Hypothetical questions about a hypothetical folder etc

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Hi,

I am seriously considering a bike for my office commute. But as of the know the problem is hypothetical

So far i have come down to two solutions

The BTwin Riverside 3 which seems well kitted out for the task.

I am not allowed things like phones, MP3 players and other assorted knick knacks at my work place. Including cycles

I guess i can lock it in the motorcycle park with only the average curiosity fiddling. Beyond that it's just a bike

However no shower facilities at work. So

(OR)

get a dahon. (the only choices seem to be the vitesse d7 and the eco 3. the latter being cheaper. so eco 3) ride to station/ bus stop close to home.

Fold in 15 seconds. (note to self learn ignore dog poop, pan stain chewing gum and other stuff stuck on tyres)

get off at the station/ bus stop nearest to workplace.

Unfold ride to work

That would reduce a 23km ride to ~ 4 km (both numbers one way)

Now I know that the vitesse folds to 31" x 25" x 11" and will fit into a bag

1) What to the Indian rail and bus authorities think about a folder on their transport ? I don't know anyone who uses a folder regularly, in conjunction with public transport ergo question.

2) If I have to lock it in the same stand where i could park /lock the riverside what are the hassles. Dog piss on the lock is a definite one. Theft ? fiddlers ? weight of lock ?

3) Is there a better solution than either of the above I have described above

ciao
gr

[knmurthy]

If you could talk to a colleague who could keep you folded bike in the boot of the car
Is this an option?
Murthy

[bubbu64]

Gr, Is there no way u can take the folded vitesse inside the office in the bag ?
IMHO, folders are allowed in the Delhi Metro so I dont think taking the folder in the train will be objected. Taking the folder in the bus might prove a challenge in the rush hour. I have seen people carry heavy suitcases between Hi-Tech city and Begumpet on the local metro.

[hitanshu]

Junta regularly use it in the delhi metro - have often seen a couple of guys on other folders (some brit brand starting with S IIRC)

[balu]

I've taken my folder (Dahon Jetstream) on Volvo buses in Blr without any hassles. I was charged an extra ticket for the bike once.
Non-Volvo buses are too congested to transport a folder.

regards
Balu

[matelang]

I would suggest lesser complicated option (1). 26+26km is still managable I think.Is there any specific reason you want to cut short to 4km?

Reg the fiddling, park your bike at the parking pace and near security post. They are mostly humble to look after. Before parking, place the chain on the smallest ring.
I have seen people playing mostly with upper shifters.

Good luck !

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Thanks guys.

The learning so far: folder for commuting feasible. Volvo/ Metro seem to have no problem (no Hyd specific info so far though) and locking a folder is not a good idea.

Matters have taken a curious tern. Apparently.

It just won't turn out well for a Dahon fan, either way, with Dahon losing a big portion of its team behind the good designs of yesteryear. And now that Tern is having some issues barely a month after it kicked off in Taipei, it's a question of whether they'll be able to secure, in court, the rights to use whatever they've gained in Dahon. If they have to start from scratch, barred from using patented joints, handleposts, frame designs, etc., then Tern basically is a dead bird, while Dahon... isn't the same Dahon

now the tern website does not show India and the Dahon website shows India but no dealers

confusing and confounding.

@Shailendra : no man. At the moment no. Could try and get special permission and what not ... I'm a half empty bole to search for new bottle solution type in these case

@matelang : the route and the distance are entirely manageable. I have gotten so used to cycling in lycra in the past few months that the thought of riding in jeans (which i did all my life) is not very appealing. That and what my colleagues might say (no showers). But yeah I find myself agreeing with you that it does seem to be the less complicated option.
ciao
gr

[bblost]

Buying a specialized cycle for a 4 km ride(total 8 km) does not really make sense.

A year from now, say you change jobs...the cycle may lose its reason to be.

I park my Q5 in my office motorcycle basement parking. Have had a couple of fiddlers trying to get funny with the gears.
But one very angry email to the common office board and touchwood no one has meddled with it in almost 2 months.

If the route allows, why not a single speed.

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Hi,

Thanks

[quote="bblost"]Buying a specialized cycle for a 4 km ride(total 8 km) does not really make sense[/quote="bblost"]
My "to be" route involves that utterly obnoxious at any time wala JNTU signal Kukatpally Moosapet stretch which can be bypassed by hopping into a Sheetal or better still MMTS while eliminating any walking (we have two feet for two pedals or at worst one for accelerator and one for brake). Overall , I guess yes you are right though the changing jobs wala scenario not applicable in my case notwithstanding.

Any/ all routes in Hyd/ Sec are single speedable (Venky and Gokul would say fixeable) really (except the Nandi hills 10% for me, I could do (and have done) Narne road on 39/19 but I ride a triple and my avatar does not lose any color so why bother?). If I do get a riverside 3 for this commute one of my first actions will be single speeding it. I hate people fiddling with my stuff and removing temptation is sometimes a way to stop wasting energy hating them

ciao
gr

[arvindg]

Dahon & Tern have the same distributor in India, AAPL bikes. Use the contact info here http://www.dahon.in/dahon-dealers.html

[bblost]

OT.
Have you tried this route.
http://g.co/maps/xvq6f

Very narrow road. But much lesser traffic.

