I'm of the mindset that whenever I end up in a large city, that they'd be a lot more useful and frugal than petrol money guzzlers and expensive public tour transport.
Renting bikes is out of the questions because it's just a scam to guzzle money out of gullible tourists. I should know.
But then again, I don't want to be more susceptible to getting robbed.
Another option is to just log into the local Second Hand Seller site, and just get a one-time cheap bicycle from the closest source there. And dump it for 50% of the price as soon as I'm done.
What's your advice anons?
It's one of the most stupid ideas i've ever heard.
Have you ever been on one?
Yes...
That's why I'm asking.
I'm also asking because the idea of not having to either rent a car, or pay for a daily tourist travel card, seems more appealing to me just to save some souvenir money.
The question is if you can back up your own credibility.
It entirely depends on where you are going and what you plan to do, without knowing the context of this it's impossible to say
>pay for a daily tourist travel card
If a day pass in a main city per day is a show stopper for you in terms of travel, stay the frick home.
>If a day pass in a main city per day is a show stopper for you in terms of travel, stay the frick home.
This. You are literally a tourist, your cheap ass is going to have to get used to spending more than a local. The cost of the bike and fees to transport it greatly outweigh just renting a bike for a few hours each day.
Why bring a bike, an electric scooter is smaller and faster. You bring a bike and you will always worry about it getting stolen. Now you have to bring a heavy lock. Probably can't fly with the battery though.
It really depends on the airlines, too. On eg. low-cost airlines it tends to be cheaper to bring a bike than a piece of luggage.
OP, remember that they will ask you to deflate the tires. It's all bullshit. Maybe don't fully inflate it, but you don't have to worry about it exploding unless your bike bag is useless, in which case it's all going to be wrecked anyway.
Bromptons are fantastic as long as they are properly maintained. I used to use it daily to get to work. But Black folk ruined downtown where I used to live. Oh well. Those were the days. Not sure how you are going to fly with it though.
Seems easy enough here:
https://www.bikefolded.com/carry-folding-bike-onto-airplane/
Though additional fees vary by travel company.
>didn't manage to shoehorn in a comment about how much it cost and act like it's the first time in history anyone has paid more than $100 for a bike and how special you are but it was totally worth it
You're not a brompton owner
>racist
Oh ok nvm you might be, but I'm still skeptical
Skeptical? I'm certain you are a homosexual moron.
Ok fine, sorry. "That's a cool bike! Please tell me how many ameridollars did it cost you. As you can see from the fact that I am just being polite by feigning interest, I am just dying to know exactly how much it cost. I'll bet it's an impressive sum. Was it two thousand dollars? Whoa! That's a lot for a bike! Bet you must be pretty serious about biking huh? Huh? No? You're not one of those lycra guys? You just think it's a cool way to get around? Just like in europe? Oh I would just LOVE to hear about your european vacation for the next 25 minutes, I would love to know how much better the food is there and how it's so different yet the same, just goes to show you we're all just humans. Did they have a different kind of money too? Tell me everything about that city and how different it was, that sounds awesome! Now I want to sit here while you scroll through your phone looking for that picture of that cool thing. No it's ok I'll wait. No really it's fine. I have nothing better to do, this is really really REALLY interesting, I totally agree we should ban cars, duuuude."
This is my first time seeing someone triggered by a bike brand. Interesting, yet moronic.
>>>/n/
yeah they're alright, but they only make them in manlet sizes
if you're taller than 5'10 or fatter than 75kg you're too big for a monkey bike
Foldable bikes are fin if the places you are going a primarily flat and the distances you intend to travel are here and there. They suck the entirety of the rest of your trip, like let's be real here. Where are you going that renting a cheap bike for the day, or a day pass for bus/metro is THAT expensive or unavailable?
Once you need to move locations how are you also transporting that bike? These things tend to have more strict weight requirements so just loading yourself up with luggage and riding is ill advised.
i have a folding bike and i kind of regret buying it. It might be good if you find a really lightweight one, but theyre honestly kinda awkward to lug around
Seems to call for a relatively straightforward cost-benefit analysis to me.
