RoadWearier

Ok I have done much search and reading SO PLEASE don't tell me to "search." I did that but I'm looking for personal experiences!

I recently have started a job where I can bring my bike when I travel and commute from hotel to job. Very excited!

One job is 4 miles from my house. I'd just ride my regular bike but there is no safe place to lock it up. So..
4 miles, with hills. Would like to be able to fold easily (points for Brompton). However folding super small isn't that important but I WILL be carrying up a flight of stairs or two.
I guess Brompton would solve these problems but I do like 20 inch wheels and really hate the idea of dropping $2000 on a folding bike. How cumbersome is a Zizzo or Dahon to carry around? Any other suggestions? Those are the bikes that seem to come up the most.

bargainguy 

You might want to look at Origami. They have quite a following here, and the owner contributes regularly.

RoadWearier

Will do!

Gotta say. I know people will disagree, but WHY did they put hydraulic discs on a bike that is going to be swung up, down and every which way when it's loaded in a car, train, bus, closet? Simple rim brakes would have been fine!

Jipe

When you have to carry the folded bike, especially on stairs, the Brompton tri-fold design is much easier than the classic Dahon bi-fold not only because its smaller but also because the bike remain folded while you carry it (which is not always the case with bi-fold with magnets to lock the two parts folded) and because the more parallelepiped shape of the folded tri-fold is easier to carry.

If you don't want to pay the price for a genuine Brompton there are now lots of Chinese copies of the Brompton for much less.

2_i 

I have three folding bikes: Dahon, Bike Friday, and Brompton. Dahon is good because you do not need to worry much about someone stealing it, and I have the option to fold it and carry it to another place. However, folding and carrying are cumbersome and should be done in rare cases. Bike Friday rides nicely. Its folding is even more cumbersome than Dahon's, and carrying it is impossible. You can disassemble it and put it into a suitcase, where it fits better than Dahon. To take Dahon on air travel, I needed to put it into 2 suitcases. Brompton folds in seconds, and you put it into a travel case in minutes. It is relatively easy to carry around. It does not ride as nicely as Bike Friday, but I commute on it to my work 5 miles away daily. If I were allowed to retain only one folder, it would have been Brompton. If I were to retain just one bike of any sort, I would hesitate, but there is a high chance that I would take the Brompton because it gives me the most options to ride.

ChiapasFixed

Mint 20” trifold with disc brakes. Bought from AliBaba, around $750US including shipping and tax

Takachia Tiime 20” trifold. Ordered from a Singapore bike shop, around $900US all inclusive

I can recommend both of these bikes as great options to travel with. I’m still tweaking details on them and figuring out upgrades but they were both good out of the box and offer the comfort of 20” wheels with the ease of B-style trifold technology.

RoadWearier

Thanks so much! This has been helpful! Basically I work in a hospital with a lot of shady people hanging around. They will steal anything not nailed down. Theft around the hospital is rampant. They have absolutely no accommodations for riders to lock up bikes. None. The videos are misleading. They make the Zizzo and the Dahon appear easy to carry.


How long does Alibaba take to ship? Maybe I can find a Brompton on FB. The other place I work, I stay in a hotel. Usually on the 15th floor.

ChiapasFixed

Don’t know where you are, I’m in southern Mexico and the Mint took 3 weeks to arrive from the day we placed our order, from China via FedEx

Duragrouch

In hill country with long descents, rim brakes come up short. That has been my experience but no one believed me, so I recently did calculations; Circumferential force at the rim pads on 406 was 44% higher than on 622 (700c), which means requiring higher contact pressure, so greater heat, while 6% less rim travel at the pads. That, coupled with the 35% smaller rim so less heat sink, means higher rim temperatures on long descents. Steel rotors and pads can handle higher heat than aluminum and rim pads; The aluminum doesn't melt, but it does expand and pull harder on the spokes.

Duragrouch

OP: For multimode commuting, a Brompton or clone ("brompnot") is fabulous; folds small, drivetrain between folds ("trifold") so less likely to get oil on clothes, but I recommend chain cleaning and melt wax lube from day one. Downside is wheels are small (349 size) so to get sufficient high gear you need an internal gear hub, which adds weight and maintenance cost if ridden in rain, much less so if kept dry. Brompton will (and copies have) made 20" (406) trifolds, they are a bit bigger. 349 trifold will EASILY fit in airline checked luggage, and many have brought onboard as carryon, they make both bags and backpacks to hold them folded. These are all "frequent folders", fold FAST and EASY. Small wheels and skinny tires can ride rough, often not frame space for cushier tires.

20" bifold like Dahon or Zizzo, don't fold nearly as small, if I fly I'll need to put in two separate checked bags. Cumbersome to carry more than 50 feet. Though they can be rolled, but up stairs, gotta lug it. But when unfolded, it matches configuration of Bike Friday tour bikes and can tour like one; Mine is heavily racked and panniered, it is my townie. It is an "occasional folder" for trips in car or by train, easy. But not by air.

Sounds like you might want a 349 trifold brompnot, which used to be a good deal but $300 shipping from asia. But now they are carried on amazon about same price but free shipping. But make certain the features are the same; Usually they are chrome-moly frame and welded, that is fine (brompton uses brazing); But make sure it folds the same, meaning encloses the drivetrain, good speed range, and handebar and seat height correct for you. Check reviews for the model.

Ron Damon

When you were worked for Citröen and Ford, did you do your vehicle design calculations without taking into account vehicle load? Did NASA not take into account astronaut weight when landing on the Moon? The elephant in the room, missing in your calculus, is the bike's rider weight, p = mv and F = ma. Mass is of the essence. Disc makes more sense the more massive one is.

