Folders abroad

Those who attend our Origami rides may have been wondering why John Isles and Cathy Colless have not been around recently. The reason is that they are touring South India - by folder of course! They are using a couple of Dahon Cadenzas (26 inch wheels), much modified, including the fitting of Rohloff 14-speed hub gears. You can find out more about the bikes and their travels at
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/southindia2008.

New Mezzo

BikeRadar.com has the first news of the Mezzo D10 with an aluminium monocoque frame, due in June.

Steve adds: Some clarification on the gearing - The D10 will have a 56T chainring and an 11-28T Sram Force cassette, giving a range of 32.1" - 81.8". It does not have a front mech, just a single chainring. The bike is due for release around June this year.

February 9th Origami ride

Our February 9th Origami ride will start at the Red Cone in Stourbridge. More details are here. All welcome !

Strida on flickr

Julian Kowalewski tells us that he has set set up a flickr group for Strida folding bikes. You will find it at http://flickr.com/groups/589956@N24/.
He is also thinking of arranging a get together in June in London - more information on this later.

Not a Folding Bike, a Folding Wheel

Duncan Fitzsimons has come up with a way of folding a large diameter bicycle wheel. Here are some photos and a video of a bicycle fitted with a folding wheel.

Scotland to Syria by bike and boat

BClocalnews.com has a story about Colin and Julie Angus' upcoming trip from Scotland to Syria using folding bikes, trailers and rowboats. Not the usual 'pie in the sky' dreams, they have a background of non-motorised travel. Colin has pedaled and rowed his way around the world and Julie joined him rowing across the Atlantic.

January Origami Ride

After several very wet days, we were remarkably lucky to have a lovely day for the Origami Ride on 12th January. Although a few regulars were missing, there were 15 of us at The Tearooms in Meriden for the start of the ride. The variety of bikes was less than normal, with an unusually large number of Moultons, several Bromptons, no less than 3 Airnimal Rhinos and just one Bike Friday. We set of generally northwards, and once we got onto the narrower lanes the roads were quite wet and sometimes muddy - at one stage it felt rather as though we were cycling along the bed of a stream! The outward journey was interrupted when Hazel Hanson suffered an exploded rear tube on her Brompton (again!). As we were a bit behind schedule, we left Dick and Hazel to carry out their repairs, with a map to help them get to the lunch stop. They rejoined us while we were enjoying drinks and food at The Admiral Nelson in Ansley, which proved to be an excellent choice for the lunch stop. Three of our group left us after lunch, as they were now nearer home, while the rest of us set out on the return ride, via a slightly different route. Meriden was reached without any further mishaps, but as the light was beginning to fail by then, the riders separated for their homeward journey quite soon. This was a most enjoyable ride, as usual, and our thanks go to leader Howard Easton (who also provided the photo) for a well-planned and well-lead ride. Next month's ride on 9th February will be from Stourbridge - please watch this space for more details nearer the time.

Visit to Spezi Show in April

Chop Rossiter tells us:
"In conjunction with Peter Eland of the cycle magazine Velo Vision plans are advancing for the proposed trip to the excellent Spezi Cycle Show in Germany, approx 26th -28th April 2008 (exact timings to be announced).
We would meet from outside Kings Cross, London and then travel in my Rock Band Tour Bus via Calais-Brussels-Aachen border-Koblenz-Mannheim-Germersheim (travel time 10-12 hours approx).
My bus has 14 bunks available all with 240v power, 3 lounges with media, kitchen and toilet
There is room in the luggage bays for bikes etc (most people are bringing folders); I will be bringing 3 or 4 folders, my Long-john, 2 BoB trailers.
We would park at a campsite nearby in order to connect to 220v and to use the toilets & showers.
Sleep on the bus saving the hassle of finding an hotel.
Then cycle to the show, any purchases could be brought back to the bus in the Long-john or trailers.
This is a unique opportunity to live the 'Rock' dream, meet fellow cycle nuts and enjoy a relaxed way to get you & your cycle to a great European Cycle Show.
Price will be in the region of £250 per person (final figure depends on confirmed bookings and expense costs).
Please visit the Velo Vision website and register your interest ASAP."

Unfortunately for me, I am a very bad traveller, especially by bus, so I won't be able to go, but if it were not for this I would be on for this.

RSS Feed of our News Page

Those of you who use RSS feeds as a convenient way of keeping informed about updates to web sites have probably already found out how you can do this with our main news page, but if you haven't, then specify the feed source as being http://foldsoc.blogspot.com. Some web browsers (such as Firefox) will allow you to set up a feed while actually viewing the page.

***GOOD NEWS FROM A TO B***

"Orlando Henshaw was born on Friday night at 10.30pm by emergency caesarian section. Mother and baby doing well. Baby weighed 7lb 11oz."
The Henshaws founded the Folding Society, and now run A to B Magazine. I am sure all our members wish David, Jane, Alexander and new addition Orlando well!

CYCLEFEAST 2008

Those of you who were fortunate enough to attend Cyclefeast at Berwick on Tweed in 2005 or 2006 will know what a superb event it is - visit http://www.cyclefeast.co.uk for more information if you weren't there.
After missing a year in 2007. the GOOD NEWS is that Cyclefeast is back for 2008!
Unfortunately (I think) there is BAD NEWS as well, at least for the majority of people visiting this site. Cyclefeast 2008 is for RECUMBENT TRICYCLES. Of course, recumbent tricycles can also be folders, and indeed over the last 3 years there has been a significant move by the manufacturers to make their tricumbents fold/separate. Nevertheless, that really makes them easier to transport by car - I can't imagine trying to do a train assisted commute by recumbent trike! (A tour is allegedly tolerable, though a fair amount of work required to get the trike into a small enough package to carry on a train). I think I should quote the organisers on the exact position:
"A few 2 wheeling recumbents are sneaking in to the event, but we want to get together as many recumbent trikes as possible. Just think of it as the, for example, "diversity of owners/users/personalities that participate in the annual London to Brighton mini car run". That's plenty of diverse folk all coming together for a memorable/magic experience and there is nothing to stop any other type of car joining in on the route, except that they'd feel a little 'odd' and most wish that they too were using the same vehicle.
We'll also have recumbent trikes to borrow too.
And finally if any cyclist riding whatever they want to, finds their own accommodation nearby and turns up each day to join in, THEY WILL BE WELCOMED."
I'm fortunate, I own a FOLDING recumbent trike. I hope to see those of you who own tricumbents at the event, whether they fold or not. If you are an enthusiast, but don't have a recumbent, I hope to see you on the rides.
BUT DON'T GIVE UP HOPE - if you don't own a tricumbent, note the point above about machines to borrow, OR WHY NOT USE THIS AS AN EXCUSE/REASON to buy one now! There are practical problems regarding trains and towpaths/some cyclepaths, but apart from these they are ***GREAT*** fun! Come on in, the water's fine - I regret not buying one until 2006, but this was on grounds of cost and complete non-portability, and prices have dropped dramatically since then, and many tricumbents are now more portable than conventional bicycles (I can easily fit my Trice QNT into a Smart, but a Thorn Audax is a very tight fit) and recumbent bikes!
Find out more at http://www.cyclefeast.co.uk.

January 12th 2008 Origami ride - Meriden

Our January 2008 Origami ride is from Meriden. More details are here. All welcome !