Are there any (well, I know there are) and what experience do people have of them?

I fancy something that I can chuck in the boot of a saloon which I can go for a spin on in an evening when I’m away with work. I don’t fancy driving round with a bike on the roof, and don’t have the option of a hatchback or estate. So I’m not that bothered about really quick folding or portage on trains etc.

Some of the bikes out there are serious money, but are there any mid-priced drop bar bikes which don’t feel massively different to a “normal” road bike?

Does anyone ride a Bikefriday, Moulton, Airnimal, Montague etc regularly, or even better, as their only road bike?

I’m quite excited as I think this might be my first taxing of the STW hivemind.

no experience myself but a friend had an Airnimal and it was seriously quick, he’d regularly come along with us on our normal road bikes and it was never a problem, apart from the tiny wheels allowing him to get frighteningly close when slipstreaming 🙂

have you seen the Ritchey folding bike, that’s a ‘proper’ road bike that pivots in two

Yeah, the Break Away looks like a good compromise but they only seem to come in expensive carbon now rather than the previous and more affordable steel. Might be worth an Ebay trawl.

Thanks for the Airnimal info.

I bought an old Rudge (Montague) Bi-frame a while ago as a road/touring bike for similar reasons to you. Stripped it back to the frame and built it up as a tourer using basic MTB components and a carbon fork with a cable disc. More details on this CTC thread I hijacked (see towards the end): http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=88607. Might do a thread on here when I’ve got a more finished build (not sure I can stand the ridicule of my poorly routed cables :roll:).

I’m commuting on it this week to give it a bit of a run in – really enjoyed the ride in this morning.

Having dithered for ages about drops/flats and gone flat, I think I might switch to drops, but that’ll need a whole new drivetrain an possibly brakes :|.

Interested in this thread. Currently looking for a cyclocross bike with the same option. Bike has to live in the back of my estate with the seats up. Are S&S couplers a faff to take apart?

I quite fancy a Moulton but they’re incredibly expensive! The Montague Fit looks a good buy, especially at Fudge Cycles. Montague have a thread on their website about putting discs and drops on as well I think.

Yes they do, just found it

Bike has to live in the back of my estate with the seats up

I’d have thought most cross bikes would go into the back of an estate with just the wheels off.

I’ve owned a Ritchey Breakaway road in steel and got a CX-clone that I had custom built in titanium. Mine uses a combo of the Ritchey-style seat collar and S+S style coupling on the downtube – coupling does need to be clean and tight to remain creak-free. For me, the CX breakaway is the best compromise – it rides no differently to a full-size bike with a minor (100g) weight penalty. I’ve ridden it 100 miles on road with suitable tyres, or taken it down black runs at trail centres. It fits into a slightly oversize suitcase and takes about 10 minutes to assemble. Case keeps it clean plus enough room for all your bike kit plus it flies as regular luggage i.e. no airline fees. I’ve also ridden a Bike Friday and Airnimal – BF was a road rocket on smooth tarmac, but smaller wheels a bit choppy on UK roads and no good offroad. Airnimal was fine for pootling, but wouldn’t consider it suitable for serious mileage.

Another with a friend with Airnimal. I’ve had a ride, highly recommended.

How about a bit of Rinko?

http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/BQ_rinko.pdf

Rink-NO

The old Dahon Hammerheads were quite decent on the road. I’ve done centuries on mine.

It also was able to put up with my propensity to go offroad too. 🙂

It compacts down to a very thin bike rather than folds. Fits in the boot of a smallish car with front wheel out and seat down.

With lightweight Rolf wheels and dropbars it’s a wee rocket.

Airnimals are excellent, as are Bike Fridays.

Personally, why does it have to go in the boot? A road bike without wheels will sit on the back seat of a saloon. This will be a faster option than either of the above. I rarely folded my Airnimal. I’d love a BF Pocket Rocket Pro, if only to turn up at a crit for fun!

Xootr Swift is another compact road option. A lot cheaper than the above two. 20″ wheels and conventional gearing is no as limiting a people might think. I’d go 9/10 speed with 11/23 and a double.

Conventional steel road bike with S&S BTCs? I do loads, here’s one I did a few days ago:

Still to be cleaned up of course.

Bencooper, How much are S&S BTC’s to fit?

£575 including powdercoating the frame afterwards.

