FLYBYU

I was wondering if anyone has one of these that they can comment on. I am 6' tall and 250lbs, this bike is apparently good for 6' and 260lbs. I like that it is a steel frame, lightweight at 25lbs and I like the component spec on it. Seems like it should be more popular than it is, I haven't been able to find any reviews online. Mostly looking for something that folds small, I can throw it in the trunk of my car when on trips or when I go to the city. Not touring or putting major miles on it, but I want something enjoyable to ride as well. I am most worried about the size and 16" wheels. I bought a Dahon Piccolo online once and it was far to small to comfortably ride, also the handle bar post constantly came loose on me. I rode it a couple of times and then sold it. Hopefully this bike is more solid.

Ron Damon

I don't know anything about said bike, but I ride a 16"er with similar geometry, an FnHon Gust 16". I would not recommend the Gust 16" to anyone over 5'9" (~175cm). I say this with no profit motive.

jdogg111

Go to the origami website, there's a little icon there where you'll talk directly to the owner , he'll more than happily answer and address any concerns you may have. Looks like a great bike for the money, and you can always get a longer seat post and riser, bmx style handlebars to make it fit.
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Pinigis 

The tallest Lotus rider that I know of is 6’3” (I don’t know his weight)

FLYBYU

Really? That is reassuring. I believe it is a different frame than the Fnhon Ron mentioned, as that has a far lower weight limit as well.

Pinigis 

Yes, although it looks similar, it is a different frame

Ron Damon

You've said this before, but characteristically have been evasive and stingy with verifiable details. How exactly, in terms of geometry and ability to fit taller and heavier folk, is it different?

My wager is that your don't actually know for certain how and whether it's different from an FnHon Gust 16". Or you are purposefully avoiding sharing the info, fearing scrutiny or perhaps even being caught in a fib that it is different in basic geometry from a Gust 16".

Without actual geometry measurements -- lengths and angles -- you are not providing any verifiable, transparent, actionable information. Angles, lengths, Pinigis.

SwingNinja

Lol. I was just looking at this bike. It's steel, but isn't it supposed to be chromoly steel (at least that's the one I saw on Walmart website)? So, it's quite durable. My chromoly bike has a very similar profile, but it's not the Lotus nor Fnhon. The biggest hassle is actually the seatpost. It keeps sliding down after few bumps and potholes on the road because I put too much weight on it. So, I have to keep readjusting it from time to time.

Pinigis 

it is chromoly steel. We don’t have any issues the seatpost at all.

Ron Damon

A shim could be the solution to your problem. Or a seatpost and/seatpost clamp of the correct diameter.

Duragrouch

Seatpost shim: If you have a choice, buy one that is longer versus shorter, it spreads the bending load over a longer tube distance, *unless it interferes with folding, on that frame design it might*. On my steel frame, bare metal on the inside of the seat tube, I put some aluminum antiseize between the shim and the tube to both prevent corrosion and the two welding together, but I'm very careful to not have any of that on the inside of the shim, there you need maximum friction, plus usually a hard clamping force. But if still sliding, consider using friction paste there on the inside diameter of the shim, that is common practice for carbon-fiber seatposts to minimize clamping force that would break the seatpost. However on a folding frame, that may get too messy.

Ron Damon

If the seatpost clamp and seatpost are of the right diameter, you can have a lubricant on the seatpost/seat tube interface and it won't slip. I know this from practical experience.

splithub

Shorter seat tube, longer fork steerer to accomodate that *cough* stem, smaller gusset triangle at rear fork support, no front derailleur mount. Anything more? When i measured as good as possible lengths and angles, after calculating out pincushion distortion with the available pics, i found no diffs. I'm not thankful enough sometimes that i have to pay little to no import fees for the asian bike stuff...

Edit: different fork

Duragrouch

Good to know. I haven't had problems with slipping on my Speed frame and seatpost with the later aluminum shim (not the early plastic shim). Plus the seatpost is not smooth-drawn tubing but looks like light sandblasted finish. At first it was slipping a bit, wasn't tight enough, but just a touch of antiseize between the clamp lever external cam surface and the tiny piece of copper sheet it pushes on, made all the difference in reduced lever force for a better clamp. Also a good idea for same spot on my handlebar clamp at top of handlepost. I also put a sharpie line on the seatpost at the top of the clamp collar, to see if it moves; My post doesn't have height marks.

Ron Damon

That's right. The seatpost should be micro ribbed rather than smooth.

Duragrouch

Careful... this is a family forum.

