melri

Hello all. First post here. I'm the happy owner of a Speed D7 that I absolutely love.

I was wondering what the smallest folding 20" wheeled folder would be? Everyone seems to tout the Brompton as having the smallest fold and the Tikit for having a quick fold, but these are 16 inchers. I haven't heard many options for a small folding 20" bike.

What's the most portable of 20 inchers?

Thanks

fietsbob

check out bike Friday's Silk.. Belt drive , disc Brakes . 406 0r 451 20" wheel option
[because of the disc Brake]

bhkyte

If your looking at packable then bike friday or a 20" birdie (modified), at a push.

If you are looking at compact folded then...

Diblaisi R22 ( see last picture)has very secure looking roller wheels to wheel it around and is the smallest fold I know off in 20".

It is also one of the simplest to fold and one of the quickest to fold.

Fastest to fold? non folding fork version of a diblasi R4 picture 4,5,6,7,8,9

I owned a 16" diblasi R4 and this is the fastest FOLDING bike ttbomk. 1-3 seconds, need to post a video sometime. I belive the same bike was also available in 20". The R4 is a long thin fold works brillantly on trains and small cars.

The later bike also had folding forks which made the package less long. However it also meant it was more likely to damage and more of a wide unweildly package that is less useful. Form not folding size is most important.

I feel a lot of casual riders would prefer the fold and ride of a diblasi, its not the best quality for the money, but secondhand......,or want a stress free life,

1) tricycle folded 20"
2)20" folding fork
3) from above.
4)R4 16"
5) comparative photo with a 20" downtube and a Giatex,
6) R4 unfolded
7) compaired to a Bromnie.
8) from side compirasion
9) much thinner than brommie. Means it fits small cars better ime
10 ) stock picture of R22

opps just realised thats my old Merc not a Brommie.

melri

Thank you for the pictures! Thats a pretty amazing fold on that R4. It looks like it doesn't have a standard seat tube. Would be pretty interesting to see how it folds.

Re: Bike Friday. Their website is pretty awful to navigate. Why can't they just have a page for each bike model with the Base, Select and *then* throw in all the fancy specs? From what I understand, BF folds are not good for multimodal except for the Tikit w/ hyperfold. That doesn't sound like a small fold to me, but I guess its good for packing into a suitcase. Though, I think anything could fit in a suitcase if you jumped on it hard enough.

smallwheeler

i think Bike Friday builds some of the best bikes on the planet. but, yes. the website sucks. it's the web equivalent of a xeroxed catalog held together with a paperclip. personally, i think its a conscious conceit. a sort of Paul Bunyon anti-aesthetic. think about it- the marker font logo.. the goofy powder coat colors.. picture big beardy no nonsense oregonians welding cromo tubes. "assthetics? No, ma'am. we don't know nothin' 'bout that 'round here. ya see, we're just too busy building the best darn bike you've ever ridden to worry about pretty trifles like 'information architecture' and what not."

melri

Speaking of the logo, anyone notice the emblem has two slogans in it?

"Performance that packs" "Bicycles that fly".

And it uses a different font than the actual logo... A graphic designer would be put to tears.

They should just make a 20" hyperfold Tikit. That would be a cool ride.

smallwheeler

sold on ebay back in july. here is the accompanying text:

"This is a rare Bike Friday Tikit that was made for one of the guys who work there. I was told it is the only one made with 20" wheels and disc brakes. The brakes and wheels really up the performance on the bike nicely and it is a fast and fun bike to ride. I was also told it has some of the nicest welds on any bike friday (looks good to me) The build is a little special too with Shimano slx hubs, derailer and shifter 9 speed, Gossamer cranks, carbon fiber bars and titanium saddle. I will include 2 stems I like a low bar so run it as shown but will also include a higher rise stem. "

it sold for only 1300.. i missed it. then i cried..

melri

That looks like a dream bike. Lucky guy whoever won it.

I found an article with the folding Diblasi trike. Not as good as a video but still pretty crazy to see the folded package.
https://www.atob.org.uk/folding-bikes/di-blasi-trike/

There's also another article comparing Bromptons to Birdys to BFs, blasting the latter two as poor.
https://www.atob.org.uk/folding-bikes...-folding-bike/

bhkyte

Honesty, disreguard that atob review its out of date, and riducously baised. Its some of the OOT brompton hype that you see from time to time.
Frankley its a joke.
Birdies are great bikes for instance.
Go test ride some bikes and read some up to date proper reviews.
The folding society seem a tad some objective for instance.

BassNotBass

My BF is my favorite bike (folder or non-folder) but I have to agree that their site is one of the worst in the modern world from a navigation standpoint and redirects the user to more expensive models. Just try to find the page for their $995 Pocket companion... it's difficult to find unless you know exactly what you're looking for.

https://www.bikefriday.com/bicycles/touring/1366

smallwheeler

however, i would like to thank them for not having the basic business sense to add a paypal button. that alone has no doubt saved me hundreds...

BassNotBass

I'm rather dismayed that they don't have Twitter, Facebook or ****** links so that I can let people know that I checked out their site.

sunburst

agree with you about my BF being one of my favorite (even though I've only lived with it a couple of weeks). I've got a diverse collection of bikes hanging up in my garage as competition, but the NWT has really surprised me.

but it would be nice if they answered their customer support messages. I may have to join their forum. anybody know where they hide the serial # for starters. It's not on the BB.

smallwheeler

do you not google? the serial number on your 16 + year old bike friday is on the rear dropout...

melri

There is actually a Tweet link at the bottom of most of the pages that lets you share them on Twitter.

sunburst

~16 years makes it one of the newest bikes in my herd. and what a low serial # in your photo (thx for the location). they only need to use 4 digits? what an exclusive club I've joined!

smallwheeler

i have a second bike friday that is a diamond frame like yours (we should officially call the old diamond frame bikes "bike friday classic") that has serial number F415! i believe your bike will have the "F" designation too...

melri

Okay lets try to steer this thread back on topic. How small is this bike when folded? Smaller than my Speed D7?

ORI SURPAZ AR18
https://www.oribikes.com/ori/products...0&cID=1&Key=34

brakemeister

nice bike but MUCH bigger fold, plus you would have to take the front wheel out as well

bhkyte

The front wheel quick releases are part of the fold, but stays attached to the fork (zoom in on black lever section on fork).
So basically it unfolds same as a mezzo.

Not sure if larger fold, its difficult to measure.
Mezzo,and birdie fold is a bit a parallelagram,rather than a squarer package like a dahon.
Ori is a very compact bike to say it has no folding main section.

smallwheeler

the dahon has a neater fold, but the Ori isnt that much bigger. also, the front wheel isn't removed, it folds.

BassNotBass

I was only kidding. BTW, I'm eating a big bowl of CountChocula and deciding how to rearrange my sock drawer. Just thought I'd keep everyone abreast of the important going's-on in my world.

smallwheeler

then that would make you Count Sockula:

melri

Here's another interesting one:

https://www.bernds.de/folding-bike.html

It doesn't fold very small, but the foldable seat tube is an interesting idea. Putting one on a Dahon might help with constantly having to adjust the seat height all the time. Too bad its a little too small at 29.8 mm, but maybe a sleeve could make it fit.

bhkyte

Thinking about the question of folded size, the giant halfway, might be the smallest 20" fold in half folder due to the mono frame and fork.