Folding bikes

I am a folding bike enthusiast.

The main reason is that I live quite far from JHU (in Spring Garden Township, PA), and commuting via car is expensive and stressful. I am able to drive a short distance from my house to a park and ride, get on the Rabbit Transit 83S commuter bus, ride to the Timonium light rail station, get on the light rail, ride to the Woodberry light rail station, and then bike to campus. Having a folding bike means that I can take it on the bus with me, rather than having to use the rack on the front of the bus.

My first folding bike was a Zizzo Urbano (picture above right). This is a great bike, and I would highly recommend it for general use and bike commuting. However, I decided to give it to one of my sons to use at college, so it's his bike now.

My second folding bike, which is the one that I now use for commuting, is an old (1998?) steel-framed Dahon Mariner (picture left). I bought it off of Craigslist for $75. It was in very rough shape: the tires were dry-rotted, the front chainring was warped, and the chain was shot. I replaced the chain and was able to mostly bend the chainring back into shape, but I still found the 5-speed drivetrain limiting, especially the lack of a good hill-climbing gear. I eventually replaced the bottom bracket, cranks, and pedals, and put on a smaller (46t rather than 52t) chainring. This helped considerably to address the lack of a good low gear, but left me without good high gears. The next major upgrade was replacing the original rear wheel (with its 5-speed freewheel) with a Zizzo Via rear wheel with a 7-speed freehub. I added a 11t-28t rear cassette and a Shimano RD-MC16 rear derailleur (mounted with a claw mount adapter) that I had left over from an upgrade of an old GT mountain bike, and a Shimano ST-MC10 combo shifter/brake lever left over from an upgrade of an old Cannondale mountain bike. Going to 7 speeds was a really nice upgrade, and the small cogs on the cassette give me useful high gears. I found a nice Shimano FH-6800 rear quick release skewer for a good price on EBay, which I needed because the Zizzo Via rear wheel is quick release rather than bolted. I also put on new MSW Tour Guide tires at this point, as well as some new grips. I replaced the front fender with a cheap one from Aliexpress (the original Dahon fenders are somewhat notorious for becoming brittle over time, and the original front fender basically disintegrated.) I use a good front light (Cygolite Metro 1100), and I have a very cheap rear light on the seatpost. I also put on some amber wheel reflectors. Visibilty is important, since I bike through Baltimore fairly early in the morning when it can be quite dark. Finally, I put on a WTB Volt saddle, which is my favorite bike saddle. With all of these upgrades, it's a fun and capable bike (although definitely not a $75 bike at this point.)