>I'm of the mindset that whenever I end up in a large city, that they'd be a lot more useful and frugal than petrol money guzzlers
Varies by country and region, but I agree very strongly that most large cities are better without cars than with them anyway. I rent cars here and there, but they’re for travel to rural areas, or between cities, never for use in urban centers. Along with potentially expensive fuel, parking is rarely cheap, and often not easy.
>and expensive public tour transport.
Here I don’t know if I agree. I think that in most cities with reasonably good public transit networks, transit typically works out to be relatively cheap. I know that the last three or four times I’ve bought daily or weekly transit cards I’ve done the math to see that I ended up paying less than I would have by buying individual fares.
For a folding bike to be a better deal financially, it would depend on initial cost, cost to bring it with you (will you end up spending more checking it as a bag than you normally would?), and how much transit it would wind up replacing in the end.
And how useful the bike is in the first place is obviously going to vary a lot by location. Some cities are just bike-friendlier than others. I’d rather cut my leg off than try to navigate Bangkok or Dubai on a bicycle, for example. Not a strictly financial metric, but I value my comfort and safety pretty highly.
I have nothing specific against foldable bikes, and if you really prefer to get around on your own two wheels in unfamiliar cities I can think of worse things to do, but I have a hard time seeing this as a major cost-cutter.
I'm gonna be flying to France in about three and a half months to spend seven months teaching English in a high school. I'll also do some traveling while I'm there.
Since I'm an American, I'm used to owning a car. I figure I'll be able to get around the small-ish town I'll be living in pretty well on foot, but I wonder if it'd be a good investment to get a folding bike before (or after) I leave.
Thoughts?
also I'm 5'9 and 165 pounds so not a huge guy.
If the high school in question is located in Cergy, Clichy, Grigny, Mantes-La-Jolie (and a thousand other cities), you'd better bring a tank.
it's not anywhere near paris
it's in charente-maritime
I would get one in France. Only get a folding one if you are absolutely sure you want to take it with you on train trips or bus trips to other smaller towns. If you are gonna visit any bigger town, they will have their own share velo programme, and you will not need to take your bike on those day trips.
To get an idea about the prices
https://rochefort.cyclable.com/tous-les-velos/#?order_by=price&order_way=asc&selected_manufacturers=
They might be happy to buy the bike back before you leave, though it's obviously gonna be for a much lower price.
Also remember that if you buy the bike locally, the shop can help you with maintenance to an extent. Not like there's many things that could break during 7 months, but still. It's nice to have a bike shop contact where they know the bike and are always very happy to lend their pump or whatever, and not just giving it to you with a frown.
You can technically take normal bikes on some trains as well, but then you have to pay, etc.
I'll definitely consider this. Getting one of the cheaper ones for around 700 and reselling it, even for only half the value, seems a lot better to me than going through the rigamarole of getting a car.
Merci mon frère
I'll be in a certain seaside resort town (which the American military napalmed for no good reason in WWII)
Sorry bros...
I'm considering getting an apartment in Saintes instead and commuting by train to Royan for my 12 hours teaching a week. It's about a 30 minute train ride but I feel like it might be worth it. In the first place the biggest reason I'm even going over is for the experience of living somewhere beautiful, and a town hailed as a "laboratory of research on urbanism" really doesn't tickle my aesthetic senses. Beside that I figure that, being a resort town, everything is probably more expensive in Royan than elsewhere.
Thoughts from Frenchmen?
bookmarked. I'll see what's on offer in a few months when I get there
I can't justify spending more to rent a car for a few months than I spent to purchase my current car.
If you're in La Rochelle you'll be fine without a car, you can take the train to either Bordeaux, Britany or Loire Valley easily, you can do the whole coastline by bike.
But, if you're in a shithole inland, then it will be harder.
buy a used bike on "leboncoin"
Most French people commute by car. Lease a Clio or something similar.
Nope. They ride like shit. You have to pedal twice as fast to go half as far because the wheels are fricking tiny. Just buy a regular old used bike.
No. Because even a shitty chinesium folding bike is going to take an obnoxious amount of trips to have any return vs its purchase price and baggage fees.
If you're on a road trip, just bring a normal bike, you weirdo.