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Thanks Arvind. The tern website does not show an India dealer. And I (possibly wrongly) think Dahon Internation has become Tern and does not deal with Dahon any more.

@bblost : That route (Qaitlapur ??) behind IDL is currently not narrow but non-existent from Hitech MMTS to almost Moosapet. Dug up for some pipeline, electricity cable or for all i know just for fun. Hopefully will get fixed. I have a few months for that route to become my daily. That *is* the "riverside 3" route i have in mind only from about Lingampally. The folder route would be high speed on MMTS but pretty much the same

There is another route I once took from Narne Road, KBR JHills check post and somehow emerged right opposite the Sanath Nagar road (approx Eragadda) That was not exactly nice or easy but eminently cycle-able. if i ever find it again that is. A very confusing route that was.

ciao
gr

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Ah well. It was a good idea. Have it from someone who knows that Dahon/ Tern are not available in India. For now at any rate

ciao
gr

[bblost]

gr. Sorry I don't know the name of that road. I last went on it sometime in early 2011.
Thanks for the update on its current condition.

I assume now your choice is limited to a good single speed?

[rahul13]

Dahon not available in India? This must be a recent development then because I've tried out a couple of the Dahon folders at BOTS. Hey, perhaps you could give Rohan a call and ask him what the story is and whether it still might be possible to latch on to one.

Cheers,

Rahul

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Hi,

Thanks Rahul. For the moment I would not buy one even if i were to get a new unboxed one. I figure spares/ support etc will be an issue, some day.

@bblost : yes, back to the original formula. fiddle free ss. Al. With all the requisite accoutrements fenders, rack, hub dynamo, 501s with trick 3M seams and ideally a bar. Preferably in some drab color.

For now I am trying to come up with song to be sung in a sad voice on those LSD rides


Imagine yourself on a bike with a mirror
With tangerine wheels and PB skies
Somebody calls you you pedal quite slowly
A girl on a yellow verge glides by

Follow her under the bridge over the mountain
Where iron horse people suck molasses pies,
Everyone sighs as you draft past the signals,
That grow so incredibly high.

Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine commuters with dead looking eyes,
Suddenly someone is there at the ternstile,
The bicycle that folds on its side

sigh

ciao
gr

[shankarbn]

Lol. Drop the drama and get the riverside man. Maybe you'll go touring too later and the lights are really a godsend for us commuters!

[wanderingwheels]

LOL wonderful song

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Suddenly someone is there at the ternstile,
The bicycle that folds on its side

No Sterna paradisaea will migrate here soon.

but the Hoptown is on that crazy price offer at Decath.

Can it play the role, I wonder ?

ciao
gr

[anvith3]

Decathlon is having a Sunday sale on Hoptown Folders on 22nd. You may want to check it out..

[farhadtarapore]

Yep, INR 15999 instead of INR 19999

Read someplace on this forum only that it used to cost INR 13500 in 2010

[shankarbn]

Last I heard Eco3 was selling for 16-17 at RR cycles. Why bother with a btwin contraption if you can spend so much?

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Last I heard Eco3 was selling for 16-17 at RR cycles. Why bother with a btwin contraption if you can spend so much?

Tina

if we are talking folders Nothing else.

Funnily the alternate is btwin toona !

ciao
gr

[cryptic_abbreviator]

http://straightrazorplace.com/finer-thi ... bikes.html :Shocked

but whaddaya know apparently it *IS* a dahon http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index ... 69572.html

ciao
gr

[cryptic_abbreviator]

Hi,

Various bikes have flitted in and out of my commute wala bicycle dreams. Anc now they have started to recycle.

Three years back i read a whole lot of stuff on BZ, figured out that I need a LA Sovereign Navigator, picked up my cheque book and rode home on a Trek 3700. (That was four bicycles ago as well). Now I am looking at the Navigator once again

Let me explain further.
- I have an expense cap of 20K (being the amount I don't want to lose but will probably stop weeping uncontrollably about two weeks after it gets stolen).
- The LA-Nav a nice-ish Al frame. The only available (to verify) size seems to fit. It also has nice reviews from Pranav and Linuxtechie
- It is probably available locally (It was at Prakash cycles in 2009).
- It has a 700c alloy wheelset. Also fender and a rack.

All ticks so far. And all things which make it more attractive than a Thunder MTB or or a Mach or a Hawk (collectively Mawk). Standard easy to source components (say via Evans/ CRC) are and not easy to get on these (Mawk) frames because they follows some older standards

So Is that the case with the La Nav frame, if I want to say get Tiagra hubs or a brooks saddle or get a BB upgrade can it be done painlessly ?

ciao
gr