Quest 2.0 in a suitcase - questions

[DaveOBrien]

I'm interested in a recumbent that packs into a suitcase for travel, hence my interest in the Quest 2.

This would be for overseas travel. I like the suitcase idea instead of a bike box because:
- It avoids the airline charge for bikes (which can add up on multi-segment flights).
- When I travel with my Dahon folder in a suitcase, it just feels cool to "sneak" a bike onto the plane. ;^)

John's videos of packing/unpacking a Quest are very helpful, but a few questions more:

- What's the weight of the packed bike? (My Dahon comes pretty close to the 23kg limit of Air NZ, for example.)

- I have a 29" Samsonsite suitcase (F'lite or Oyster, can't remember). Would a Quest 451 fit, or do I need a 30 or 31" suitcase?

- I assume the 559 Quest doesn't fit in a suitcase?

Thanks for any help!

 

[John Tolhurst]

Hi Dave, 
The weight will be

Hi Dave,
The weight will be of course bike weight plus suitcase weight. The bike is 32 lbs, probably the 451 wheels are a bit less, so 14.5 kg. The suitcase shouldn't be more than 4 or 5 Kg, right? so under 20 kg is very feasible. I travelled from North Carolina to Taiwan with a Quest 451 in a suitcase as part of out testing. (Sorry I don't remember the weight

, it might have been 18 Kg)

You will need the 31" F'lite, unless you want to release the fork from the frame.

Yes, you will need the 451 wheels. Unless you can split the packing over two suitcases.

 

[DaveOBrien]

re: suitcase

Hi John, thanks for that info. Sounds like it's pretty close to my Dahon (28 lbs), which when packed with other bike junk and clothes, comes close to the 23 kg limit. So I'll just have to transfer a few things to my carry-on to stay under the weight limit.

Just checked airlinesbagfees.com and it says that United now charges $100 for a bike box domestic ($200 international!), so being able to pack a recumbent in a suitcase will be a big money-saver over time.

One remaining question - what to do with the suitcase while touring?

I know that Bike Friday has a conversion kit to turn the suitcase into a trailer (clever), but the thought of dealing with trailer wheels on narrow shoulders makes me a bit uncomfortable. Wonder if their kit would attach to the Quest's back end?

Of course, could get the suitcase forwarded to my destination city, but that takes more time and effort.

Wondering (and this may be a dumb idea) if it's possible to put the suitcase on the back of the bike somehow. It's bulky, yes, and would need a wider rack, but wouldn't weigh much empty (i.e. use conventional panniers to carry the actual stuff).

Could even put stuff in it and get rid of the panniers, but that amount of weight mounted relatively high on the bike would probably be a bad idea, yes?

Anyway, thanks for your help. I have 2 weeks open at the end of a trip to Vancouver, so thinking about a nice recumbent tour down to Oregon, before returning to NZ.

Thanks!

 

[John Tolhurst]

Go the heavy duty quest rack

Go with the heavy duty quest rack to carry weight on the back. Whether you can attach the suitcase is up to you. I think it would be possible to keep th e weight distribution within the suitcase well forward. Weight at that height is not an issue.

 

[billyk]

just sell the suitcase and buy another!

DaveObrien -

Since the Samsonite suitcases sell for less than $100usd, I'd say it would be easier to sell it on arrival and buy a new one when you leave! It's pretty easy to sell stuff in the US using craigslist dot com (you would need a local phone). Even giving it away or abandoning it would seem to be worth the trouble of carting it along on a bike trip. The coast road can be very windy, and windage on a large light item sounds like big trouble.

(Winds on the Washington-Oregon coast will usually be from the north during summer and from the south during winter, in both cases with an onshore component. And note that in summer the coast is *very* foggy and cool.)

BK

 

[Kim Tolhurst]

Quest 20 inch.

Hi, When I travel by air, nationally, with the Quest 20 inch it goes into a suitcase that I buy for a few dollars from an opportunity shop. The total weight with cycle clothes is under 23 kg, usually. After giving away the said suitcase, at destination, I can then buy another for the return air trip. On another occaision I put a conversion kit CB into a suitcase, with 26inch wheels and flew to South Korea. This bike was well dismantled to do this, not difficult. On another trip to South Korea I took a CB conversion kit and applied it to a new Y framed mountain bike there.

cheers, Kim.
www.cruzbiking.com.au First Ride

PS. At the time of trips to SK
I was a resident on NZ.

 

[DaveOBrien]

re: suitcase

Billy, thanks for the tips about the weather and winds. I haven't done my research on that ride yet, so could change my route, but cool with a north semi-tailwind sounds good to me. ;^)

Kim, good idea to find used suitcases just in time.

Don't relish the idea of taking the suitcase on the ride, so will either sell it like Billy mentioned, get a cheap one and ditch it, or get it forwarded to my destination (UPS quotes about $60 depending on weight).

John, about that heavy rack:
- How do you manage wheel clearance when using panniers? An add-on side frame of some kind?
- The rack looks like it also replaces the seat post. Will it still fit into the suitcase with the bike?

Thanks again!

