I was out and about the other day in transit between locations on a city bound train.
In my carriage was a cyclist with his folding bike and we got to talking. Two stations later I was infected with his enthusiam for a bike that folds.
It was a light bulb moment : a folding bicycle means that I could carry my two wheels anywhere -- in cars, trains, buses and planes, in and out of buildings. The bike could become hand luggage.
Obsessed with the concept, I did my 'folding bicyle' Googling and spent yesterday roving bike shops and mounting their folding wares.
Unfortunately the only species that jumped out at me was the Giant Halfway -- (a version for which I could buy on eBay in 4 hours time for not much over $AUD350....So I'm tempted (esp as the standard retail mark down price is just under $AUD800).
Passion quelled
But I hesitated for a few reasons and long enough for my passion to be quelled:
because these folding bikes are high tech with a lot of hardwarebecause, despite their carry option, even with the fold they are cumbersome packages and don't sit well except on the groundbecause they seem heavier -- despite the hi tech specs --over 12kgm -- than I had expected.
So after hesitating I stepped back from the pedal option and reconsidered my trajectory.
What was I really seeking? I'm a dedicated scooter-er who loves his kickbike and prefers to travel by push scooting than through bearing down on pedals. Since I rely on organic , un-ratio-ed sweat to get around, what do I want with 7 gear options -- a folding bike standard ?
When I use the vehicle -- in what circumstances am I intending to use it? That's the clincher. If I am still using my kickbike, any folding device with two wheels would be something to use at the butt ends of train, tram, bus or airplane routes. So portability is important in a way that being able to bike some distance is not.
So then I thought: why not a folding scooter rather than a folding bike?
Scooter folding
My first scooter was a razor and that folded..and I hated the thing. Folding is good. Micro wheeling is bad. Leprechaun wheels: pebbles are boulders.
But when you step away from the razor style models, scooters that fold are rare. When they do pop up, they are often infected with the tech specs of folding bike Yuppiedom and the price ratchets up sharply so that there is little difference between the cost of a folding bike and that for a folding scooter, despite the absence of hardware add ons.
But with the support of the indefatigable scooter-er Doug Hummers I tracked down the Mibo Comfort Scooter, built in Czechoslovakia.
My Czech is no good at all. However there are a couple of sites that may handle an order from far off Australia. given exchange rate driven prices like this
168.17 EUR = $253.800 AUD
4,496.00 CZK=$265.725 AUD
So I am in negotiation with international shipping rates being a key factor in what sort of outlay I'll finally pay.
The most useful site is Gizmania and it warrants visiting for all the scooter resources located there -- albeit mainly geared towards freestyle and stunt scooting -- and the service package..
Above are Gizmania's gallery images for the Mibo Comfort.
So I'm following a few leads and hope that soon enough I may be folding my own ...
But those Czechs sure take their scooters seriously..
