bhkyte

Like the Qr doulbe clamp on the threadless headset, thats got me thinking about possiblities on other bikes!!

dynaryder

I picked up one of these years ago for this purpose. Too heavy,too bulky,too much of a process to fold. Gave it to my Dad,he uses it around his farm and occasional trips into town where he puts it in his trunk. If you're looking for something you can store in a smaller space than a full size bike,or to throw in a trunk/truck bed,then these are fine. If you want something that folds compact and quickly,you'd do better with a proper folding bike.

AlanKHG

I live in the city with no car, so I'm thinking more the occasional trip on Amtrak trains with no baggage car as opposed to a daily commute. The fold would only be useful because you can only take a folding bike on those trains; I don't need a compact and quick fold so much as any fold, preferably at a low price since I'd only use it occasionally.

rickpaulos

to Alan in NYC.

Fender eyelets? Double eyelets on the rear dropouts. Single on the fork. No seat stay rack mounts. No lowrider mounts on the fork. Holes in the chain stay and seat stay bridges, front fork crown drilled out. So yes, racks and fenders will work with no problem.

yes, horizontal dropouts on the frame. yes, deep enough. I did a single freewheel on one of mine and it adjusts fine.

afaik, the frames are the same: fuji vs marlboro versions. I think the only difference is the decals. The frames are pretty light weight, made of cromo, tig welded. The original bikes are heavy due to some super heavy parts like the cast iron crank arms, thick cheap knobbies, steel post, steel stem, steel bars, steel ders, etc.

I paid about $90 for my first. Probably spent another $100 - $150 for a nice new single ring crank set, folding pedals, single freewheel, chain, brake levers, seat, cables, etc. Traded a brass squeeze horn for my second. $150 is reasonable if it's in perfect shape which is actually pretty common as lots of smokers got these bikes and never used them. I still see them for sale in the box, ie, the smokers never even opened the box. $150 would be a bit high if you plan on replacing many of the parts and need to buy them. Swaping with other bikes will cut the costs.

MTB trail use? not good. Most old school mountain bikes never rode well off road anyhow. This hinged frame rattles a bit, even on roads, and off road would drive me nuts. I use a full supension mtb for mtb trails. For bike paths, it's good. As with any mtb, changing the tires to smoother, lighter tires will greatly improve the ride.

Flown? yes. I felt lucky to get it home in 1 piece. That was the last time I few domestically with a bike. I used to fly bikes a lot when USCF/USAC/LAW/BikeCentenial had a "bikes fly free" deal with United. That's long gone. The airlines charge a whopping fee now. Each airline is different but $100 each way is average. The Fuji won't fit in a bike box as it's too wide when folded. I had to remove the front wheel, pedals, post, stem, bars and package it like a normal full size bike the the frame unfolded. TSA needs to wipe the insides for tnt testing but they seem clueless on how to reclose the boxes. One direction they put 1 piece of tape on the top of the box. On the return trip TSA ripped the staples out of the bottom of the box and didn't even tape it back together. When I was waiting for my baggage at the airport, I caught a glimpse of a side door open and my bike and completely smashed box came flying out and the door slammed shut. I gathered up ALL the parts (I had put the loose parts in plastic grocery bags, tied shut, put those in more bags tied to the frame.) I left them the box as a tip. If I do any similar flights, I'd probably just go to the local boxmart to buy a bike and leave it behind. That's often cheaper than shipping or flying a bike.

If you want to travel with a bike, there are better alternatives. Bike Friday fits in a large samsonite suitcase that doesn't look like a bike. if they don't know you have a bike, they won't charge you. TSA doesn't care and won't rat on you. One potential issue is if the bike goes missing, good luck filling a claim. They have limited coverage anyhow that won't cover high end bikes. Another travel bike is the Ritchey Breakaway road or cx bikes. Slick design for dismantling the frame to fit in a large suitcase. S&S couplers can be added to existing bikes or some custom frame builders offer that as an option. Not a cool as the Ritchey design but more popular. Depending on your destination, rentals may be available.

There are hundreds of small wheel folders that are better suited to train travel. Some fold up in seconds and most fold up in to a smaller overall size. Folders are far more popular in Japan and many European countries because of the trains. Dahon is the largest company and they offer a few dozen models. Strida folds in about 2 seconds, kind of like folding an umbrella. BTW, the fuji folds about as fast and easy as the best small wheel folders. I wonder if Amtrak would hassle you for bringing a full size folder on board.

Someone mentioned the threadless headset. Nope, it has a standard 1" threaded fork and headset. It does have a stem extender that the qr stem attaches to. One downside of stems on a threadless headset (I have that on my Ritchey Breakaway) is when you remove the stem, the fork and wheel want to fall off the bike. I added a bmx style seat post clamp to my headset stack to hold the ritchey fork in place when removing the stem for travel.

A last note on space. By just folding the pedals and turning the bars 90 degrees, the bike gets really skinny and fits in a narrow hallway without sticking out like any regular bike. Having visited NYC and heard of how small some NYC apartments can be, that can be an important consideration.

rick

rickpaulos

Flash!

Nashbar has one (or more) NOS frame without the fork. $99 & shipping.