 

[John Tolhurst]

front right corner

We'll have to help you rig something up to manage the tendency of the pannieres to swing side to side. I built the rack for strength, I havn't yet got side rails for it. I have not tested the pack of the rack into the suitcase, unfortunately, I havn't had all items in my hand at the same time. My expectation is that it will fit in the front right corner, if you study the packing video.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi Dave,
This may very well

Hi Dave,

This may very well not be worth it but:

I can imagine trying to modify the Samsomnite suitcase (bigger wheels and a way to attach to the seat post) so that it could work as a passible trailer (similar to what Bike Friday comes with). In this case, you'd not only have a way to take the suitcase with you, but you'd also have some amount of travelling capacity.

There are many possible downsides to this, but I think it could work and would be quite cool.

Cheers,
Charles

 

[Jake]

451 wheels on 559 fork

how well does a 559 frame and fork, but with 451 wheels, pack into a case?

 

[John Tolhurst]

It won't go in the same size

It won't go in the same size suitcase. I think you would need a suitcase 100 mm taller.

 

[Doug Huffman]

Packing Quest II 20" off to Maui.

In February 2012, we sucessfully shipped our folding bikes to Maui and back, a Bike Friday AirGlide and my Quest II 20". They traveled in Samsonite Flytes via USPS Parcel Post for $50 each, each way. We shipped them a month in advance (from our rural and isolated Island) and they were delivered the same day that we arrived.

We will not ship bicycles to Maui again. The tourists and the kama'aina are distracted by their narrow interests on narrow traditional roads. If we want bikes, we'll rent wedgie beaters.

We did visit Sushi Koiso while Papa Sama was still elated by his Japanese State Visit.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi,
It turns out (not

Hi,

It turns out (not surprisingly) that I'm not the only person who though converting a suitcase into a trailer was a good idea. Bike Friday has a kit for doing exactly this. These aren't cheap, but you can often find deals for refurbished ones on eBay. And I'm sure one could be built from scratch easily enough.

This is actually wickedly cool. You get to your destination, unpack your bike from the suitcase, put your other bag (whatever you flew with) inside the suitcase trailer, and ride away from the airport. Taxis! I don't need no stinkin' taxis!

If I ever get a bike I can get into a suitcase, I'm very likely going to try this. Let's start a revolution!

(I mean, let's start another revolution since we're already half way into the FWD MBB revolution. )

Cheers,
Charles

 

[Doug Huffman]

Trailers, convertable

In re trailers, my wife towed her BF Carlton case as a trailer on our 1200 mile self-contained 2003 trip from Seabrook Island, Charleston, SC to New Smyrna Beach, Florida and back. Perhaps significantly, she has not used it so again.

It was occasionally difficult to impossible for her to keep all three wheel tracks on smooth pavement, particularly in Florida with its 'cat-track' rumble strips on the shoulder. To ride wholly inside the rumbles put the right most wheel in the trash. To ride wholly left of the rumbles made her feel too exposed to traffic and to split the difference put the bicycle in the rumbles.

I was riding a Vanguard and towing a BOB Yak that all worked perfectly. Our third was on a Bruce Gordon BLT with panniers.

We have, also little used now, a BF kayak trailer. On Seabrook Island, my wife towed her kayak the mile and a half to the put-in.

 

[WOB]

451 Wheels / 559 Fork - An Alternative ?

G'day John:

Great reading up on the evolution of Cruzbike in recent months and wondering if there might be an alternative packing option relative to Jake's above-referenced inquiry of September 9:

In a separate thread (Qwest [sic] & commuting) John Zabriskie indicates that the 559 chainstay is 3 5/8" longer than that of the 451.

While I realize that some folks have indicated how tight the two axle pivots are, from my thumbnail calculations it appears that the longer chainstay could fit in the same suitcase if it were swung up (i.e., parallel to the boom) after removing the corresponding bolts?

Or is that disassembly really more challenging than it looks?

Thanks for your time, advice and rockin' designs!

Bill

 

[mickjordan]

Airline costs

Although it's cheaper to use a regulation sized suitcase, it's not free. The airlines charge per segment for a second bag. I paid $70 each way on United this year from SFO to London. Last year, I paid $150 to go to Paris because of a stopover in London on the way out.

Also, if your case isn't hard, damage is quite likely. I have a hardshell S+S case for a DF bike, but that probably wouldn't work for a Quest. I was on the weight limit with all the accessories packed in.

 

[Bryanmcn]

26" wheels in a suitcase?

Kim - You said "I put a conversion kit CB into a suitcase, with 26inch wheels and flew to South Korea"
How did you get a 26" wheel in a suitcase? Even wthout the wheels on the rims are too big to fit in a standard case.

 

[Kim Tolhurst_2]

suit case size for 26".

Hi Bryanmcn, It must have been a slightly bigger than standard case. I will look for a pic. and remember it was atight fit and much disembly.

Kim.

 

[Bryanmcn]

Travelling case?

Hi Kim
Pictures would be good. Aslo the brand / model of luggage you used. Travelling with a kit and one wheel already switched to the long shaft would make conversions go very fast!

 

[Kim Tolhurst_2]

hard case

Sure will look for pics. The said suit case was from a charity shop, no idea of brand. ( 6 years ago now)

K.