/.