Folding Bikes

[danielgoldberg]

We have two young kids, and want to get a couple of folding bikes to take with us, put the kids in a seat on the back, and peddle around once we get to whatever port-o-call.

Any recommendations? Do's and don'ts?

We are advised that bikes with 20" wheels won't work for us becuase you shouldn't put kid seats on the backs of those. If that's true, it looks like we're limited to looking at full size bikes, which is less desireable for a few reasons (size, price, weight). Anyone have any experience or thoughts on that?

Thanks,

[camaraderie]

Get the wal-mart $59 specials and give em away when they start to rust.

[PBzeer]

I second Cam. That's what I do.

[Valiente]

Thirded. There are going to be bikes of varying quality wherever you go. Invest in a good bike repair and maintenance kit and include spare inner tubes and four or so decent 26" tires. Then get a REALLY GOOD pannier and child-seat set. Stow in various parts of the boat. Buy "beaters" for $20 when you ariive, clean 'em up and put them to work. Park on deck with a light dusting of WD40 while there. Take 'em back and forth in the tender.

When ready to leave, sell them to a local for $10, minus all the gear you put on. You'll be a local pal, but won't give yachties the rep of being a dupe.

Conversely, rent a bike or two and do the same thing.

Disadvantages:

You have to carry spares and stuff like racks and panniers and you have to spend a couple of hours rigging the bikes.

Advantages: You won't see the bikes you so laboriously chose rusting on deck, and becoming permanently "folded". Do not kid yourself: Unless you vacuum-pack your bikes partially dissembled and sprayed with anti-corrosive, AND stow them below, they WILL rust, unless they are all carbon fibre or something, then just the moving parts will rust.

Stowing racks, panniers bike spares and bike tools won't take up much space and can go anywhere. The racks, being aluminum, won't rust, and the panniers, having handles and frequently being waterproof, can be tender-ready shopping bags when not cycling.

You won't have bikes on the lifelines, hooking sheets and halyards.

You will support the local economies of the little places you visit.

The crappy or cheapo bikes you do rent or buy will not attract the attention of thieves, because they are likely "known" bikes.

You are not likely to go long distances anyway, and so can live with a three-speed ironyard on two wheels.

[danielgoldberg]

All good info. Two points/questions:

1. What about putting the child seats on the 20" bikes? Dangerous? Everyone does it? Don't worry because you always can have more kids?

2. We plan on keeping the boats home for the most part, and bring them with us when we take trips, which likely will be for a few weeks at a clip. I guess bikes can start to rust in that short period of time, but because we also plan to use them at home, we're thinking about getting decent bikes. From this advice, however, I'm toying with getting a cheapy from Wal-Mart to experiment with, and go from there.

Thanks all, as always.

[PBzeer]

For occasional use, a good coating of WD-40, or maybe SailKote on the chain and any exposed unpainted metal, should see you through. If you get a lot of spray coming on the boat, a tarp would help as well. That's what gets to them the quickest. Also, be sure to have some kind of pump for the tires.

[ccriders]

It is possible to put a child carrier onto a 20" wheeled bike, you just have to be creative and willing to bend a little metal. Most bike shops are reluctant to do this for liability reasons.
You can get a bike with an aluminum frame, rims, hubs, handlebars, stem seatpost brake levers and shift levers, stainless steel spokes and still have a rust bucket unless you spend $3,000 plus to get carbon/alunimnum/titanium derailluers and other parts. You can even get an aluminum or titanium chain, if you like.
As a practical approach, look for a bike with "Grip Shift" shift levers as they are almost completely plastic and only will suffer from salt or sand intrusion, but are mechanically simplcity itself to open, clean and lube. Beware of imitations, the "Grip Shift" rand is really much better than the Chinese knockoffs. Brake cables can be drawn stainless steel, but need to be covered with plastic lined cable housing over their entire run from lever to device (brake or derailleur) or exposed wire will rust. Normally this rust will not affect performance if exposed wire runs on plastic where it turns on the frame.
Dahon used to make a pretty good model called the mariner, and with modifications could be a pretty durable bike for the use you describe. However, you will enjoy a 26" wheeled bike much more that a foldable 20"er. Also, you no longer need to buy a mountain bike to get a 26" baloon tire bike. The industry has what they call a comfort bike, more than a cruiser, less that a mountain bike. Go to a good bike shop and talk to them, you will be surprised
John

[Freesail99]

My son for Christmas bought me an Aluminum cruiser style bike. It has 7 speeds and fairly wide tires and a wilder seat. The wilder seat is a very nice feature and the bike rides well. I think my 26 inch bike weights 24 pounds.

[xort]

west has a larger size folding bike vs the small tire folders most common for boating.

Why not put the folded bikes in a storage bag in the v-berth when under way so as to not get salt sprayed. Then pull them out when in port for use?

[danielgoldberg]

... decision in a long line of ones we end up regretting ( ), we bought the Dahon Jack bikes. We were able to get "last year's model," so we saved a few bucks. 26" wheels, a little more comfy, so we figured what the heck. It didn't seem to make sense to get any of the 20" models when you look at the numbers. The weight differential literally is 1.5 lbs. The difference in folded size is de minimus as well (a couple of inches overall). We're going to keep them home so we can use them more regularly as well (no chuckling), and then just take them to the boat when we're taking a trip that makes sense to have them.

The next bike question is whether to take them to Bermuda. A few plusses and minuses there.

Thanks again to everyone for all your advice, which of course we promptly ignored and likely will rue the day.