Duragrouch

I was assuming an apples-to-apples comparison, a constant thrust at the road contact point. But I agree! The more the weight, the greater the argument for discs! At low weight and speed, sure, makes no difference. I never ran into rim heat issues in flatland. And my experience was that in hills, the smaller wheels were getting a lot hotter. No one believed me. The calculation proved more difference than I expected with just wheel size.

RoadWearier

Totally understand that in theory discs will work better. But having a nasty caustic fluid spill on auto carpet, clothes, hands while transporting is no fun and renders the bike useless. That's my problem with hydraulic discs. Plus hydraulic disks can be hard to keep from running on pads as tolerances are tighter. Again folding bikes have a "jostling" factor via lateral forces that regular bikes don't. And yes I know MTN bikes get jostled plenty but it's more "jolts" than constant pressure from transport.

Jipe

I never had any leakage issues with Shimano and Magura hydraulic disc brakes!

If you want something that folds almost as small as the Brompton, also tri-fold but different, faster and much more comfortable, you might consider the Riese & Müller or Pacific Cycles Birdy with 10s derailleur.

Mint has also a copy of the Birdy but with a different stem and probably closer to the Birdy 2 than the current Birdy 3.

Schwinnsta

The OP needs an ultra light folder. There are a few. Hummingbird, Brompton T line and a few more. But the OP does not want to pay what these cost. Sound familiar?

RoadWearier

Don't know why it sounds familiar. I'm just seeing what my choices are. Sound familiar? When did I say I wanted something Ulta lite? I need something I can carry up 2 flights of stairs. Anything around 26 or less should be fine. If I have to pay up for a Brompton, I will. Just looking for other options. What's wrong with that? The copies from Mint sound interesting.

Thanks all for the suggestions

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Schwinnsta

Perhaps when you said carry it upstairs, Nothing wrong with that. I think we all would like that, that is why I said sounds familiar.For the record, I would not like to carry my Brompton up two flights of stairs. Could I? Yes. If it came to that, let's say for a daily commute, I would spring for a titanium Brompton at several thou.

RoadWearier

​​​​isnt the C line like 26-27 pounds and the B line 23ish pounds? That's not too bad. Although I agree the T line is amazing. TBH though I would feel like a goof-nuts on a folder so I'd like to start on something under $6000. Lol. Hell I'm not sure my Corolla is worth that much. I could buy 500 hybrid/MTN bikes. And take my chances with them every day.

Schwinnsta

Yes, but carrying a B upstairs is not easy. Doable, yes, but not something you want to do daily. A zizzo liberte is 22 pounds, but I would not want to carry it very far.

Jipe

The weight depend of the type of transmission, with or without IGH but yes, C-line is indeed 26-27 pounds and P-line 22-23 pounds.

Carrying the Brompton is the easiest in a bag with a shoulder strap.

Carrying it like this is also very discreet, few people can imagine that you are carrying a bike.

CrimsonEclipse

Few considerations:
If you carry a regular bike up the stairs, then carrying a folding bike (while not folded) is just as easy.
(I lift under the nose of the saddle of a Dahon)
If you absolutely HAVE to carry while folded, I am also suggesting a tri fold.
Bi folds have a wider, less controllable fold and are more clumsy to carry while folded.

You mentioned hills:
The gear range of bromptons are generally limited.
The clones have a wider gear range.

Most of the bi-folders fold and carry the same.

I suggest the Origami folders if bi-fold is your thing.

Duragrouch

I think a brompnot 6 speed clone trifold will do you well. Last I looked in the $700s, and free shipping if off amazon. Zizzo Liberte bifold is a good deal at $430, that's 39% less, but $270 cost delta which is not that much for significantly improved portability and carry (and you can buy handles and shoulder straps for a brompnot for easier carry.) I think only reason to buy a 20" bifold would be better utility, to carry larger payloads in cargo, or to avoid IGH gearing. But otherwise, the 349 wheel brompnot should be fine.

Pahana

You can't beat the Zizzo for value. I own 2 Bromptons, Dahon, Carryme and a Zizzo. The Zizzo is the best value for your money by far. I highly recommend it for a first time folding bike purchase. I put Maxxis DHR 2.3 inch tires on and can ride it off road almost any where. You can not do that with most folding bikes. Save your money and buy a Zizzo.

Duragrouch

I generally agree, Zizzo does look like a great value in a bifold. And for me, occasional folding, it would be great, although most of the difficulty in folding my bifold is taking off the panniers and trunk bag. But even then, it carries poorly. For someone doing frequent folding (like daily commuting) and carrying up stairs, I think the Brompton design is superior, though it's still a pretty penny for the genuine item; But for a clone now that the patents have long since expired, at 1/3 that price, I'd get a clone for commuting if I needed it. Especially if by forward-seated train, so I wouldn't need to leave the bike in the luggage rack where it could get stolen at a stop. With no train or bus, if I could carry the unfolded bike up stairs (easier, the forward hand can share the weight), or use an elevator, and could lean the bike in or outside my cubicle, a bifold or any other bike would be fine. For air travel, a 349 trifold is superior.

Any bike shop that stocks both 20" bifolds (any brand) and Bromptons, try carrying each one folded. Quick test. Then try riding.

RoadWearier

I looked for trifold bikes on Amazon and could find any. They DO have Bromptons (yay) but I can't find this 349 trifold. Anyone have a link? I would rather order from Amazon because of speed/return policy/trustworthy so if there are any decent Brompton copies I'd love to check one out!