Still Pedaling

I love my folding bike, but when it comes to stability riding with one hand, it falls short. I'm sure over time it will become second nature -- I hope. My concern is regarding mounting a water bottle cage on the bike, or just continue carry a bottle in my bag attached to the rear carrier. I'm worried that lifting a water bottle to drink I might lose control of the bike. Practice I guess. Do you guys carry your water in a cage or do what I do and leave it in the rear bag and stop each time you want to drink. I have never had a problem with this on my MB or with my past road bike. I guess being a smaller bike with a narrower handlebar accounts for this.

Cheers
Wayne

aadhils

I got a Brompton last week. Yes it was very twitch at first but now I'm very comfortable and quite like it. I bought an adaptor that lets me mount the water bottle to my handle bars. With the aid of a zip tie, the water bottle cage is quite stable. I'm actually loving the bike more than I anticipated given the reviews I read prior to purchasing it

1nterceptor

My Brompton has 16in. wheels and is a bit twitchy riding with one hand.
I normally wear a jersey with back pockets and I keep a waterbottle
in one of them. I don't have any problems pulling out the bottle, taking
a sip then placing the bottle back in the pocket while in motion.

HGR3inOK

Generally speaking, bicycle wheels are gyroscopes, so smaller wheels usually equals less gyroscopic staility.

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

cplager

First, the radius of the wheel doesn't matter as much as you think. A smaller wheel spins faster than a large one at a given speed (mass of the wheel is more important and many folders have heavier wheels/tires than 700c racing wheels). Second,, angular momentum isn't nearly as big a factor (particularly when riding slowly) - I've ridden a bike where you could effectively set the angular momentum to 0 and it was not noticeably harder to ride.

It is the steering geometry of folders that make them feel twitchy.

bhkyte

As far as I know this is very outdated theory. Its been discredited by bike being stable even with no spinning wheels or counter direction of travel gyros powered by the cranks, on experimental bikes looking in to this phemonia. . It gets mentioned a lot but AFAIK the smaller gyroscopic nature of smaller wheels is an urban myth.

The lack of stability is due (again) afaik due to frame geometry of limited wheel base and tall stems with little forward reach.

To illustrate 20" bmx are very stable no handed etc.

I really dislike the handling of a standard bromton, I feel it wobbles about and fits average sized men badly.
However I have a brompton with bullbars that has the same set up as a road race bike for reach etc.
This bike handles very well out of the saddle , and no handed its ok.

You will get used to the difference in handling and returning to a full size bike will feel sluggish and poor to respond after a while. No hands may always be a tad difficult however

You should be ok to drink from water bottle in reason conditions after more acostomed to bike.

Still Pedaling

I was wondering if the instability had something to do with the narrower handlebars on the FB as compared to my MB. I have no problem at all with the MB. Like with many things, practice over time makes things a lot easier.

bhkyte

I find changing to drops improve handling on folders. I have done simular mods now on 5 folders and found a massive difference. 2 mezzo, brommie, downtube, space genie. See the brompton with dahon androes stem thread for some details.
16 and 20" wheeled bikes can handle well and fold compact with drops or bullbars. It may reguire an extra quick release on the stem or use of wide tt bar.

fietsbob

front loading works for my Brompton .. Their bag support ; and my Bike Friday.. a pannier rack and 2 small bags,

Brompton's touring bag has 2 back pockets, perfect to put a bottle in ..

kamtsa

I always stop to drink. What's the rush?

jur

Definitely this comes with practice. At first practice taking a hand off, WITHOUT pedalling. Then move to take the bottle out, and also put it back in of course. Add drinking practice, and when all happens no problem, add pedalling to the exercise.

It all helps if you do NOT lean on the handlebar at all during this, just rest the hand lightly.

It helps a lot to use a Camelbak bottle which allows drinking without tilting the head back.

Still Pedaling

Generally speaking -- I agree. I got used to the idea of drinking on the fly with my MB and past RB. The FB presents a problem when removing a hand off the bars. Its not as stable as my others steads. Right now I carry my bottle in the trunk, so to speak, and I think I will continue with this method for the mean time. Here in AZ one has to drink quite frequently. You don't want to get dehydrated, and one can get dehydrated here in a hurry if you're not careful. Because its a dry heat, you don't notice the heat as much as when the humidity is high like in other parts of the country. You can get seriously dehydrated without realizing it because of the high temps and low humidity. Heat stroke can then set in, and I'm not new to that believe me. So I make a point of drinking water along the ride often. The last thing any rider wants here is to suffer from the heat. Feeling dizzy can also set in quickly. Not a good scenario while riding in traffic.

wilfried

This is pretty much my experience. A Brompton is my only bike. When I ride a friend's road bike, I find I appreciate the Brompton's nimbleness. It's much quicker to maneuver, and quicker to accelerate too. The smaller size also means it fits in tighter spaces. Riding no handed is pretty much out of the question though. One handed isn't much of a problem, but two handed is definitely more steady.

BassNotBass

One aspect often overlooked when discussing wheel size and gyroscopic effect is that a smaller bicycle wheel must spin faster than a larger one given the same road speed.

cplager

If I had only thought to mention that.

Oh wait. I did....

fietsbob

Wheel Mass is less, but that's a Good Thing

rodar y rodar

I agree too, FB. If somebody else wants to stop to drink, that`s fine, and I often do it myself. Not having the option to take a quick sip while pedalling would suck for me.

My take on your original question is that it does get easier to multitask on my folder ("folder" being a very general term, since there`s a huge span involved), but still hasn`t gotten as easy as on "other" bikes. There`s definitely been progress along those lines as I got used to the bike, and rolling with one hand for a few seconds for a drink is always possible, should be for you too, with a bit more practice and getting accustomed. Although... even after riding only my folder for several days at a time, I still weave when looking over my shoulder, still fumble with the bottle basket (partly because of the stupid position it`s in), fishing anything out of my front bag and employing it (granola bar, camera, etc) is only for good road/traffic conditions and within a certain speed range, and if conditions aren`t completely perfect, I`d never think of removing both hands to zip my jacket or press the backlight button on my watch. None of those present any problem at all on my touring bike, and much reduced problems on my road bike, my recumbent, or our tandem.

smallwheeler

hmm.. whats going on in this thread.. oh, pfffffttttt...

i might get back to you with a comment or two on this topic after i complete my laps, this lovely cup of sumatran french roast, and finish reading this article about how the NSA is reading all of our forum posts...

CameraMan

That's my feeling as well :
Brompton S is twitchy - the ergon grips help a bit
Moulton TSR30 is very stable
Ritchey Break Away cross - 700c yet I feel scared going downhill on this one

Still Pedaling

LOVE that picture! That must be from the days of the "Six Day Races".

rodar y rodar

Viva Cantinflas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMeO5JPxvf4

Still Pedaling

Loved it. Can you imagine actually trying to do that. A very short ride

BassNotBass

Wait a second... how did you do that?

Alec E

My Brompton S2L was the first and last bike on which I could ride hands-free for more than a split second. There were several things about that bicycle that bugged me, to the point that I sold it, but stability was not an issue, ever.

If the inability to make a sharp turn, or to accelerate rapidly after a stop, constitute "stability," then I'll do without.