Guide / Tutorial affordable tri-folding bikes now available

Alright, it's done, i bought a goddamn foldie. There's millions of them here in Asia, although almost all of them are the bi-fold type that are still pretty large. Bi-folds (Tern, Dahon etc) are definitely small enough to casually chuck into a car boot or in the luggage compartment of a long-distance bus, which could be quite useful cycling around a country attached to a large continent, but i live on a tropical island where all travel starts with a plane flight, so couldn't be sold on a cheap folding bike that i would anyway have to check as oversize luggage/sports equipment or else dismantle entirely just to fit it into a suitcase (that's the dirty secret of the Bike Friday). All that extra faffing about, you might as well just put your full size bike on the plane or buy/rent on the other end imo.

But there are bikes that are small enough to be wrapped up in an Ikea bag and checked as regular luggage, ready to immediately unfold and start riding on the other end. The keyword to search for is tri-fold, or 三摺車 (TW/HK)/三摺车 (CN/SG). Used to just be the Brompton and the Birdy that did it, both of which cost a fortune. I looked at the Tern BYB since it's a local brand and would prefer to support local business, but although it's smaller than the standard bi-folds, it'd still be awkwardly large to put on a plane imo. There's a hard-shell suitcase you can buy to go with it, but what's an unconventional traveler going to do with a hard-shell suitcase? Not like you're tipping a porter to keep an eye on your bag while you pootle around the resort or whatever.

The good news is that the Brompton patent expired a few years ago, and now there is a flood of clones that are all much, much cheaper and use the same folding mechanism to get really tiny. There are lots of brands - 3sixty, Pike, Mint, Litepro, Royale, Cranston... A guy in Singapore called Liaoge has tested a bunch of them and then commissioned one of the factories to build his own branded ones that look to have all kinds of useful tweaks. Check him out on YouTube - he's a salesman, but he also comes across legit excited about having fun with folding bikes.



All these folders come in well under us$1000, some of them are us$500, which sounds like a lot of money until you look at how much Bromptons and Birdys go for. Looks like you can pick them up in bike stores all over SE Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan) plus probably also in China too, but if you're not traveling in this part of the world then Aliexpress/Alibaba is your friend.

Today i bought a 20" tri-fold with disc brakes and a 9-speed on the back, everything is standard parts. Took it for a 40km ride straight out of the shop and it goes pretty sweet. I replaced the pedals immediately with metal ones instead of the plastic ones which looked a bit flimsy, but most of the other components look alright.



I'll update more over the next little while as i take it on longer adventures with more stuff. I'm housed up now so won't be full-ass living on a bike, but i still travel pretty low-end even when it's only a few weeks at a time so hopefully will have some interesting tips for the StP bike gang.

I have the 20" Rhino bag on order for carrying the bike. My hope is that i'll be able to cycle to the airport, chuck my bike in the bag and surround it with clothes and whatnot, then just check that bag and ride out of the airport at the other end. I'm also hoping that i can figure out a way to strap the small waterproof pack i already have on the back. That plus front bag should be plenty of carry space. Here on StP a while back someone linked a video showing how to strap a backpack on a Brompton: Luggage on a Brompton for Touring - https://www.bromptontraveler.com/2013/09/backpack-on-brompton.html

Weight limit is 105kg on this model, which is more than enough for credit card travel, but if your sleep system is 5kg should still be fine for full-time travelers under 80kg. Since the bike itself is around 13kg and you're gonna be carrying it from time to time, you don't want to be traveling with a ton of extra weight anyway.

My main concern going off-road with this one is that the derailleur hangs really low. Pedals hanging low is manageable if you just wanna weave the bike around some bushes, but snag a derailleur and you fucked it. On the other hand, way easier to carry it over, not so much the weight but just the size makes it easier to maneuver than a regular bike.

I don't like my chances of finding a stand. People who aren't touring don't bother with stands because if you flip the back wheel it stands itself up on the rear rack, but if you have something strapped on the rear rack what do you do? Guy at the bike store said "just unhook your bag first", but come on, really? One thing i like about the Liaoge 888 model is that it comes with stand from the factory, but i wasn't game to order it sight unseen from Singapore, especially not when i could walk into a brick and mortar store here in Taiwan and actually trial a bunch, pay and ride out same day. It's on my list of stuff to find, though, along with a bell and better grips so i don't need to worry so much about leaning my elbows on the handlebars and slipping off when it's humid AF.

If you don't care about taking it on a plane, i think bi-fold bikes are fine. There are loads of those that seem designed to take a lot more punishment than tri-fold bikes, e.g. cargo and utility models that people here haul gas tanks or children around on. The thing with the tri-fold (at least Brompton style) is all the "sensitive" gear gets folded into the middle so it seems a bit more protected (although there are still some parts i'm worried about like gear shifter, rear rack mini-wheels and possibly rear brake disc), the bi-folds seem more about just getting them convenient sized for carrying under your arm than turning into a package that can be bagged and bashed around independently.