If I was looking now, I’d consider this, and put drops on it.

Tern Joe P27

27.7″ balloon tyres. ie about the same as a skinny 700c, and if you’ve never ridden on a proper baloon tyre you’ll be surprised at how free rolling they are.

If you’re not riding at speeds where areodynamics are the most important, they’re probably better.

Rob English?

Ignoring the fact that it is too expensive, the folding mechanism is only suited for not-so-frequent travelling, as opposed to daily(?) rides.
There is also the option of a car with a bigger trunk.

There’s no option of a car with a bigger boot – it’s a company car and (at the moment) I don’t get a choice.

I don’t want to store the bike on the back seat for this reason, as well as for security.

Ben – Does that price include the bungee cord?

I like the look of the Tern too, forgot about that bike.
Instead of drops, another option is bullhorns and some clip on aero bars.

Ben – Does that price include the bungee cord?

That’s a precision dynamic tension frame alignment device – bungee cord indeed 😉

I don’t fancy driving round with a bike on the roof, and don’t have the option of a hatchback or estate.

You can get a bike in a bag across the back seats in most cars. That’s how I do it all the time in my Passat saloon, and I used to do it in my early 90s Polo too. It works very well.

Doors are deadlocked as in most cars so not really possible to steal, even if someone figures out what it is.

Also worth noting that if you have a Passat-sized car a road bike will go in the boot flat on the floor with simply wheels off and saddle out, unless you are tall and have a huge frame.

For folding bikes, my mate swears by his Moulton, it’s his favourite road bike.

Here’s mine against a convenient neolithic standing stone in the Hebrides:

Frame cost a shade more than a pair of couplings…

Have you tried getting a bike with wheels and seat post removed in the boot? My last saloon was fine.

Edit: wheels went in the boot on top of frame.

Had an Airnimal Joey for years and it’s fantastic.
It’s been tourer, cyclo crosser, commuter and mile munching road bike. Endlessly versatile, it’s now got a disc brake on the front and Exotic carbon forks. The Chameleon is faster but nowhere near as versatile. With 24 inch wheels it also climbs really well.

That rinko is pretty cool

Full size wheels and frame, the only compromise seems to be the quill stem

shermer75 – Member
Full size wheels and frame, the only compromise seems to be the quill stem

A quill is an advantage in my eyes. You can raise your bars a couple of inches or drop them within seconds. Great when you’re on a long ride.

Yes, I think it’s a crying shame that Ahead has taken over from quill stems – quills are better in lots of ways.

Cable lock through the child seat mounts. I always lock my bikes inside the car and make sure the lock can be seen from the outside.

I’m personally thinking of a fixed wheel xootr swift because I like fixed bikes and need another folder (despite having just bought a car)

I take my bike around the world with me as an airline pilot. Several of my colleagues gave airnimals, and bikes with s&s couplings.

My normal bike comes with me in a bike box, and is literally just wheels on, pedals on, go! Anything else is a compromise on the bike. It sounds to me like you don’t need the whole “bike in a box” thing for regular air travel, just a means of fitting a bike in the boot of your car.

If, with wheels off, a normal bike fits in the boot, anything else is just an expensive compromise.

Best try fitting the current road bike in the boot then!

*I should point out that I’ve not actually got this company car yet and am still swanning about in a massive Saab estate.

Well, yes, but that means you don’t get to buy a new bike 😉

Depending on the car, could you not just leave the back seats down and put the bike in a cheap bike bag? I used to keep mine in a £35 CRC bag with the bars poking out and the wheels in their separate bags.

A nondescript black bag would look just like any other bit of corporate exhibition furniture and not attract toe-rags.

Not practical if you ever have to give colleagues lifts though.

Dovebiker, who built that? I’m guessing if it was “a shade more than a pair of couplings” that it was XCAD or simlar?

BenC – oh no, just an extra £500 to spend on bike spec without the folding/couplings!! I think I’d get a new bike for best, and leave the old one in the car.

I used to be able to get a road bike or a flat bar roadrat with wheels off in the boot of a Celica with the seats up. In my dads old Volvo 740 saloon there’s acres of space for a full size bike with wheels off too. There’s a good chance it will 100% fit in the boot IMO.

do you know what car it is? boot size might be online somewhere.

It’s an S60