Discussing bicycles and Mooney's........

[kortopates]

Nice - what kind of bags are those?

The wheel bags are a light reinforced clear plastic bags made for holiday reefs. They each carry a pair of wheels with sheets of bubble plastic to protect them. The larger bike frame bags are light cordura like nylon bags. All procured at a local store specializing in duffle bags.

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[jackn]

Thanks for the suggestions. I bought cheap BBQ covers from KMart and wheel covers from the bike shop. As you can see, my road bike fits easily. I removed the co-pilot seat, it only takes a couple of minutes.

[cpbloch]

I also am an avid biker/racer.  The first picture is a perfect summer day,  flew the mooney early in the morning to Frankfort MI, landed at a grass strip during a balloon launch,  rode the bike 6 miles to town raced a road race and was home by noon.  Perfect use of a great airplane on a nice day.

I do travel with my race bikes from time to but, but have to remove the back seat cushion on my 1967 F model and fold the back seats down. Then it is a very tight fit , I don't have a bag but I can see where it would be a good idea.   This year I purchased (2) bromptons,  these are the best folding bikes you can buy in my mind.  (2) of them fit into the baggage compartment and only take up half of the baggage compartment.  They fold and un fold in 2 minutes and they are relatively easy and fun to ride.  They are  $ 1,700 to $ 2,000 so not cheap but they are very quick and easy to get in and out of the plane for the wife and I.  Check out the brompton side for more information they are great bikes.  They are so easy to fold and take that I bring them most places we take the plane, 

[Jeev]

I thought there was a mod you could do to convert your rear seat to the fold down? I vaguely recall there was a HowTo somewhere.

 

My 78J folds down.

I didn't know about that!!! I will do a search and a new post.  Thank you

[Marauder]

I also am an avid biker/racer.  The first picture is a perfect summer day,  flew the mooney early in the morning to Frankfort MI, landed at a grass strip during a balloon launch,  rode the bike 6 miles to town raced a road race and was home by noon.  Perfect use of a great airplane on a nice day.

I do travel with my race bikes from time to but, but have to remove the back seat cushion on my 1967 F model and fold the back seats down. Then it is a very tight fit , I don't have a bag but I can see where it would be a good idea.   This year I purchased (2) bromptons,  these are the best folding bikes you can buy in my mind.  (2) of them fit into the baggage compartment and only take up half of the baggage compartment.  They fold and un fold in 2 minutes and they are relatively easy and fun to ride.  They are  $ 1,700 to $ 2,000 so not cheap but they are very quick and easy to get in and out of the plane for the wife and I.  Check out the brompton side for more information they are great bikes.  They are so easy to fold and take that I bring them most places we take the plane, 

Wish you were closer. Love to see one of these in person.

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[carusoam]

I think Bryan, the off road Mooney pilot, detailed the efforts required to fold down the back of the back seat...

if not, it was somebody else.

Best regards,

-a-

[Hank]

You're right, Anthony, it was Bryan. Here's the thread, but it doesn't appear to contain the details.

 

[gsxrpilot]

Bryan's document showing the rear seat folding mod is attached here.

Folding Mooney Seats.pdf

[aviatoreb]

Thanks for the suggestions. I bought cheap BBQ covers from KMart and wheel covers from the bike shop. As you can see, my road bike fits easily. I removed the co-pilot seat, it only takes a couple of minutes.

That is exactly what I have been doing - BBQ covers from walmart, and then actual wheel bags that I purchased from ebay.  I usually also take off my seat post since I have a big bike - 61cm - but I leave my wife's on since she is short(er).

[aviatoreb]

If I am solo and I am going to maybe an overnight work trip - sometimes I will bring my montague quick folder. 

http://www.montaguebikes.com/swissbike-x50-mountain-folding-bikes.html

It rides like a full size mountain bike since it has standard 26'' wheels, disk brakes and it is quite sturdy enough to ride for real and to ride it hard off road - I have had it for at least 10 years.  It folks small enough that with wheels off it will go in through the baggage door - and it folds very quickly.  And wheels in wheel bags through the front door.  I do this when either I am in an urban environment and I don't want to fuss with a road bike or fuss with packing since it is just a business trip really - sometimes even I will bring this bike and a triangle rear wheel trainer just to have something to do in the hotel room in the evening - since I am a boring nerd at night anyway and I am not one to go out and hit the city.

