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Hanz entreats you to join the fold!
HERE ARE some in-action movie clips and slide shows of different Bike Friday models being folded/packed "in the field". Use this information in addition to the manuals.
Due to the custom sizing and specification of a Bike Friday, there are no hard and fast rules on which order to fold or pack, just overall guidelines. These movies are not meant to take the place of the packing videos or manuals, but to give you some extra clues and a feel for what is involved. Some folding bikes require certain discreet steps which means the fold will always take a minimum amount of time to execute. A BF fold is less rigid, so can vary depending on how savvy you get with your particular bike. Always feel free to use your hands, feet and teeth if it makes the task easier.
Some of the movies are quite large - if you have a fast connection you are in luck. Watch this space as more become available.
Remember, the TravelTrailer is designed to fit in the suitcase with the Bike Friday.
A customer packed his Pocket Crusoe and Travel Trailer components (chassis, axel, wheels) in the suitcase as shown.
You'll need something like Quicktime (free download) to see them.
POCKET BIKES (Note: the folding clips below apply to the newer left-folding models, since June 2002
* FOLDING A METRO (753 Kb): Hanz folding a Metro in the BF showroom. In this clip Hanz turns the front wheel 180 degrees, which makes the folded bike slightly more compact.
* FOLDING A NWT (544 Kb): Lynette folding a New World Tourist. In this clip, note that the left pedal should be rotated forward at the outset to avoid problems. Lynette does not turn the front wheel at all, which makes the folded bike slightly less compact. It is a fast fold and in many cases, sufficient.
* PACKING A PRO PETITE (7.3 Mb): Hanz packing a new (left fold) Pocket Rocket Pro Petite in around 4.5 minutes. Note that the older (pre-mid-2002) "right fold" bikes go in the case 180 degrees to what is shown here, that is, with the main tube against the side with the handle. Since I ran out of video card, a few seconds of themovie are missing: the part showing the stem being popped into the side of the case, and the bike going into the smaller, older Samsonite. I have taken the liberty to shows the larger Carlton at the end because if it fits in the Samsonite, it'll fit in the Carlton!
AIR BIKES
* PACKING AN AIR FRIDAY (7.2 Mb): Hanz packing his personal Air Friday in around 4.5 minutes. Note that this is Hanz's personal bike and he has devised his own rapid packing method.
RECUMBENTS
* 2006 SatRDay folding movie clips
* Pre-2006 SatRDay: FOLDING (2.1 Mb): Hanz folding a Sat R Day in a folding race in Philadelphia
TANDEMS
* Photo Gallery of Randy Benson and Linda Tay's touring Twin Air being packed.
* Packing an off-road Twin Air tandem, featured on the new Twinair page
* See also this one-page Tandem Primer.
ALSO
* The incredible folding Stelvio tire - and how to fold a non-folding tire too!
OTHER
* Left fold explained since 2003, all Bike Friday Pocket Bikes fold to the left.
* The new Samsonite F'lite case with Travel Trailer
* Airport Experiences with a BF
* Accessorizing your Bike Friday including chain retainers, racks and shock seatposts.
FOLDING FINESSE A personal view by Greg Thompson, Bike Friday Customer Service
Shift into the middle ring in the front and the high (small) gear in the back.
Fold the mast down (you may have to slide your seat post in to clear the seat by the headset) part way (to the top of the bottle cage). Fold the rear of the bike under.
Turn the front wheel to the right, surrounding the rear derailleur with the two tires.
Remove the stem from the frame, tuck it down in the cavity between the tires. I try and hook my bars loosely around the main frame of the bike. Wrap the velcro strap around the main frame, through the rear wheel, and around the bars. Different paths seem to work better for different bikes (model, sizes).
To stand the bike back up, basically reverse the steps.
There are two keys to me keeping my hands clean. The first is to unfold the rear end slowly. I can snap it into place in under two seconds if I'm in a hurry, but the chain usually falls off when I do. If I take more in the neighborhood of 5-7 seconds I can watch to make sure that the chain tension is maintained, watching for anything that the chain might be hanging up on to create slack. A few extra seconds here goes along ways to keeping the chain on. I'm probably up to about 85-90% on my bike now at keeping the chain on. Practice in your drive way a few times before racing the morning train the first time.
The second key is to have "insurance policies" in place in case something goes wrong and the chain falls off. By putting the chain on the middle ring, if it falls off, you've given it the chance to fall onto the small ring. This happens more times than you'd probably think. The big ring doesn't allow enough slack but the middle should if you are on the small cog in the back. The next line of defense involves having something other than your finger to put the chain back on should it fall off. I keep a 2" x 2" or so rag to wrap around my index finger in my tool bag for this purpose.
Many of our customers use the wrench that is attached to the bottle cage as a hook. Either way, hook the chain below and behind the front rings and pull it forward and up onto the rings. The nice thing is that if this happens, its usually as you are getting off the train and so not as pressed for time if it happened as you were trying to get on.
Of course the ultimate solution to this issue is to get a second Friday, and have it specifically built up as a commuter bike. If we reduce to one chain ring in the front, we can add a protector ring and chain retainer that would virtually eliminate the issue of chains falling off.
There are still ways to get as many gears as you might need, although the bike may be a bit heavier. Email Greg: gregt at bikefriday dot com
For more information, follow this link http://www.bikefriday.com/bf/newtravelsystem.