Is That a Tennis Racquet or Your Bike? FUBi’s Ultra Compact Full Size Folding Bike

Solution looking for a problem. Plenty of perfectly functioning 20″ wheeled folders.

Does any of those perfectly functioning 20″ wheelers also weigh in at less than 10 kg (preferably less than 9) and handle like a biggie, including speed? The only offering that comes to my mind would be Oribike’s two carbon models, and they have a very strange handle bar / front arrangement.

I really want to say something nice, because I’m all for innovation, so uhm, it’s cool that they’re trying to make a folder with legit size wheels.

That said, there are several obvious problems with this design. First, the reason folder wheels are so small is that uh, the wheels are the biggest part of the bike. Nice that it fits in a tennis bag, but those 700c wheels need to go somewhere. Second, that rear shifting mech is going to get bound up. It’s much too sharp an angle for the chain to take so close to the chainrings, and would need a great deal more chain tension to make the shifting work in the rear well at all. Third, that rear derailluer mechanism is going to be loud and wear out quickly I think. Look at your average front mech which uses a plate-based shifting system after a year of decent use. there’s a reason why rear mechs are more or less chain touch free. Imagine the typical wear on a front mech times the number of times you usually shift a rear mech. It’s not going to be pretty. It’s also not wise to trivialize high-normal vs. low-normal. These things work in much different ways.

An idea for the rear mech might be to allow for instead a different FRONT mech, perhaps with a user-actuated safety release that actually moves the chain to a position even further inside than where a front ring would normally be. That would more or less allow the rear mech to line up at full spring tension, out of the way for storage. It would also if done right allow for off the shelf shifters and derailluers to be used, allowing for simple replacement in damage and well understood mechanics for adjustment/repairs.

And finally, you can’t show it being assembled without a very large wrench. That’s a big failure for the folding bike crowd. the tube shapes + collapsing method look feasible, but it’s got to be no tools if you want it to really sell.

Also….why have to carry the wheels separately? Well if any of you spent a chunk of time traveling with a bike meant for planes (as well as trains) you’d get it. But hey, most on here are Americans so let me explain.

Planes:
Max bag size. Ritchey bags actually are a hair big. If the ticket person pulls out a tape measure, hello $75 up fee.

Bike fee: Technically even if you have a bike in a case under the max bag size, if it’s a bike they still can hit you for $150. I almost did once. I know others who have.

This design keeps things separate. Been my long time thought that would be the best way to approach this.

Trains:
Small spaces. Cramped. All trains are different storage wise. Smaller footprint of this design solves many issues.

Yep, I’m still really happy with my Brompton. Small fold w/ wheels, no tools, a respectable ride quality for the wheel size (42.25 inch wheelbase and about an inch of rear travel) and gate check? Check. Seven days in London with a front bag and backpack and no problems made for one great trip. Nothing wrong with the breakaway bikes, but the disassembly/reassembly time on either side is the rub. If you have the time, they’re great. This FUBI bike is fairly clever, but there’s a lot of improvement to be done here. Good luck though.

I think its cool. No getting around the wheel size if you want a decent rolling/handling bike.
This guy needs to get together with the Dyson guy.

Obviously, it’s clearly bringing more problems this idea.

-Completely unique shifting system.
-Unique wheels. forget about using your own wheels or any hub.
-Heavy.
-Expensive.
-It require tools.
-Front and rear wheel interchangeable is breaking an invention of Cino Cinelli. If they didn’t pay for the license to use it, it’s illegal. Andif the Cinelli system is not patented, is very low to use it without mentioning them.

*spoiler* I didnt read Gregs comment before I typed this, smart guy beat me to it*** I dont think it is fair to compare the amount of wear exhibited on a front derailleur as a reason to dislike the rear derailleurs’ rather primitive design. A rear derailleur uses pulley’s it needs to handler chain tension as well as fine gear ratio adjustment. A front derailleur is responsible for a very large leap in gear ratio. The chain climbs to a much higher gear on the front derailleur. It therefore experiences a much more demanding task. With the chain tensioner at the chainring, the rear derailleur simply has less to do. It is relieved of the task of chain tension. The derailleur idea seems at least feasible. It appears that the large bolts for assemble might be similarly sized so you can probably only have to worry about 2 tools. Its just a cool idea. Im not a hater. Everything is proprietary these days. Who cares?

@Sevo & JasonK,
I have a Co-Motion with S&S couplers. When it’s packed in its case with a bit of gear, it’s usually pushing the 62″ & 50 lbs limit for standard checked baggage. One way to avoid the pesky airline agent is to use curbside check-in. A $5 tip guarantees no tape measure or scale.

Hi,

Im one from the FUBi team and I can see you all dont know how FUBi is really working.

1. derailleur: Our derailleur work really well it may look to simple to belive that but we have tested it alot and from our experice it work better than a “normal” shifting system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExmabGiU6n4

2. The folding of FUBi: FUBi has 2 ways of folding one faster and one compact. The compact you can use when you need it to be really smal for storage or long distance transportaion.
The faster you can fit 2 FUBis in a smart car so is not that a benefit from a non folding full size bike?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycSfd6Eunnc

3. The prize: Its not much for a titanium bike and this is even foldable in 2 ways.
4. Yes Fubi need tools rigth now but we will in the next production models have it so the fast way is with out tools.

5. About the cinelli: FUBi uses a totally diffrent system we have the bearings in the frame. and the hubs are no moving parts in.
@Greg Kopecky and @MaLol you should take a more look on things before posting.

This is pretty innovative. Great to see something different. At first I was skeptical, but looking at the additional videos I see a bike that can be assembled in 2 minutes and has a working derailleur, which seem to be everyone’s concerns.

The only real question that I have is how does it ride? All those connections might make it sloppy. Also, it’s kind of a shame that the titanium won’t be used to it’s fullest potential (better stiffness or suppleness in different parts) again due to all those separate pieces and connections. But I understand the benefit of keeping it around normal road bike weight.

This is a terrific piece of design. I own a Birdy folding bike and while it is great fun to ride, it took me some time to get used to not seeing a wheel in front of me. I will probable never get used to the different feel of a small wheel bicycle, I do prefer the way a large wheel bike can coast and yes I own a couple of big wheel bikes. However, if I lived in London and had to commute by the Tube, I’d ride a Brompton. Al the best with your project, i will follow it with interest.

Why is this better than Montague or Dahon Espresso or even iPed and other under $200 full size folders?