"Dahon Jack" folding bike at our campsite in Florida
Putting bikes on the roof of your car is like dragging an anchor with weeds attached to deep mucky water. Your milage gets hit, you have to scream to communicate to your co-pilot in order to rise above the howling noise-floor, you are always at risk of loosing parts while forcing 70mph winds through those spokes and after 3000 miles of wind, dust, dirt, salt and water your bikes need a lot of love to unsquawk themselves and you have more grease on your Airstream than on your bike chain.
Putting bikes in the trailer was not an option, especially in our 16 foot DWR Airstream. So I thought why not use folding bikes. But, I wanted full size “folders”. I’m not a fan of the wobbly nature of the small folding bikes out there. I also didn’t want to spend a fortune on bikes we mostly use to tool around campgrounds.
The Solution
I found a fat tire folding moutain-ish bike for around $600. The Dahon Jack D7 Folding Bike. I works very well for our needs. We added baskets to the front so we could haul our recycling to the campsite recycling bin, the trash to the dumpster, the wine to our friends and the food to our picnic.
Both “folders” fit in the back of our Volvo XC90 and are protected from the elements and we can listen to music while driving again.
A New Option
Airstream just announced a bike rack for the back of the Airstream. It requires drilling and clutters up the backside of the silver bubble. I still prefer folding bikes packed away securely if you have the extra space in your vehicle. Otherwise there now is new official option in town.
