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Only the very earliest examples had both a hinged seat tube and handlebar stem. Within a year or two of introduction the hinged seat tube was replaced by a conventional seat tube with a long seat post that could be slid down or removed altogether. The lower end of the seat tube was open, and to the
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F.T. Kitchin were general engineers who were in business for over 100 years. They have been described as relatively small, true 'jobbing' engineers who were very quirky and willing to make, or 'invent', whatever wasn't generally available, but never big enough to develop their products in the way a
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bike. More accurately, it was a very small, rigid-framed bike with folding handlebars and seat post. It was therefore a revival of a concept pioneered by the French ‘Le Petit Bi’ in the late 1930s. The Daewoo
Shuttle is a more recent example of the type.
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It was primarily designed for ‘last mile’ purposes, but the advertising also appealed to caravanners, boat owners, flat dwellers and fishermen. The slogan ‘As a dinghy is to a boat, so is the Bootie to a car’ was used to promote the Bootie.
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The frame of the first generation Bootie was made of pairs of half inch steel tubes, with the flattened tube ends bolted to aluminium head, saddle and bottom bracket castings. The chainstays were of flat steel strip.
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The first generation bikes had wire wheels. Braking was by unique, Kitchin-made stirrup brakes designed with extra leverage to give more braking power than was otherwise available with the tiny wheels. A
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Each hinge was secured with a hand nut which, when loosened, allowed the upper part to be swung over the side of the frame. In the case of the steerer tube, loosening another hand nut allowed the
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was 76 cm (compared to around a metre for conventional bicycles), with an overall length of 120 cm with the foldable front rack extended. The Bootie weighed around 17 kg.
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is a steel, cottered mass market unit manufactured by
Williams, and the handlebars and stem are conventional chrome plated steel. A black double-sprung mattress type
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With the change to a conventional seat tube the only part of the Bootie 'Folding' Cycle that actually folded was the steerer tube (i.e. the handlebars).
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The Bootie was produced for in two ‘generations’: the first from 1965 to 1968, the second from then until the end of production.
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The Bootie featured a then-unique way to fold the handlebars and seat out of the way. This comprised a solid steel, two-part
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The second generation
Booties had a different frame and wheels. The frame was mostly of tubular steel without
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The Bootie was sold directly via advertising in the cycle press. In the
December 1966/January 1967 issue of
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263:‘AB’ hub. It appears as though the drive side flange of the hub was removed for fitting in the wheel.
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was fitted to the 500 mm long L-shaped seatpost. Booties were shod with Dunlop or
Michelin
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The ‘Bootie’ name was chosen because the bike was designed to be small enough to store in the
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Original type 62 x 203 Michelin balloon tire on front wheel of Bootie
Folding Cycle
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395:- Includes photographs of many parts of a Bootie undergoing restoration
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to be rotated 90 degrees to fit snugly against the side of the bike.
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were of single-piece cast alloy, the front being equipped with sealed
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The Bootie
Folding Cycle was designed by Thomas Kitchin and made by
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of
Vickersdale Works, an old industrial estate in Grove Street,
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It's in the Bag!: Outline
History of Portable Cycles in the UK
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Comparison of first and second generation Bootie
Folding Cycle
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Magazine it was priced at £25.10.0 (inc. tax), delivered.
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163:The Bootie Folding Cycle came well equipped, with
29:The Bootie Folding Cycle, or 'Bootie', is a rare
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104:Strictly speaking, the Bootie was not really a
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121:fitted midway on the steerer and seat tubes.
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829:Cycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom
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354:"Folding bicycle history - the Bootie"
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388:Travel with Bikes - Folding Bicycles
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352:Pinkerton, John (7 November 1999).
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232:‘AW’ three speed gear was fitted.
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25:A second generation Bootie bicycle
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283:Hadland, Tony; Pinkerton, John.
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96:in American English) of a car.
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37:UK from 1965 to 1973.
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332:"Bootie folding cycle"
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383:Folding bike history
358:Folding Society News
798:Middlemores Saddles
61:larger firm would.
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287:. Hadland Books.
236:Second generation
113:Folding mechanism
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834:Folding bicycles
662:Coventry Premier
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31:folding bicycle
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16:Folding bicycle
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377:External links
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203:Model history
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647:Claud Butler
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362:. Retrieved
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335:. Retrieved
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185:balloon-type
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140:rear of the
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71:Cycletouring
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41:Manufacturer
33:produced in
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18:
824:Cycle types
692:Harry Quinn
677:Flying Scot
337:12 December
51:Stanningley
818:Categories
776:Components
682:F.W. Evans
652:Chater-Lea
591:Robin Hood
521:Holdsworth
393:Bootiebike
364:13 October
267:References
253:ball races
191:Dimensions
183:203 - 62,
181:ETRTO size
134:handlebars
586:Ridgeback
526:Islabikes
451:Bickerton
197:wheelbase
169:sidestand
165:mudguards
159:Equipment
65:Marketing
752:Uppadine
697:Hercules
611:TI Group
581:Reynolds
571:Planet X
566:Phillips
561:Pedersen
546:Muddyfox
516:Hetchins
511:Halfords
491:Defiance
471:Brompton
456:Boardman
429:British
187:tyres.
173:crankset
767:Witcomb
762:Warrick
747:Triumph
742:Sunbeam
717:Roberts
642:Carlton
625:Defunct
596:Saracen
576:Raleigh
556:Pashley
541:Moulton
536:Mercian
506:Genesis
476:Campion
439:Current
431:bicycle
106:folding
788:Dunlop
757:Viking
707:Norman
702:Humber
606:Temple
601:Strida
501:Falcon
481:Condor
461:Bootie
446:A-bike
291:
249:wheels
177:saddle
171:. The
100:Design
55:Pudsey
722:Rover
712:Perry
632:Ariel
616:Whyte
551:Paper
531:Lotus
496:Dolan
486:Dawes
119:hinge
94:trunk
366:2012
360:(39)
339:2012
289:ISBN
247:The
242:lugs
195:The
90:boot
737:Sun
637:BSA
820::
356:.
303:^
275:^
57:.
53:,
422:e
415:t
408:v
368:.
341:.
297:.
92:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