Today i went on a 100km circle tour to continue putting the bike through its paces. Still no real mountains, but a couple hundred meters steepish climb and a bit of rugged industrial zone, gravel and sand. I think the bike held up okay, although there is some of clicking or knocking sound i need to figure out what it is. I suspect it's the derailleur being a bit out or the chain a being a bit loose. Too tired to figure it out right now. There's also some creaking and squeaking, but squeak is the front brake (need a tiny alignment) and creak just seems to be the right pedal so no biggie. Seat post held strong after i tightened the grip a bit. I might drop by the bike shop to see what they think before doing another long one. I'd like to do a weekend/overnight trip next with a bit more gear strapped on.

I took some photos so you can see exactly what you're working with when you get one of these small bikes.

Derailleur height:



Derailleur position when folded:



This is actually a tad closer to the wheel than it ought to be, because you're supposed to fold it in one of the small gears. Oops. No space for a protector anyway. On the other hand, this is the gimmick of these bikes, the chain is folded into the middle when it's closed, so in theory all the sensitive stuff is protected and you don't have an oily chain dangling on the outside to mess up your clothes. (Don't worry, i still managed to get oil on my shirt because fuck of course i did.)



This is with just the back wheel folded in, so the bike balances on its own, on the rear rack.



If you get a 16" version, you can actually push it around like this and steer with the front handlebars, but with 20" there isn't space to turn the front wheel so you have to lift a bit if you want to push it round.

Most of the stands you can buy online have a plate that connects to the bolt going through the rear hub and the rack. I'm not convinced about the stability, but they're cheap enough i suppose i could buy one and if it doesn't work then i can just use it as a brace under the saddle to mount my backpack (see the link above about how to strap a backpack on a small bike).

Anyway, today was a pretty hard thrashing, much as it could be without going offroad or climbing a full-ass mountain. We'll see if the cheapie Chinese components hold up over the next few trips. I know you get what you pay for, but also fuck paying 4-6 months rent for a bicycle, i'll take my chances. As far as general riding comfort goes, i think it's fine. It's not fast and unless you're short you're not gonna get a full leg extension, but it's definitely not uncomfortable. Handles gravel and smaller bumps just fine. Looks like a BMX but doesn't feel like riding one at all.

Quick update on this. I've now had the bike for about 6 months, although all of that time i have been housed up and not traveling full-time. However, each weekend i put 50-100km on the bike doing various round trips near home, and i have taken it out on a few longer excursions.

The first thing i did, at least for purposes of travel in Taiwan, is get a bike bag, because (like Japan) high speed rail here does not allow bikes on the train unless they are bagged. I just got a cheapie Rhinowalk, or more likely a Chinese ripoff, you can never really tell when you buy online these days. My first experiment was to take it down to the southern part of the island with pretty much full bike touring setup for a few days of travel.



This was largely a successful enterprise. The bike is definitely not as stable when you put a bunch of weight on the back, but you don't buy a folding bike for a fast, stable ride. You buy it for the convenience. And i can say it was pretty awesome to get off the train, unfold the bike, roll up the bag and stuff it in the front basket, strap my pack on the back and go.

However. It cannot be understated how fucking unwieldy it is to carry a folding bike in a bike bag along with a fully-stocked 35L pack on your back and front basket folded into satchel format slung over your shoulder. It is just about manageable to heave that shit onto a train carriage, but it is much, much more awkward to carry it up and down escalators, through train station halls, climb fucking stairs and so on. I'm no body builder, but i do consider myself reasonably fit, and it was a real struggle lugging all that shit over a kilometer just to transfer between subway and high speed rail. The straps of the bag cut deep into my arms as i tried (and failed) to find a comfortable way to carry it all. You can't sling it on your shoulder, the various metal bits of the folded bike stick out on strange angles, it just fucking sucks.

So, you guessed it, i overdid it and fell over coming off a staircase in Kaohsiung. Yeah, whatever, we all wipe out, life goes on. But i didn't discover the real problem until later, when i realized the bike didn't stand up when folded any more. Toppling down half a flight of stairs and landing with all my shit on top of the bike bag just gave me a few bruises, but it bent the rack at the back, messing up the stability. Bike still rode fine, but it was a lesson to be sure. When i got back to Taipei a few days later i went to a local bike shop where the mechanic got bold with a mallet trying to hammer and bend the frame back in line, which was successful, but maybe not something that would be as fun to try arrange if you were full-time touring out in the countryside. Then again, you probably wouldn't carry your bike down a bunch of stairs in the countryside.

Anyway, flash forward a few months and i decided to try taking the bike on a plane. Having learned from a couple of train trips, i realized that even though it is super nice to be able to just put your gear together and ride straight out of the train station, a bike bag isn't really much protection from bashing and smashing around of your shit from fellow passengers, and surely baggage handlers at the airport are even less careful, so i decided to harvest some cardboard for a bit of additional protection. Also, i learned that rather than trying to carry both a pack and the front basket/satchel on my person, better to put the satchel into the bike bag along with the bike so you can balance the weight a bit more and hopefully not fall down another flight of stairs.



