March Origami Ride Update

10th March Long Eaton - Nutbrook Trail - Please note the start point has moved to the centre of Long Eaton.

Sunday ride is now the 25th March starting from Kenilworth

Full details here

Bicycle Association

Bikebiz report that Mark Bickerton (of folding bike fame) is now a member of the Bicycle Association Council.

By Bending Bike

Not strictly news but interesting travel stories to Brisbane, Beijing and Berlin from a few years ago. The author's titles can't really be improved, for alliteration aficionados anyway.

Birmingham Story Aperitif

Birmingham England has a long engineering history and was one of the major cycle manufacturing centres in the world for many decades. The Birmingham Stories website has a little snippet on the BSA 'Paratrooper' folding bicycles (that is not entirely accurate).

RideTHISBike interview

RideTHISBike has interviewed Josef Cadek, designer of the Locust, a folding bike that has never been ridden or even constructed as yet, alhough it has had quite a bit of publicity. The interview can be read here

Avon Valley Cyclery web site problems

Avon Valley Cyclery is probably the biggest specialist supplier of folding bikes in the UK. If you have had problems accessing their web sites recently - DON'T PANIC! Apparently they have had some problems with their web site provider - the foldingbikes.co.uk site is now accessible again, although the bikeshop.uk.com is still to be sorted. I'm assured that the shop itself has no problems, and is still going strong!

Life's a Breeze

GadgetLab has written a mixed review of Breezer's Zag8 folding bike.

Fold in Time

Time Magazine are running an article about folding bikes by Lisa McLaughlin LINK HERE

The opening photo features a Bromton.

Folder popularity

As an infrequent visitor to London I was rather surprised when waiting at Euston for a train home yesterday to see the mix of folders being used by rail travellers. In the past Bromptons were easily the most numerous - in fact other makes were quite rare. This time, though, the Dahons outnumbered the Bromptons, and included a couple of the 26 inch-wheeled variety.

Folding BikeBiz

Statistics regarding bicycle sales can be a little difficult to obtain but BikeBiz have an article about Dahon's performance last year that might interest some enthusiasts.

Slings and Arrows

Dirtrag (a worthwhile USA MTB mag) has a short item on a short visit to the Slingshot bicycle headquarters. Their interesting frame suspension has been around for 25 years, with the folding version available for perhaps a decade (fitting into a suitcase for flights). The author didn't actually ride a Slingshot during his visit but if he had, he'd have found the Slingshot an intriguing bike, certainly flexible but undeniably fast.

Alternative front hub for a Brompton?

We received the following email from Tal Katzir, and since it may be of interest to some Brompton (and possibly other folder) owners, we are posting his message here. The Folding Society isn't involved itself, so any queries etc should be sent to Tal.

"I was wondering if this would be on interest to you, to publish in your news section, or something.

My Brompton has a standard front hub, and I'm interested in new, a better than standard, hub.

I've got a quote from Phil Wood (one of the best, if not THE best) to specially produce a front hub that would fit the standard Brompton fork and rim.

The hub would be 74mm OLD (Over-Locknut-Dimension, should fit the Moulton NS as well?) 28 holes (standard Brompton 349 rims), and sealed cartridge bearings.

It comes with a lifetime warranty on hub shell and axle.

This would be the last front hub the buyer would ever buy for their bike!

The quote is 140 USD per hub, plus a charge of 250 USD for the programming/setup. This means each hub would cost:
$140 + ($250 / NumberOfBuyers)

For me, $390 (to be the lone buyer) is a bit expensive, but am willing to pay a lower price even with just a few other buyers.

If anyone would be interested in sharing the cost (no profit for me), please contact me at talkat@hotmail.com."
[The picture below shows how the hub may appear - it is not a photograph of the actual proposed hub.]

A Date for your Diary - Macride 2007 - Sunday 9th September

Four Folding Society members took part in last year's 50 mile Macride on their Trices. Starting from Stratford upon Avon, there will be a choice of 3 route lengths this year. Here are the details:

The MacRide 2007 website is now live at www.macride.org.uk and we are taking entries for Sunday 9 September 2007

All the details are on the website, with posters and entry forms to download.

Do please help us to raise even more this year for Macmillan Cancer Support - all the money is spent within the Warwickshire & Coventry area - and don't forget that through the generosity of our sponsors, supporters and volunteers our costs are minimal (less than £200 in 2006) - that means that over 95% of the entry fees and 100% of sponsorship and donations go to Macmillan.

We are running the popular 25 and 50 miles routes again, but this year, by popular demand, we have added a third distance option for a "metric century" - that's 100Km or about 63 miles. By offering this distance we are hoping to attract an even bigger field of riders, especially club cyclists and Audax riders - and anyone who likes a bigger challenge!

.... and please note : with the increase in rider numbers (and hopefully even more this year!) we have out-grown the start venue and will be starting MacRide 2007 from the Stratford Park & Ride (by arrangement with Warwickshire County Council & Johnson's Coaches, the operator) - the cycling routes will still be on quiet roads, using the off-carriageway cycle-paths to and from the start.

Ride the MacRide - tell your friends, family and work-colleagues - and help make the event even more successful.

Hot news : for 2007 we are hoping to offer a MacRide cycling jersey for sale to riders (that's a proper Coolmax jersey with back pockets etc, not a T-shirt) - we need just one or two more sponsors to make it work financially, if you can help (or perhaps your employer would like a logo on the jersey) then please let us know.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Rob & the MacRide Team

Cannondale Jacknife Folding Concept Bike with Hydraulic Drive

I found this bike on the "Tree hugger" Website. If you follow the posts you will find comments from one of the designers, Phillipe. Searching further, I have found more information about cycle hydraulic drive development on Wikipedia.

Dahon Mu Review

Quote "The eight-speed Mu SL is no substitute for a high-end road bike, but between its light weight (20 pounds) and 15-second folding time...... " I found this review of the Mu on Gadget Lab

The UK's most northerly folding bike?

You can read about Tom Morton's Downtube IX FS folder on his blog. He seems please with the Dwontube, as were we when we tried a similar example (you can read our test here).

February 10th Origami ride - Hagley

Details of the February Origami ride are here. Planned is a pleasant bimble through the Worcestershire countryside to the Severn Valley Railway station at Kidderminster. All welcome, even with non-folding bikes ;-) .