Bike bums? Gonna do it up.

Na, look you want to pretend it is perfect but it is not. You cannot put panniers on a folding bike, cant just throw a real rack on it. All of that makes it cumbersome and difficult. Even if you somehow get racks that come off easy then you have to lug those around. Then when you have to always worry about it being stolen. Advantages and disadvantages.
 
Rear rack, and my chain to lock it.. don't need panniers. I know there are disadvantages. But I'm sure it'll fold enough with a basic rear rack.. I really don't travel with much.. alcohol stove, isopropyl, gauze and wraps, sleeping bag, one change of clothing, bibs and jacket, compass, road map, head lamp, knife, lighters, twine, one change of spare batteries, a bit of food and water, kiddie tent, aint much else, all that is wrapped in a tarp with lashing straps, and some is in a bookbag. I know I'll have to undo the tarp roll when I fold it, I just lash the roll to the bookbag and lug that.

Yeah it's not the most simple, but I like the freedom of movement the bike offers when it's not chained up or loaded in a trunk. I mean I have done this for a short while before, with a bike that didn't fold.. I can only imagine folding it would make it even easier.
 
very tempting... but i think my only realistic option right now would be to do the west coast tour north to south starting in june, that way i could end up in slab city for the jamboree in october.
 
Right now I have a folding bike and folding trailer. It's way more versilatile then at least one person here seems able to believe.

I just sold my bulky waterproof panniers and made new ones out of canvas tote bags. The panniers clip on a rack on the bike like any other, by the way.

My backpack is on the trailer, my food and water in the panniers. When I need to downsize, I eat the food and stuff the panniers into my pack. When I need to load up the bike onto another vehicle, the pack goes on my back, the trailer folds into a bag in one hand, and I can lift the bike in my other hand.

If someone can pick up two hitchhikers, or a kid with a pack and a dog, they can pick up me and my bike. I can go from riding the bike, to loaded into a backseat in about five minutes.


Coulda saved a lot of typing with a picture, but the internet here is too flickery.
 
Wawa said:
Actually, I'm not done yet.

A folding bike is GREAT for long distance travel. Its the best of everything. You can hitch easily, but you can also explore backroads with no traffic. You can ride through town, or load it up on public transit. It fits into a large home depot box, which counts as normal luggage on buses, amtrak, airplanes. You can throw it on a freight train, you can put it on a packraft. You can hoist it over fences, hide it easily. You can move like a cyclist but camp like a backpacker.

This is all personal experience, except for the bike/train and raft/bike, but I'm doing those soon as I get back to the US.

Meh, I really want to post a picture but internet here is junk.
Click to expand...

Yo, this post got me super stoked on the idea of folding bikes, cruised Craigslist for a minute and found one. It's a Dahon Speed Uno with a custom automatix 2 speed automatic hub. Paid $300. Folds down to nothing. I'm loving the simplicity of the auto 2 speed and find it's kickass for everything but crazy uphills. I'm about to take off on it, and am planning to just hitch the gnarly hilly sections and stick to the canal trail (will be rolling thru upstate NY) and then along the great lakes on up to the Upper Peninsula. From there who knows.

I dig what you said as well about not being on a bike tour. I've loved bikes my whole life, and have done a couple little tours, but have noticed that nearly all the literature surrounding bike touring is oriented toward folks who take it as an assumption that they have "real life" to get back to. That has turned me off, because if I head out on two wheels, I'm living the bike nomad life, taking it as it comes, as surely as when I leave by thumb I'm not on a "trip" or "vacation" because those terms imply some sort of deliberate planning and an end. Why not bike life, you know? Seems like there are plenty of hitchhikers, trainhoppers, van dwellers, even walkers pursuing their modes of transportation in a chill fashion, working, dumpstering, busking as they go along and just letting randomness guide them. I'm ready to try it. I really doubt that hitchhiking will be hard with this thing either.

Anyway thanks for your post and feel free to offer up further bits of wisdom on the matter, as it seems you've lived it.
 
Glad to hear it man. Looks like you found a pretty great deal.

Heh, the "not on a tour thing" definately gets real when people start asking where you came from and its like "Uuuh, don't know how to answer?"
 
ME and my woman got few rises when we traveled by bike
 

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Hi everyone. For those who might find it useful, might I suggest that when you know it's time to hitch with a bicycle, that you remove the front wheel. This will give drivers a better visual cue that you are looking for a ride. It would also give a driver the chance to see that your bike would fit into a trunk. I would also suggest a bungee cord or a piece of rope, etc. to secure the trunk once the bike is in. Of course, if someone has a truck then this isn't an issue. I just think that most drivers might look at a fully assembled bike and may think that it wouldn't fit without really thinking about it. I would also like to think that it would look like you are serious about needing a ride and people would be more willing to assist. Any thoughts as to why this might not work? I plan on doing this myself.
 
i got all geared to go, then found an amazing place to squat and busk, and an amazing girlfriend...so i'm trying to convince her we should bike to FL this winter.
 
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