Monday, February 27, 2006

March Origami ride

Further details about the March Origami ride from Stratford on Avon on March 11th are here.

Oxford Students

The Oxford Student notes that students' bikes are often targeted by 'professional' bike thieves, rather than opportunists. Interestingly, a group of London thieves were arrested in Oxford while targetting folding bikes in May 2004. Perhaps another reason to bring your folding bike inside, rather than relying on a lock.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Trade Launch of Swivel-Head

The new Swivel-Head, manufactured by Ming Cycle, and designed by Mark Sanders, is due to be released at the Taipei International Cycle Show on 8-12 March. There will be several models of this interesting new folder on display, with the unique frame design and a compact fold in 12 seconds without any dismantling and without tools, despite the use of either 700C or 26 inch wheels. The photographs below show the bike unfolded and folded. We understand that it is likely to be 6 -12 months before we may see any here in the UK.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Southern Trains relents…a bit

Thanks to the CTC e-news we can report "Following pressure by CTC and others over its strict policing of a peak time ban on bikes, Southern Trains has relented – slightly. It had been insisting that passengers with folding bikes, which are allowed on its trains during peak hours, fold their machines before walking down platforms. Southern has decided to now allow folders to be wheeled down platforms. We hope that this outbreak of common sense is catching and that the company reviews its entire policy on the carriage of bikes."

Modern Records Cycle Archives at UOW

The Folding Society has strong links with the University of Warwick, but due to the Modern Records Office being closed on Saturdays we have not been able to include a visit during our Origami rides that start from Meriden close by. The following appeal was listed in the latest CTC e-newsletter:
"Picture this
We are working hard to preserve CTC’s history, especially with our upcoming move, and with this in mind many of our historic photographs have been sent to the Modern Records Archive at Warwick University. The Archive team are looking for a volunteer to place the photos in special polyester sleeves. If you can help, please email Monica Ory, M.A.Ory@warwick.ac.uk."

Further information about the Records Office can be found on the UOW website MRC.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

February Origami Update

Two reports have been added plus photographs.
It has been pointed out that 20% of the riders were on Airnimals. As you are now a growing group amongst us, we ask you to consider organising a themed "Rhino" ride. I look forward to cycling with a bigger "herd".


The ride on Saturday 11th was certainly a first for me, as there were 10 regular members and a record 9 first time riders, a total of 19. An excellent number for a cold February Origami ride. Read the report.
The next ride will be on the 11th March starting from Stratford Upon Avon at 10.30. See the Origami Ride web page for more details.

CLOU - a new folder from Austria

The CLOU is a new folder of unusual appearance. It would appear to be intended primarily as a short-distance mixed-mode commuting machine - the frame and wheels do not look suited to longer rides. For more information see the web site http://www.clou.at.



Saturday, February 11, 2006

More 'Special Interest Group' (SIG) pages?

Support of the SIG pages by members/owners has been poor in the past (in terms of submitting material - we don't have statistics to show how much they may have been read). Some of the SIGs may be discontinued as a result, but others could be started, if there is support. One owner has suggested an Airframe SIG - please let us know your thoughts on this, and if there is enough interest, then we will start one. Please send comments on SIGs in general to sigs@foldsoc.org.uk, and anything relating to the Airframe SIG suggestion to airframesig@foldsoc.org.uk.

Wheel options on the Airnimal Joey

There have been a number of developments in the Airnimal Joey range. The Joey Sport with 8-speed derailleur and the ISO 520 (24 inch) wheel is still offered and popular at £695. Three new models are being added though, and these use the 507 wheel, confusing also known as a 24 inch wheel. The new models are:
Joey Commute - 8 speed Nexus hub gear £795
Joey Explore - 3x8 Dual Drive £899
Joey Expore Elite - 14-speed Rohloffhub gear £1495
The 507 wheel generally gives a bigger 'air pocket', and some good 'off road' tyres, but also Schwalbe Marathon and a wide range of other road or slick tyres.

100Km rides on folders in 2006

I plan to do some more 100Km rides on folders in 2006. I'll report briefly on the rides, mainly from the point of view of using a folder, though I don't expect to use as many different ones this year as in the past - because I've sold many of the machines I had, and don't expect to have anything new to test. The Airnimal Chameleon will be the main bike used. A few notes on the first of the rides, the Snowdrop Express from Hartlebury on 4th February, are now available here.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Airnimal news - tyres, hub gears, and an update for our SIG

The high-performance Schwalbe Stelvio tyre is now available in the 24 inch (520) size to fit the Airnimal Chameleon and Joey.

The Black Rhino is now equipped with the 14-speed Rohoff hub gear, as is the Explore model of the Joey. The Joey can also be obtained with either the original 8-speed derailleur system, or with the Shimano Nexus 8-speed hub gears.

We have refreshed our Airnimal Special Interest Group section of the web pages. If you have any new, reports etc on Airnimals, please contact us - we would particularly like to hear more from owners about the Joey and Rhino.

For more information about the Airnimal range, please see their web site.

SIG...Revival

The last keys are being put in place with special interest groups to transfer the work from Mike to the other members in the team. We just need your help to turn the keys and send the reports/information/comments to allow us to keep the many interested folder enthusiast around the world informed of your thoughts.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Cycling by train

The leaflet on taking a bike on a train has been updated for 2006, and can be downloaded from Here. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/cyclists.htm As before, it is sponsored by Brompton. Of course, folders (when folded and bagged) still qualify as normal luggage, and are not restricted. Thanks to BikeBiz for the information.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

1965 Racing a Moulton

Friday, February 03, 2006

Special Interest Group pages

When we moved the Folding Society web pages to the new site some months ago, the Birdy and Bike Friday 'Special Interest Group' sections were not moved, as parts of them were located in an entirely different place, and the revisions required to the links on these pages were quite extensive. In fact, both these sections are terribly out of date, due to lack of any support (ie material submitted by members or the companies). Anyway, the Birdy section has now made its way to the new site, though it is quite likely that there are still some broken links. Please let us know if you find any broken links, and better still, please let us have some more up to date information to put in this and other sections of the web pages. You can contact us at info@foldsoc.org.uk.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

More Faltrad

We missed out a couple of German folding bikes from our recent piece.

The Foldingstar is a new one for us (thanks to Chop for the link), an interesting big wheeled MTB. The website is for one of several bike shops in Europe specialising in folding bikes.

Radnabel has been producing long-wheelbase, small-wheeled, dual-suspension practical recumbent bikes for several years. A folding version won the Folding Recumbent design contest at SPEZI 2003.