The Folding Bike Imbroglio

From Rebirth of a band

From Rebirth of a band

So how is it that I ended up this day, a week before Christmas, with three folding bicycles? And, it would be fair to ask, what good are these funny little things that look like you ought to be wearing a clown suit while you're riding them?

Good questions. It all comes down, as most of the things I do nowadays, to ships.

From QE2 October 2007-March 2008

My friend Ricky Williams, an otherwise sensible bass player from QE2 who was once the computer officer on her in an earlier contract, has a Dahon folding bike. He left at home in Omaha when we were playing in the Queens Room band. (Dahon was the first mass-market folding bicycle company, designed in the USA, executed in Taiwan.) But his fervor for folding bikes is undiminished by mere airline luggage overcharges. He HAD brought his Dahon when he didn't have to bring his bass with him and enjoyed the freedom of getting into port and hightailing it anywhere he wanted.

I had my own interest in folding bikes, and a couple years ago I bought one which popped up on craigslist. The bike is of Chinese manufacture, actually pretty well made, 18.5 inch wheels, made for a promotion for Forever 21, a boutique. I bought it for a couple hundred from a gal who had graduated from UT and was moving out of the state. I like riding it around the neighborhood and into the new development that was the old airport. I can hop on it and get something at Starbucks in minutes. But I wouldn't consider riding it more than a mile or two for all the effort it takes. It's be a nice ride for someone who can ride it to the bus, load it, folded, onto the bus and ride a little way to the office. I was considering bringing it onto ships, but with all the crap I've got to bring it's a little too clunky and heavy.

Fast forward to last month, when I spotted a new Schwinn Loop at this address for $189, tax-free and free shipping. Jan and I were booked on the Golden Princess leaving LA on January 7, and the more I thought about it the more practical having a folding bike on the ship seemed to be. I'm just bringing my alto, so I can ship it ahead by UPS to a friend's house and practically ride it up the gangway. We can see a lot of Hawaii without paying the blood money to the Princess tour operators.

With those things in mind I ordered a red Schwinn Curve for Jan to use, as a holiday gift. Jan uses a mountain bike to get to work part of the way. Parking is awful near the UT campus, so she parks in one of the surrounding neighborhoods and rides in, parking her bike in front of the building where her office is located. Things being what they are on a large college campus, her bike gets stolen every couple of years, Kryptonite notwithstanding. Seeing the Schwinn comes with a large cloth bag to put it in, I thought she might get more out of the folding bike because she wouldn't have to lock it up out front--she could fold and bag it, sling it over her shoulder and keep it under her desk.

The Curve arrived a couple days ago, and I am VERY impressed with its quality. A little on the heavy side with a steel frame, but with a rather unique low center of gravity caused by its unusual frame design. Hey, for $189, how can you go wrong? Shimano shifter, 7 on rear cluster.

OK so the very next night I'm looking at craigslist and there's a folding bike. The past week there was a Bike Friday, the custom-made, state-of-the-art folder made in Eugene, Oregon, but it was way out of my price range at $1500. Plus it was way out past Fredricksburg, nearly halfway to El Paso. But yesterdays was a Downtube IX FS, which incorporates some of the sophisticated features of a Bike Friday and a lot of their own stuff as well. This model runs $400 new (factoring in shipping), and the guy's had it a year, and will switch over to his new mountain bike and he's willing to sell of $199. This is a high-frame model, aluminum frame with a 9-speed index system (all on the rear cluster!), full suspension.

There's just no comparison with the Schwinn. The Downtube never feels like a diminished bike. It's light and agile, with a higher center of gravity that takes a little getting used to--yeah, 30 seconds' worth--

So how could I say no? So I didn't. I can sell the Forever 21 for a couple hundred on cragslist, and I'm pretty much where I was when I started out, except for a Christmas gift for Jan. But, when I told Jan about the Downtube's ride she got REAL interested. We'll see. Maybe we'll let the Schwinn go, although it has its charms. (Check out that integrated rear rack!)

Either way, I hope there will be two folding bikes under our bed on the Golden Princess, so that after five sea days we'll be able to toodle around in Hilo, Honolulu, Kauai, and Lahaina. Oh and Ensenada, which is a stop we make to stay within the limits of the Jones Act.