I think I may have seen seatposts that way, not sure. But annular ribs (now I'm doing it) are grooves in the wrong direction in terms of bending stress. Possibly OK if the material is not "notch sensitive". If I recall, I think my old road bike seatpost may have been lathe-turned on the outside, but with a high and level top tube (I'm a retro grouch on that), the seatpost was short and thus less bending moment on it. With this folder having an ultra-extra-long seatpost, I think I'm glad it has a random fine blasted finish.

The inside of the seatpost at top, IIRC, has annular grooves on the inside, I think it's machined there post-welding, for a proper seatpost fit; That may have contributed to past failure there in the direction of the grooves, on a previous frame. A past structural part I designed that saw a lot of bending stress, regular tubing didn't hold up in fatigue, I engineered a swaging process, outside and inside diameters were swaged smooth with an outer die and ball-sizer, so precise size, smooth finish, and work hardened with residual compressive stresses, and fatigue life went through the roof; a little more tooling cost allowed use of much cheaper raw material (as-welded tubing versus drawn-over-mandrel).

I wonder about those Bike Fridays with skinny long steel seatposts (way more slender than my 33.9(?)mm aluminum, to use standard seatposts at the top, which allows options such as a Thudbuster, but man that tubing looks stressed in bending. It may give a bit better ride with that flex. Same for their handlebar posts that allow a standard upper stem, but they sure look more flexy than good, forged, tapered handleposts on Dahons and others.

I'm up too late. Going to bed.

Pinigis 

there is an old trick that actually does work very well. If your seat post tube has a shim in it what you can do is cut a piece of a soda can and put it between the shim and the seat post tube to take a tiny bit of space. This often is enough to improve the group of the clamp to hold the seat in place. Will cost you nothing and certainly worth a try.

john m flores 

The seatposts on my Bike Fridays feel as solid as the oversized aluminum one on my Zizzo Liberte - never a creak or a slide - while still maintaining the magical smooth riding quality of steel.

Same with the handlebar post. I sprinted through downtown the other day on my Pocket Rocket, out of the saddle and pulling on the bars in order to get on top of the big ring and catch up to and draft behind the cars ahead of me doing 25-30mph. The bars didn't squeak at all, nor did I notice any power-sapping flex. The joining mechanism is less convenient for multi-modal transport, but it's solid.

Ron Damon

On my FnHon Gust 16", I use a 58cm length Litepro A61 seatpost. At 5'7" (170cm) in height, I ride the seatpost between the 0 and 1 insertion mark in the seat tube. This - close to minimum insertion -- is my preferred, ideal seat height and seatpost insertion level for my modest height.



Now, as you've correctly pointed out, the seat tube on the Lotus is shorter, meaning that I would need a longer seatpost in order to account for the reduced insertion afforded by this shorter seat tube. This, at my height of only 170cm!



If, as your photographic sleuthing suggests, the geometry of the Lotus and Gust 16" are essentially identical, then it stands to reason that the former is even less capable of accommodating taller riders due to the shorter seat tube and the need for much taller seatposts to provide minimum insertion. I am really struggling to see how the Lotus with its dwarf seat tube can accommodate people as tall as 6'3" safely, let alone comfortably.

But, at least we got sage, professional guidance on how to hack a shim from a drink can, so we should be thankful for that.
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Duragrouch

I knew about the aluminum can trick, but on another thread on this exact subject, someone suggested using a rimmed can, as the rim on top will keep the shim from falling into the seat tube, which I thought was brilliant. The rim on beverage cans is rebated, won't work. Most rimmed cans I see are steel so would rust, ideally this would be with a rimmed aluminum can, unless you have the skill to fold a rim onto a flat side section of can, probably not too hard with that soft aluminum.

splithub

I have this with all of my bikes, because it never fits tight enough to get along with normal force on the clamp. The bigger the can, the thicker the material is, for example "Faxe" beer, that comes in 1L cans, has around 0.25mm, Red Bull 0.25L 0.13mm. I always have it between frame and sleeve, so it will not fall off or into. If there is no sleeve, you rotate the sheet cutout 90° and flip it around against its before shaping, then it will stay in place.

SwingNinja

I looked into this before, but for a different reason. I think this is more of basic physics related with force and friction. I saw your threaded seatpost photos. I think that's what I need.

Ron Damon

You'll want lube in there, as my pic shows, to mitigate and ****** wearing down the groves when moving the seatpost up and down.

The word blocked by the system is the verb to r3tard.

SwingNinja

So, I am probably just going to have to readjust my original seatpost from time to time. Buying a new threaded seatpost and lubricating it constantly doesn't sound like a big improvement.

Ron Damon

Who said it needs to be lubricated constantly?