Full size Bike conundrum solved! (w/pics)
 

Do you want to carry a full size bike and dont want to add a bike rack/ hitch or some other crazy contraption to make your rx-8 look bad. Buy a folder!

After doing a lot of research I finally decided on checking out the Montague line of folding bikes and much to my surprise the folded bike actually fit in the trunk of my car.

Keep in mind this was a full size 26" wheel mountain bike that completely fit in the back of my rx-8's trunk with room to spare! Even the dealer was surprised.

This is the bike I bought

http://www.montaguebikes.com/productcx.html

and here's a video of its folding mechanism in action and review

http://commutebybike.com/2006/12/09/...rooper-review/


The 1 thing you have to add to the bike to make it fit are removeable or pull out pedals. These will take off 6 more inches of the width of the folded bike which you will need. If you use the pedals that come with the bike or folding pedals it will not fit.




First pic of my car on this forum

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/911...0453ya4.th.jpg


Bike completely folded in the trunk

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5...0454mm0.th.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5...0455mn8.th.jpg

and the bike itself


http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1...0456ij7.th.jpg

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3...0460df9.th.jpg

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/4...0458is1.th.jpg





the bike gently resting on the car

http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/4...0461an8.th.jpg

I can fit a road bike with the wheels removed in the rear passenger space. The suicide doors makes it extremely easy to place/remove the bike from the back. The wheels are stored in the boot and with the quick release mechanism takes no more than 5 minutes to get up and running.

I don't think those folding bikes are lightweight... and they definitely don't look as cool compared to a proper road bike. :)

I'll take pics and edit this post to show you how it's done! :ylsuper:

nice! thats a crazy ass bike btw!

I know you can fit a bike by putting parts of it in the back seat. I have leather seats and choose not to put a bike or wheels on them.

and you're probably the first person to say the Montague doesnt look good.
When I was taking those pics I had a Seattle biking club stop and ask me questions about the bike and see it fold and everyone was all praises. It is a pretty cool looking bike up close and the entire bike weighs 30 pounds which is pretty light. It was made for the Us army paratroopers so that they could jump off a plane with it and assemble it anywhere

Hmm... I take it you might not be able to fit this bike in a trunk with a spare tire? If it's possible, I may consider one.

I can fit a full size road bike inside the trunk with both wheels off. No need to dirty the interior!:)

Hey I'm also from Seattle and ride with the Cascade Bike club occasionaly, is that who you were with? I do see a few 8s at local events such as STP, RAMROD, & Flying Wheels.

Laters!
Edgardo

damn. well done. haha

Well, more power to you for finding a solution, but 30lbs is not light for any bike, especially one with no suspension fork. Also I would hesitate to take that thing on anything like a decent mountain bike trail with "baby head" rocks scattered all over it. The kind of trail you see in the pic' below would crush a bike like that in seconds.

I think there is enough space to fit a spare tire if needed.

I have taken it on a trail near Seattle albeit a not so tough one and it handled it surprisingly well and was even comfortable. If you are a really hardcore biker and do tough trails all the time then yeah its probably not the right bike for you. It does have some cred though as being the bike developed by the US Govt for military use

http://www.militarybikes.com/military.html

Those guys were from Seattlebiketours.org and had just finished their run from Mercer Island to Kirkland. I really wanna do RAMROD someday, if nothing else just for the t-shirt ;)

Spare tire as in the spare tire kit for the car, and not a spare tire for the bike? :P Think that might work?

"Do you want to carry a full size bike and dont want to add a bike rack/ hitch or some other crazy contraption to make your rx-8 look bad"

Uh... so you wouldn't add a rack to your 8 because it would look bad? So what about the new problem you have about riding a bike that looks bad... :)

good job

I think its a pretty cool looking bike.

The montague folder reminds me of the old Klein Mantra. The Klein was an FS, but the look is similar. http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/thehile...antrarace.html

So how does it ride? I think for just zoomin around on rails-to-trails or general purpose use where weight is not a primary concern it should be a good bike. Good luck with it...

JR