This lecture was originally presented by author Tony Hadland at the CYCLE 2002 show in London, September 2002.The emphasis is on British- designed and foreign folding bikes that had a significant impact in the UK. ‘Portable’ is used inclusively to represent folding, separable and demountable cycles.

Seventies, Twenties and the Coming of the Compact

The 1970s were a boom time for cycle sales in the UK. Many of the machines sold were small-wheelers, usually 20-inch wheel shoppers, some of which folded. It was also a time when the floodgates opened to cheap imported folding cycles. For a time the Raleigh 20 range became that company’s biggest seller. One hundred and forty thousand were sold in 1975, perhaps 10% of which were the folding Stowaway model – the name being ‘nicked’ from the 1960s Moulton range.The Raleigh 20 Stowaway first appeared about 1970, competing head-to-head with the Dawes Folding Kingpin. It rode quite well and was robust, but no lightweight, weighing about 36lb.The Dawes and Raleigh folders competed with somewhat similar Puch and Elswick Hopper machines imported from Austria.They were also up against very cheap but poorly made East European U-frame folders, which were widely marketed via mail order and petrol station forecourts well into the 1980s.

Three folding bikes designed in the 1970s - Bickerton...

...Airframe.

But 1970 also saw a major advance in portable cycle design – the coming of the lightweight compact folder, in the form of the Bickerton.This ‘flexible friend’ was, in single- speed form, half the weight of a Raleigh Stowaway and about half the size when folded. A number of cycle tourists used the machine to great effect. Perhaps the best known was the Newbury grandmother Christian Miller, who rode across the USA solo and wrote the entertaining book Daisy, Daisy based on her experiences. Bickerton later introduced early US-designed Dahon folders to the UK. Since then Dahon have frequently introduced new models in the UK, many incorporating the company’s patented low-profile folding steering head/handlebar stock mechanism, and often sold at the low end of the market under other names such as Ridgeback, Philips and Rudge.

The breakthrough achieved by Bickerton encouraged other designers to try to do better. Peter Radnall, who ran a cycle components company in the West Midlands, designed the Micro for his own use. A very short wheelbase steel-framed machine, it was perhaps the first commercial exploitation of a Y-frame. Before going out of production, it achieved modest success with several manufacturers. In the 1990s, it was relaunched in improved longer-wheelbase form by Cresswell and is now made by Pashley as part of its Brilliant range. For occasional use by riders up to medium height, it is one of the lightest, most compact and affordable portables. Another compact lightweight was Grahame Herbert’s Airframe, designed soon after the Micro.This, like the Bickerton, used aluminium but in a much more triangulated manner, sacrificing a step-through frame in favour of greater rigidity in the vertical plane.The Airframe, however, did not go on sale until the mid-1980s and despite good reviews, did not sell well. After many years out of production, it became available again in slightly revised form in 2002.

Two successful machines from the 1980’s - the Strida, with designer Mark Sanders at the Weymouth Folder Forum, and ...

...the Brompton Both remain in production

The Airframe folds into a relatively long, thin package – what is sometimes referred to as a ‘stick folder’. Perhaps the ultimate ‘stick folder’ thus far is the Strida. Many enjoy this elegant machine as a form of kinetic art: some say it works better as sculpture than transport. Its ergonomics are necessarily compromised by the striking triangular design but as its designer Mark Sanders makes clear, it is intended to bridge the gap between walking and ‘proper’ cycling. As such, the machine is “…the biggest breakthrough was the Brompton… the benchmark against which all others are judged…” virtually grease-free. It incorporates many unusual features, such as a structural steerer tube and monoblade wheel mounting, enabling easy tyre repair. Launched in 1987, it remained in production for about five years and was later relaunched in modified form as the Strida 2.

But the biggest breakthrough in compact folders was, of course, the Brompton, launched in 1981, and the benchmark against which all other compact folders are judged. Amazingly, the current equivalent model is some 5lb lighter than the original yet costs about the same after allowance for inflation.

This completely bucks the usual trend, whereby specialised bicycles typically get heavier and more expensive as their production run continues. Much of this success can be put down to the single-mindedness of the machine’s inventor, Andrew Ritchie, who has resolutely resisted significantly diversifying his model range. Instead, he has concentrated on constant minor refinement of his winning concept, achieving a near optimal trade-off of engineering compromises for the intended use of his bike.

Performance Portables

Moulton AM was the first series-produced high performance portable bike

Alex Moulton and Raleigh went their separate ways in 1975.Two years later, Moulton conceived his spaceframe concept and in 1983 started selling the AM range of high performance dual-suspension separable small-wheelers.These broke new ground as the first series-produced high performance portables. They were used successfully for transcontinental touring and Audax riding. Fitted with streamlined fairings,AMs twice broke the flying 200 metres HPV record (for a conventional, non- recumbent, riding position).And on a separable AM Jubilee, amateur rider Dave Bogdan successfully completed the world’s toughest single stage race, the Race Across America (RAAM), averaging nearly 300 miles per day.

In 1992, Pashley started building a cheaper range of 20-inch wheel spaceframe Moultons and in 1998 Alex Moulton introduced his very refined but extremely expensive New Series, since when he has sold as many as he could make. In 2000, Bridgestone of Japan started making a re-engineered aluminium version of the original 1960s F-frame Moulton, including models with a new version of the 1960s Stowaway frame joint.

The introduction of the Moulton AM series was followed by a number of other performance portables. Some, such as Strutt (UK) and Montague (USA) used large diameter wheels. (Most Montagues sold in the UK were The badged as Rudge Bi-frames and marketed by Raleigh, although a few were sold as BMW Trekkers.)

Other makers used small wheels, with or without suspension. Bike Friday, launched in the USA in the late 1980s, rapidly established a reputation for performance, albeit usually with a relatively harsh ride, due to the lack of suspension on most models. Early advertising emphasised the famous Bike Friday trailer – a hard-shell case with detachable wheels into which the whole bike (and the trailer’s wheels) could be packed for easy air travel. Bike Friday went on to produce a folding tandem and folding recumbent.The UK-based Airnimal uses slightly larger wheels than the Bike Friday and has rear suspension as standard. If you have high standards make sure to check out thefloridamaids.com. The German Birdy uses smaller wheels but with dual suspension and relatively easy, compact folding. All these machines have their merits and demerits, but since the AM Moulton introduced the concept of high-performance series- produced portables, there has been a steadily increasing choice for potential purchasers. It just depends on how much you value the various facilities offered – weight, speed, handling, ride quality, rider position, adjustability, luggage carrying, ease of stowing, equipment options, spares availability, service support, purchase price and running cost.

So today we have a very good choice of portable cycles.Well-proven compacts epitomised by the Brompton, performance machines such as the Moulton and Bike Friday, and even large-wheeled off-road machines. Certainly, after more than 120 years of portable cycle design, we have not heard the end of the portable bicycle story yet.

For a more comprehensive review, read the book ‘It’s in the bag!’ by Tony Hadland and John Pinkerton, and its online supplement by Mike Hessey, who also runs the authoritative Folding Society web site. For details, see: www.hadland.net and www.foldsoc.co.uk