RSSDahon Bullhead: On the trail in Columbia, Missouri
Jul 09
Brompton folding bikes, Dahon folding bikes, Other folding bike category bike touring, Dahon folding bike, folding bicycle, folding bike No Comments
I have always thought of myself as a road cyclist. And the reason is pretty simple: if you want to ride a bicycle from your front door to the store, bike shop, work, wherever, you use a road to get there. And since I didn’t own a car until I was 29, I spent a lot of time pedaling on the road, developing favorite routes and hoping for better street design and maintenance.
It would have been nice to have a Midtown Mini folding bike like the Dahon Bullhead back then: a bike with a wide tire but a responsive ride, a bike easily stashed inside a friend’s Subaru DL at the end of a long day, a bike that would have fit behind the couch I slept on during those magic days when Don Johnson’s two-day stubble was in style.
Folding bikes make riding a bike so much more convenient
Folding bike on the MKT trail
If the this folding bike had existed 30 years ago, it would have been a great bicycle for transportation riding. It certainly is today. Relatively lightweight yet wide-tired, it’s perfect for spending more time watching traffic and less time actively negotiating the road surface. And because the Dahon bikes fold, you can easily park one in the best parking spot there is: your living quarters.
So it surprised me how much I liked riding the Dahon Bullhead on the MKT Trail in Columbia, Missouri. After all, the crushed limestone surface would seem to reward somewhat taller wheels. Until you take those 20-inchers out for a spin and find, surprise, that they spin quite well.
Before pedaling off, I raised the my folding bicycle‘s handlebars. This was, after all, a pleasure cruise, not a fight through high headwinds. A 5mm wrench lets you angle the quill of the Bullhead’s stem upwards; a 4mm lets you rotate the handlebars within the stem so the brake levers and shifters are at the proper angle. Takes just a few seconds.
A beautiful trail to cruise on my folding bike
The city maintains the first 4.7 miles of the MKT; Boone County takes care of an additional 4.2 miles before the MKT meets the state’s crown jewel, the KATY Trail, which follows the Missouri River through the center of the state, from St. Charles (near St. Louis) to Sedalia in the west. I read recently that the trail may, after 30 years, finally be extended to nearly reach Kansas City.
Unlike many recreational trails, you can actually use the KATY to get to towns dozens of miles away, as long as your destination is somewhere along the Missouri River. In both width and length, it is a superhighway of a trail and, because of geography, relatively free of road intersections. I especially like the eastern part of the KATY, in part due to its proximity to several wineries, including my favorite, Montelle. I didn’t have any time for the big trail during my visit, but I’ve ridden it many times in the past, usually on a tandem. Despite its shorter length, the MKT looks and feels just like the KATY.
Short rides are easy with a folding bicycle
Dahon Bullhead, folding bike meets falling rocks
But this weekend the folding bicycle wasn’t the focus of the trip, and so I was riding solo. One reason I went for a short ride was simply because the Dahon Bullhead made it so convenient to do so. No rack on the car, no taking wheels on and off—I didn’t even feel like I had to dress the part, except for a helmet. The nice thing about a solo ride, on a folding bike or any transportation-oriented bicycle, is being able to start and stop whenever you want to.
And I stopped quite often to take pictures. And said hello to every rider who apologized for riding into the shot of them I intended to take. Which was virtually every other picture I took.
Friendly folks. Nice trail. Great day. And no need to hitch a ride in that old Subaru. I headed back into town under my own power, smiling.