That worked out a lot more successful. I just found some bits of cardboard around the place and shoved them in around the bike inside the bag, chucked the basket, helmet and other equipment into the bag too, then used big industrial luggage straps to tie it all together, which provided some additional carrying points for hauling the shit around train stations, airports and the various malls and passageways that connect them. I also learned not to try rush it, better to go slow and not fuck your body or your bike up just trying to get from A to B.

All that said, i still tweaked my back and shoulders carrying the shit around several kilometers (in total) between various transport options.

Now i was lucky on this particular trip that i had someone to pick me up on the remote end. It's way, way easier to chuck your bike bag into the trunk of a private vehicle than it is to haul it onto public transport. But, quite frankly, fuck private vehicles. If you are traveling for real and not just visiting vehicle-owning family members, this will not be an option. If you are seriously going to bike tour overseas with a folding bike, you better be ready to either lug around a bunch of very heavy and awkward shit, or spend money on taxis like a fucking yuppie.

This also made me question whether traveling overseas with a folding bike is all that much better than traveling with a regular bike. With a regular bike, you need to get it all packed in cardboard, it's extremely awkward to take on public transport, and you probably need to travel to a bike shop to have them put it back together again. With a folding bike, seems you also are better off packing it to some degree in cardboard, it's extremely awkward to take on public transport, but... well it is still much easier to get cycle-ready on the other end, so on balance it's probably still better.

The other thing is that you don't need to pay for oversize luggage, although you probably still need to declare it as sports equipment. In one direction my bike came out on the regular luggage carousel, in the other direction it was in oversize, but either way i didn't pay because it was about the size and weight of a very large suitcase, which on international flights airlines are usually pretty chill about.

Even though i went overseas to visit family and thus did not go on any serious touring days, it was pretty cool to have a bike available out in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere with no public transport or any other transport options that aren't cars. Unfolding and taking 50-100km day trips around gravel roads was pretty nice, and not something i would've done with a full-size bike because i wouldn't have taken it in the first place.



Anyway, all in all i am pretty happy with it. You can easily take these bikes up and down mountain roads, on gravel etc, just as long as you don't expect you're going to get some kind of streamlined carbon fiber ultra fast super comfortable cycling experience. It's a bit awkward, it's not really optimal, but like you learn when you are full-time bike touring or just full-time traveling in general, doesn't really matter how far or how fast you go, it only matters that you're going. And if you are going to switch modes from public transport and/or planes back to cycling again... These folders do really make it less of a hassle than a full-size bike. Don't get it twisted - it's still a major fucking hassle. It's way easier to just avoid public transport altogether and bike everywhere. But if you do switch modes, switching on a folder is so much nicer.

Like, another thing i did a couple times was take a day trip in one direction, then fold the bike back into a bag and take a bus back. In some places buses have bike racks. In others, they don't. If you're visiting a place that is bike-hostile, having a folder is a secret weapon. Plus outside of Asia it's a novelty and everyone wants to have a conversation about it, so that's kinda fun, since you get to spread a bit of cycle propaganda to people who might otherwise have never considered getting a bike, and what is travel without a bit of opening the locals' minds to what's possible eh?

Anyway, folding bike good. I like.

I bought a bike when I was in Colombia, and that was less stressful than flying my fullsize bike into the US, but it was definitely a yuppie move because packing it in is still cheaper unless you have the time or patience to find an amazing deal.

The nice thing about flying in without a bike is you can spend a bit of time backpacking around on foot to get the lay of the land before buying a bike, and maybe visiting some places that'd be hard to experience if you had to drag a bike along.

On the other hand, trying to sell the bike before you leave is a hassle. Even just trying to give stuff away can be complicated in a foreign country, especially if you don't have a good grasp of the language and/or connections to the local culture. In Colombia one of the women cleaning my hotel room eventually hooked me up with her brother or cousin or something, but several other people I talked to didn't trust me or didn't want the hassle of dealing with a foreigner or who knows what.

Like, let's be real here, selling shit or giving it away is even difficult in a country where you do live and speak the language. It's amazing how stressful people can make getting free stuff. One of the reasons I hardly own anything is exactly because how much of a pain in the ass it is to get rid of it when I eventually move on. Yeah, I'm housed up right now, but other than a blanket and a frying pan and an electric jug, pretty much still just living with the same stuff I travel with. Owning stuff is the fucking worst.

So from this context owning a bike you can relatively easily take anywhere appeals to me. It's definitely better than owning a non-folding bike. But is it better than buying/selling? I guess it really comes down to if you have money and/or patience, plus the personality or charisma to deal with fucking people all the time. I have the money but not the patience or personality.