(Picture from Bicycle Quarterly to show what I mean)
Hoping to do some touring locally (Canada) and in Europe this summer. The flexibility of being able to take a train connection would be a nice backup and also help for out-and-back type trips. In order to do that the connections I'd be using won't take assembled bicycles only "folding" ones or rinko'd ones. Some of the size requirements are quite tight.
I have a touring bike with full racks and fenders. Definitely more equipped than a rando or light tourer. I recently upgraded the headset to a sealed one so I can dissasemble it with minimal mess, but I'm wondering how small I can make my bike without eliminating racks, fenders etc.
Is rinko-ing such a bike even practical? Anyone with experience here, what have you learned? What compromises – if any – did you make so your bicycle is easy to pack away? Did you need special racks and fenders (Rene Herse seems to suggest the need for split fenders)?
Any tips, tricks, and sharing of experiences welcomed. Thanks in advance.
by _brkt_
4 Comments
I toured Japan and didn’t take any trains specifically because I didn’t want to rinko.
I DID see others do it. It didn’t seem bad but i would not pull the stem. That pic is weird and seems idealized.
What I would do, get a cardboard bike box from a store and box the bike. Tilt or take off the handlebars, pull the pedals, and remove one wheel. Add bubble wrap and zip ties or tape.
When you get to your destination trash the box. Get another when you are ready to move on. If you are ‘base camping ‘ it you can keep the box at the base room/camp until you move on
I did I a trip through Switzerland and France last summer – no fenders, but we had racks, and primarily rinko-d our bikes for trains and hotels. Our bikes weren’t made specifically for rinko-ing, but we just disassembled them as needed to transport.
For racks, we found it easy to remove the rack from the bike and strap them to the folded and secured frame before you bagged your bike. Usually this was around a fork or a wheel, with the goal of fitting it inside the overall fork of the strapped bag. Extra voile straps or ties are really useful for this.
I can’t speak to fenders myself, but the picture you attached shows the fender strapped to the wheel so the wheel sits inside the fender. Could you do that? I think the photo has split fenders but I think you could still use the same idea either way a full fender if you packed it carefully.
Please do not rinko a bike with full fenders and racks. I toured across Japan a few years ago and had to do this to take a train to meet some friends. It was, to put it politely, not comfortable. Now, I’m not the strongest guy, and maybe a stronger guy can handle their bike with one hand and all their other shit with the other. But I cannot.
Also, I have never ever seen a touring bike fit into a rinko even ten percent as cleanly as your picture suggests.
If you are going to do this, buy the bag first and practice.
I use Rinko bags fairly often. The picture you’ve posted is pretty extreme. I just took the front wheel off, strap it up, put it in the bag. Takes 5 minutes.
I use racks and it’s no problem. I just leave them on the bike. As long as your bag is the right size everything should fit.
Full fenders could be a problem which is why I use Ass Savers. Pop them off and throw them in the bag.