Item # YF-MBO

DVC45

Great!
Buy one and configure it the way you want.

negril

I called Nashbar this morning about these frames. I have one of these bikes with faded paint and I'd love to get a new frame. There's a disclaimer on the site about the frames being blemished. I spoke to tech person John and he stated that most of them have scratches and chips in the paint. If you're looking for a folding frame go for it. If you plan to build an original Marlboro bike be careful.

pocky

Hi Rick,

I was probably the person you were thinking about who was talking about the quick-release threadless stem, and then bhkyte mentioned threadless headset. You are correct that the Marlboro has a standard 1" threaded fork and headset, but the "stem extender" that you refer to is not really a stem extender, but actually a "quill-to-threadless adapter", onto which fits the stock quick-release stem, which is essentially a single-bolt threadless stem with a single quick-release bolt in place of a normal stembolt. With this design, the adapter is essentially the same thing as a normal, firmly tightened quill stem, so the fork will not fall out or lose headset bearing adjustment when you slide the threadless stem off the top. The stock quill-to-threadless adapter is a bit narrower than 1 1/8" -- I think it may be 1" -- but newer 1" stems are hard to come by if it the stock adapter even is of that standard, so I replaced it with a 1" quill-to-1 1/8" threadless adaptor, and used a 1 1/8" adjustable stem with the stembolts replaced with QR bolts. See this photo of it removed:



and these photos of it attached:



The finished bike has a range of handlebar adjustments much better suited to my wife's short torso and arms than would have been possible with the stock stem:



And as a bonus, the alloy adapter and stem are much lighter and prettier than the stock steel ones.

smallwheeler

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marlboro-Fuj...item35c45ed722

pocky

Smallwheeler, $499 starting to $650 buy-it-now, plus $150 shipping = $649-$800, seems way too expensive -- unless you're looking at this purely as a collector's item and are having a hard time finding one new-in-box. The frames available at Nashbar are $99 and you could even pay a bike shop to put much nicer components on it and still complete the bike for considerably less than the extra $550-$701.

smallwheeler

nooo. i just posted that link to indicate that yet another one had popped up. the guy trying to sell that is clearly HIGH.

Philphine

i pulled mine out today to get to another bike and was thinking i'd like to keep it in my open bed pickup truck. anyone know of a bag or something cheap it would fit in to protect it from weather some?

pocky

I bought the Nashbar Bike Transport Bag: https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...1_10000_200440
It's basically just a giant messenger bag, and made of cloth, so it might not hold up to weather too well if you intend to leave it in there all the time. I suppose you could waterproof it with some durable water repellent spray.

The bag takes up little enough space when folded up that you can just strap it to the rear rack on the bike and ride away. Make sure to use a rear rack that doesn't interfere with the folding mechanism. I had perfect success with this one, with the two front mounts attached to either side of the seatpost/fold QR bolt, like this:

Philphine

thanks for the bag info. i have one of those seatpost racks on mine now (a pic i posted earlier in the thread showed different one), so it just pulls out with the seat



years back i used to keep one in my little 2 dr s10 blazer. folded and straped to the spare tire inside, so i lost very little cargo or passenger space. in an open bed truck i have a couple ways to lock it up, but no way to protect it from weather. it'd be nice to have sort of like an emergengy back up deal.

bergerandfries

I commuted from John Wayne Airport to Disneyland on one of these!

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...2#post15418912

mattveezy

Just almost finished mine. this thread was invaluable help

Ride it almost every day on a 50mile mixed-mode commute. it hangs out on busses, in subways, in rain and shine. Has a rear coaster brake to skid around - makes the inner child in me happy.

Just need to sand off the misc. metal parts and powdercoat it blue now.



currently rocking:
-- soma urban persuit handlebar with cane creek TT levers - original canti brakes.

Inverted the stem for a lower profile -- the bullhorns make the bike actually fit a 6'1 person.

-- odyssey pedals and straps
-- origin 8 crank and a shimano coaster hub
-- original front wheel but the back has been changed and some semi-slick tires

spent a lot of time and money on the project but i learned so much about myself and biking in the process

i think the finish is the only thing holding it back. you can make these look pretty good:

example:

mattveezy

aaand FINISHED

smallwheeler

looks awesome!

Pinigis 

Great job! Congratulations. I have one of these sitting in my shop, but just never have had the time to do anything with it. I am more motivated now.

mattveezy

It became surprisingly light - about as heavy as my 83 shogun 600 road racer. i imagine if it had some slicks it could be really quick.

BIG props to James at blackswift frame-making in LA. really was able to help me get this frame into working order

the bottom bracket is too short to add a bash guard, but thats pretty much the only edit I need to make at this point in time. I want to be sure the crank is protected when it gets folded up as the original V sticking out of the bottom of the frame was too short to protect anything

darukhan

Wow, that turned out great!

Regarding the bash guard, couldn't you add one that attaches to the crank arms instead of one that attaches to the bottom bracket?

Something like this....

mattveezy

--

mattveezy

will this be able to let me run my chainring on the outside of the spider?

When i tried to install something similar, it attached to the outside position and the chainring was too large to run inside my spider without hitting the frame

darukhan

ANY spider mounted chainring guard or bottom bracket mounted guard should NOT require that you move your chainring to the inside of the spider!

With all due respect, it's possible you either installed the guard wrong, or the guard did not come with the appropriate mounting hardware (extended bolts).

In other words, that Driveline guard (I posted pics of above) does come with the proper bolts and allows you to install it on the OUTSIDE of the chainring... and the chainring is stillin the same exact place it originally was located.. against the outside of the spider.

I have the same guard.... I just took this picture of it to illustrate how it's connected to the spider: Spider > Chainring > spacer > Guard

mattveezy

OK that would be the problem. I grabbed a guard from a parts bin and it did not have spacers or bolts

I'll try this guy out -- they come in silver too which would really add a polished look to the all-black hardware against the dark blue

Thanks