[manoflamancha]

I bought a Brompton folding bicycle for travel and it works great. It folds to a large suitcase size that will fit into even a Mooney! 

[unicom]

On 30 septembre 2015 at 8:44 PM, cpbloch said:

This year I purchased (2) bromptons,  these are the best folding bikes you can buy in my mind.  (2) of them fit into the baggage compartment and only take up half of the baggage compartment.  They fold and un fold in 2 minutes and they are relatively easy and fun to ride.  They are  $ 1,700 to $ 2,000 so not cheap but they are very quick and easy to get in and out of the plane for the wife and I.  Check out the brompton side for more information they are great bikes.  They are so easy to fold and take that I bring them most places we take the plane, 

Hello,

I am very much thinking of buying 2 Brompton Foding Bike as well as they are supposed to be the most compact bikes for transportation.

I was just curious to get some return of experience on how you manage to make them travel all the way to the cargo compartment of the Mooney ?!?

Comparing the size of the bike when folded and the dimension of the cargo door (Mooney M20J), it seems to me that this is not going to work :-(

Therefore it looks like the only option is to slide the bike behind the copilot seat and carefully move it to the cargo compartment...

How difficult is it, without ruining my nice leather seats ?

Brompton is selling a carry case for the bike (soft or semi-rigid). Would you see that as an added difficulty to store the bikes in the aircraft ?

Thank you so much for your feedback.

Philippe

 

 

[cpbloch]

The bromptons just fit thru the baggage door barely,. You need  to put them diagonal thru the door and they will fit but as said it is real close,. Mine have the medium bar rise also.   I like them for folding bikes they work great amd ride ok for a really well engineered folding bike.  

They only go in one way also, and you kind of have to rock them on the way in to get them to fit, but they will fit 

[TWinter]

We just bought a couple folding bikes. With it being tax time and in order to maintain my membership in the CB club I've just ordered cheaper Dahon and Retrospec folding bikes.

Hopefully they will fit in the Mooney backseat. These are lower-end folding bikes, but we just wanted to give it a try and see how we like it. She is an avid rider and has a high-end road bike, me not so much. I know I'll like the fact we have more freedom once we land someplace and the crew car is not available..sometimes we would rather ride anyway. Usually I fly solo so mine will probably stay in the plane pretty regular, she only likes to fly when the GPS line is pointing to warmer weather and the ocean. If they fit we will take them to Marathon, Florida and ride the beach area in a few months. Should be fun and a new experience to our flying.

 

-Tom

[anthonydesmet]

Thanks Tony!  Great idea about the BBQ cover, never thought of that.  I have my backseat down 99% of the time since it is mostly my wife and I and sometimes the dogs so I can put my QR CD01.  I do Tri's and not so much TT's.  I plan on heading over to he Bahamas this November for Conchman so all these ideas are going to come in handy.  

 

I goes to figure that a majority of us Mooney owners are into athletic hobbies....goes along with our Adult onset ADD...hah!

[aviatoreb]

19 minutes ago, anthonydesmet said:

Thanks Tony!  Great idea about the BBQ cover, never thought of that.  I have my backseat down 99% of the time since it is mostly my wife and I and sometimes the dogs so I can put my QR CD01.  I do Tri's and not so much TT's.  I plan on heading over to he Bahamas this November for Conchman so all these ideas are going to come in handy.  

 

I goes to figure that a majority of us Mooney owners are into athletic hobbies....goes along with our Adult onset ADD...hah!

The nice thing about BBQ covers is besides keeping the furniture clean, it also makes for the bike being slippery with no sharp ends inside the bbq cover, so it slips right in through the front door without much fuss, no worry about chain grease etc.

I do recommend proper wheel bags that are like 25 bucks on ebay for the wheels since they are simple and easy to use.

[xrs135]

Two Dahon Speed Uno's (ordered from Amazon) fit into the baggage compartment of my 68' C! I don't even have to remove the seat! Just fold them up and put them in. Quality of the bikes seems relatively high!

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