Montague Folding bikes

Hi

Anyone experience of these

http://montague-uk.com/paratrooper---p34/

Just I'll be attending a night class in Sept. and it would be handy to bring the bike inside, rather than leave my trusty hybrid outside, and for weekends down the country

blorg

No experience but it looks decent. Surprising lack of reviews though. If you can live with using something the development of which was funded by the US military, (and you are using t'internets) I'd say it could be a good choice.

Loved the line from the Time article: "The market for parachutists' cycles being small, Montague's sales languished until the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001."

bluevalentine

I had a good look at one when I was in England. The folding mechanism looks sturdy, quick and easy and the gear decent. They have other models than the Paratrooper.
A firm called team hybrid are the importers to UK.
They also offer a lekky version with a Heinzmann motor on the rear wheel, bit expensive but looks great for oldies like me.

Shaymoboy

I have the 'Hummer' version of the Montague. It's the best 26'' folder on the market in regards to ease of fold and rigidity. Also, its a very solid bike to ride. Only negetive is the crack set on mine could be a little better.

-S

stabu

just looking at the photos, ... you'd have to have a bag, and the official Montague one looks naff to be honest, particularly at £65. You'd expect to get some padding on that, and some other protection, but that's not mentioned.

bluevalentine

The Montague bag is dear, right enough. I'm surmising the idea is it's light and compact enough to stow in a back bag. You could then stash the bike in the bag and carry it indoors. It would be a blessing for me as I go to a lot of meetings in the city centre and wouldn't want to carry the amount of chain needed to secure a folder with a QR front wheel to railings.
A padded bag would be nice - I think they do one, at considerably more expense - but would weigh more and be harder to fold down to compact size.
I'm not an apologist for Montague, btw, just trying to sort out my own requirements in my head.

penexpers

Why not just get a 20" folder where it'll fold down smaller and the bag for it is alot cheaper?

The Paratropper weighs 14.6kg which isn't exactly throw over your back weight. With 26" wheels it'll never be "compact"

bluevalentine

Because
a) 20 inch folders are terrible to ride and I'm looking for a wee bit of exercise as well as commuting to meetings. I don't fancy riding a folder from Sandymount to Churchtown if I want to go for a spin and call in on my in-laws.

b) I'm a big guy, I'd look a bit like a circus clown perched atop a Brompton

c) Most of the electric-assist 20 inch folders I've seen are pretty horrible bikes

d) I like the looks and the concept of the Monty and the build quality seems good.

It will weigh about 21kg with motor (rear wheel drive) and battery so I'm not planning to hump it from Pearse to Huston. As long as I can manage to lug it up a few steps and hand it to the concierge for safe keeping that will do fine.

On the other hand I may just kick the folding idea into touch and buy a Kalkhoff Agattu. I might look a bit like a big girl's blouse riding a step-through but I'd console myself thinking of the few bob I'd save.

penexpers

The Bromptons are 16 inch wheels anyway so I wasn't talking about them. For the same money that the Paratrooper costs you could pick up a really nice (and fast) Dahon that will fold alot easier and alot smaller than the Paratropper. I ride a Dahon Smooth Hound (20 inch wheels) myself and I can't say I find the ride qualities any different from my road bike. I can still get up to a fairly decent speed and it doesn't feel unstable. One slight drawback is the suspension sucks alot of power out of the front wheel, which I suspect will happen on the Paratropper as well.

bluevalentine

Thanks for your input. I hadn't heard of Dahon. It led me on to a UK website http://www.foldingbikes.biz who are building lekky versions of Dahons. I'm going to talk to them tomorrow about doing me a Dahon Gilde which has 24" wheels. Maybe looks a bit dorky, but what the hell, superbly practical.

niceonetom

bluevalentine wrote: »

http://www.foldingbikes.biz

interesting site. now, for reasons i can't quite understand i really want this bike.



thanks.

bluevalentine

Sorted!
The guy at CH White talked me out of the electric Glide and into the lekky version of the Dahon Ciao which has 20" wheels and the same running gear as the Glide- primarily on grounds of
a) weight
b) portability - the Ciao can be wheeled with the bike folded which is all but impossible with the Glide as the wheels aren't parallel when folded.
Looking forward - report to come
c) resale - apparently the 24" wheel model isn't selling very well.
Can't wait to get my sticky paws on it.

Report to follow.

zeldababe

I found a dealer in Limerick & bought the LX instead of the paratrooper army bike. www.foldingbikes.ie didnt come with a bag though but the bike is the bizz