since6

Currently up for auction on Shopgoodwill.com is the ultimate Halloween bike. It is especially creepy if you think over the convolutions of concept mixed into the creation and means of purchase for this bicycle. Hard to tell if it has the original “Marlboro” head badge, but it is advertised for auction as a “Fuji 4130 Marlboro Folding Mountain Bike”.

From “The Folding Cyclist” website:

"This folding bike has a whole lot of irony attached to it. It was made by Fuji for a Marlboro cigarettes promotional campaign in 1996. It was touted as a limited-edition (not so limited since they were produced in the thousands) folding mountain bicycle and the name of the campaign was "Marlboro Unlimited" with the word "Unlimited" featured on the bike's headbadge decal. How you got the bicycle was you needed to redeem 2,200 "Marlboro Miles" and pay an additional $110.00. A smoker received 5 Marlboro Miles for each pack purchased so 440 packs would have to be consumed to earn enough miles. You could buy this bike, without the Marlboro stickers, from a Fuji dealer for $330.00. The promotion was fairly successful and it turns out that the non-Marlboro version of this bike, the "Fuji Folder", is relatively rarer than this "limited" edition.

To continute the irony, since you had to be a relatively heavy smoker to earn enough miles to get the bike, many who ordered the bike, perhaps with the good intention of changing their lifestyle, hardly if ever rode them and they regularly come up for sale in the used market in excellent condition. A reader of The Folding Cyclist recently reported that they bought one at an estate sale in pristine, still in the box condition for $110.00. The owner had died of lung cancer."

since6

When I first saw this what came to mind was Wiley Coyote ordering this folding mountain bike from Acme Inc., assembling it and then in hot pursuit of the Road Runner down a single track trail on a canyon cliff face. He is ready to grab the Road Runner when the folding mechanism, finally shakes apart and folds as he enters a switch back. We all know what happens next. Coyote sails into the great beyond before falling to the canyon floor miles below.

cudak888 

A basic MTB of the 1990's. Better that department store (for the most part), and about on the level of an entry-level bike shop bike at the time. Never understood the idea of a 26" folder over a small wheel bike (except for stuffing them in an already too-large car trunk if it fits), but I've seen more than a few still being used locally.

-Kurt

since6

Thanks cudak888, other than for riding after grandchildren on a playground/bike trail, I still shudder to think about riding through technical mountain bike trails on a folding bike. But then we all find adventure where we find it.

cudak888 

Think of it more as a great platform for a city hybrid. It'd be pretty interesting with North Roads and an IGH.

-Kurt