Tobike is a portable bike that can be carried on a train as normal luggage.

It is a fully-equipped travel bike that can be folded, packed and transported as normal personal luggage. A travel bike that aims at overnights in B&Bs, hotels or the like. It is not useful to ride with a gigantic load for camping. A light ride is a good and pleasent ride.

The bike is not suitable for pendling, where quick folding and unfolding is required, nor as a bike for yachtsmen or something like that.

The bike rolls really well on its 20" (406) wheels, also with its two sets of 18 + 16 litre luggage. The front hub has built-in suspension of 8-10 mm (just under 0.5"), and the rear wheel has suspension travel of about 10 mm, pivoting around the bottom bracket, which leaves the chain completely unaffected.
The suspension eliminates most irritating vibrations, and the bike steers very accurately also on mountain downhills without any feeling of insecurity. The hydraulic disc brakes work extremely fine.

The bike has a gear range from 1.8 to 6.5 m (23" to 81") with ten steps at almost equal intervals, enough for continuous riding up 12% (1 in 8) gradients in the lowest gear, then you can spin the pedals up to about 38 km/h (24 mph) in the highest gear. Perfect for a touring bike. When you're rolling downhill at greater speed then there is no reason to pedal.

The first prototype of the 'TOBike' was produced during the winter of 1998. It turned out to be quite robust and heavy, but it functioned impeccably on three long European bike trips totalling almost 5000 km (3000 miles). Travels to and from the cycling start and end points were on trains, with the bike going as normal luggage.
I designed the prototype with a CAD program and subsequently produced it in my own little workshop. I considered it a success, but went on to think of a better design and so to produce a lighter and more 'user-friendly' model, 'TOBike 2'.
During the winter of 2000 I finally produced two bikes, which I called 'TOBike 2001'.
They have been used on many bike travels all over Europe, and 4 in United States of America. The three TObike 2 and 2001 + the two new TOBike 2008 has up to now covered 83,500 km (51,000 miles) on touring.

About the author. Torkil Brøndum was born in December 1936 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He worked as a consulting mechanical engineer since 1964 and is now retired. His first cycle tour was in June 1953: 3000 km in Norway and Sweden, followed soon after by trips in Norway, Switzerland and the Italian Alps. Over the last 30 years he has done many tours (often with his wife) all over Europe and in the United States.
Member of:
Danish Cyclist Federation
Adventure Cycling Association,
Missoula, MT-USA

My wife and I have until now covered our requirements with the two good TOBike 2001. But I have now made two TOBike 2008(see photo in the danish version), a better design, where the rear wheel suspension do not include the luggage, and where both hubs are smaller and lighter.
Furthermore I have produced one bike more: TOBikePLAYn. It is not a folding bike and it has no suspension rear. I have made it for local biketrips only.

Steel, brass and silver brazed. It folds 198° around the bottom bracket in bronze bearings. Rubber damper, 50 mm diameter, 35 mm thick, hardness 45 Shore.
The rear part of the frame is equipped with fixtures to secure both wheels when the bike is packed.
Weight: Front frame 1660 g, rear frame including bronze bearings 1300 g and monoblade 700 g.

'Speed-drive' planetary transmission from Florian Schlumpf in Switzerland with 34 teeth - equivalent to 56 teeth in high gear. Changing gear is via buttons on both ends of the axle. See the SPEED-DRIVE

170 mm with Shimano clipless pedals. It is an advantage of the Speed-drive unit that the 34 teeth wear uniformly because of the planetary rotation, instead of at two opposite places as in a normal 'locked' chainset.

Both are custom-made in aluminium and stainless steel.
The front hub has built-in suspension (see the picture below), using a cantilever arrangement with one or two compressed rubber balls (a Sportech patent), Width is 70 mm. It is designed for use with disc brake rotor.
The rear hub is 101 mm across, or 135 mm over locknuts. The wheel hub itself is only 50 mm wide and detachable, while the parts with the brake disc and the freewheel stay in place, so the chain also stays attached. It is made for a Formula disc brake rotor, 140 mm diameter with four holes.

The above mentioned Speed-drive plus a five-speed freewheel: 14-17-20-24-28.

Normal nearly-straight bars with TransX adjustable bar-ends. The individual stems have specially-made angles and lengths.

Dynamo: B&M Dymotec S6. Halogen headlight and rear light are custom designs built into the end of the luggage carrier.

Front: 18 litre Brompton carrier or as alternative a Bikebin box, block mounted in a detachable fixture.
Rear: Topeak system, 16 litres plus one bottle or as alternative an Ortlieb Bike-Box. The beam rack is modified to act as a mudguard.
When travelling the Topeak bag is carried in a very thin foldable fabric rucksack, weighing just 90 g. This is also useful on tour when you go shopping for food. The folded and packed bike hangs from a shoulder strap supported by one hand, and the Brompton bag is carried in the other hand.
Suitcase: The folded bike fits very accurate into a Samsonite type 141006175 - 85.5 litre. Used with as normal flight luggage to and from Sicily and The United States four times.

Made from 1 mm aluminium plate, fixed under the front part of the frame.

660 x 530 x 200 mm (26 x 21 x 8") or 70 litres (2.5 cubic feet), and it is therefore - as far as I know - the smallest - and at least the slimmest - folded travelbike ever made with 17-20" wheels. It is packed in a cover similar to the Brompton's, open underneath (but it can be enclosed with cardboard or newspapers and string), plus straps connected to the bike itself.