Positron400

Heya (and happy holidays/Merry Christmas to those who celebrate),

in a "recent" video from Ross Roca from the YT channel "path less pedaled", he highlighted "suicide" shifters mounted on the seattube instead of the downtube. Apparently these were commonplace for demountable bikes/frames.
I am quite curious if those can still be bought or are something I would have to find in a barn/yard sale? This sounds like a lovely thing for train travel and the like and I would love to build one of them up.

BR
P.

lasauge 

"Commonplace" is stretching things a bit, but there's no reason you can't have that kind of setup today. Just use a clamp-on mount with an appropriate diameter and you can place shifters wherever you wish, or have some brazed on for a more permanent and elegant solution.

seypat

I don't think I'd want one if you can't get off of it.

steelbikeguy

just to provide some context.. a pic of a Rene Herse demontable...


These were always pretty specialized, and Rene Herse was the only builder (that I've heard of) to make these.

While this is not a bad solution for cases where you have to pull the bike apart frequently, there are other options. One, of course, are the quick cable disconnects for folks using more conventions shifter locations. These would be used with either S&S frame couplers or a Ritchey "Break Away" frame decoupling fittings.

A different approach to quickly making a bike more transportable is the Rinko concept. It is a Japanese idea, and Jan Heine has helped popularize it in the USA. It is designed to make it easier to pull off the fork to make the bike smaller. Peter Weigle has built at least one bike for this purpose...


this is the flickr page.

Steve in Peoria

Positron400

thanks, I already have braze-on adapters on my randonneur - I would be more interested in a demountable frame to build up

nlerner

https://www.pristiwanicyclesstore.co...heck-frameset/

Positron400

Basically exactly what i was looking for (except for the price )

smontanaro 

Positron400 you might want to investigate Rinko options. Also, Ritchey Breakaway or S&S couplers work for a lot of people. Rinko will be cheaper than the other two though, as no actual frame modifications will be required.

Catnap 

Panasonic made demontable frames for many years, although they were hard to find outside of Japan. Yellow Jersey was importing them for a while but no longer. Used ones pop up on Yahoo Japan auctions and Mercari from time to time, usually around the $400 range.

Positron400

Interesting. i presume to use those marketplaces (yahoo/Mercari) one has to be somewhat proficient in japanese (which unfortunately, i am not)

tcs

Most Alex Moulton bikes, Bridgestone Moultons, Pashley APBs and TRSs and a few of the classic F-frames are demountable.

USAZorro

Papa Bilenky (in north Philadelphia) has done this sort of thing for yea... decades. Both with new bicycles that he builds, and with frames that people bring to him. Most often (at least from what I've seen) he uses couplers, rather than pivots.

Catnap 

I can’t read a word of Japanese and have been using them for years. Check out Buyee.com. They are owned by Yahoo and act as a middleman service to allow non-Japanese to purchase stuff from Yahoo Japan auctions, Mercari and others. Also, the Google Chrome browser (and probably others) have translator features that automatically render the pages in English for you.

polymorphself 

Look to the Japanese. These should be available from Cycles Grand Bois, Toei and possibly Panasonic.

philpeugeot 

I recall seeing one made by National (Panasonic) on yahoo.jp, but I can't seem to find it; must've sold. Basically looked like this:

I was surprised to see a production demountable, so some research led me to this link, which has some scant but pretty useful information. If you translate "National Demountable Unipack" into Japanese, you can pull up some ads for some very nice rando-style and touring bikes.

tcs

Long time ago - back when most of the folks on this forum were still in short pants - there was something called the Pingel Bike-Along Conversion. It was billed as 'make your bike collapsable' rather than 'make your bike demountable', and if that was true, it might explain why the kit didn't last on the market.

bikingshearer 

FWIW, the Ritchey Breakaway is the real deal. I have not ridden mine much (it is currently on indefinite loan to my brother-in-law), but the rides I have taken it on were just fine. It rides well. Not well for a travel/demountable bike, but well, period. No bad habits, no squirrelly stuff. (I'm 6'3" and 260#, so if it had noodly tendencies, I'd have found them.) It won't take big tires (I have Continental 4000 25mms on it, and it may or may not fits 28s), so if you want something bigger, it won't work for you. That aside, it's a very nice option.

I have never tried to take mine on a plane, but the case is a little bit over the airlines' upper limit before they start charging more stupid money than they already do to carry it. I have read from a number of folks that it has not been a problem, but it is something to be aware of. Also, it is a bit of a wrestling match to get it in the bag, but it can be done. Just don't expect the "ten minutes" the article says - this is not a commute bike - and be prepared to bring tools to build it bank up.