Around Christmas 2008 I purchased a Montague Paratrooper folding mountain bike.My aim was to have a full sized folding bike that was as light as possible and capable of carrying me and my luggage. I decide on the Montague as it's price was reasonable and it fit all the proportions for packing and taking with me on my planned cycle tour of Japan.After a very hot summer giving myself and the bike a workout I decide there were some modifications to be made. Panniers and racks required,some decent pedals with toe clips,new seat and fenders to start with so as not to blow my budget.So here is what i came up with.The first job was to install a Topeak rack to the bike, but I needed a way of fixing it to the seat stem.Fortunately I found just the thing and that problem was solved.Next was rear panniers and a local on line shop had deals going on Ortlieb rear roller classics.So I grabbed these mounted them with a little experimentation and took off with a light load to see how it travelled to my surprise it went well on highways but when I hit the dirt the bottom clip jumped put of place and the bag banged against the rack.So I chased down an extra pair of clamps from Ghyllside Cycles in the UK at a great price.Once fitted problem solved.Next was my pedal, I needed folding pedals or something easily removed.Found a shop with Dahon folders and saw MKS QR pedals and knew straight away that was what was needed.These came to light via an on line site here in Australia,someone had bought a Dahon and had changed the pedals on purchase so the shop had a set on hand for 25% of RRP.I snatched them up and haven't looked back.Next had to be a saddle, only one choice Brooks.Here in Australia they are outrageously priced, so a hunt on the internet found me at Wiggle and spending enough to get free freight to Oz and a Honey colored B-17 Standard.So I have my panniers/rack, saddle, pedals now all I need to do is fit my newly purchased handlebar bag from Wiggle.I removed a set of plastic toe clips I had fit and replaced them with a chrome steel set from MKS of Japan.Then a Minoura swing grip was added to the handlebars along with bar risers.So I'm easily half way there with my mods and have kept bike weight down reasonably well.The fenders were going to be a problem , I did not want plastic so aluminium was the next choice.Where to get something that was full size and would fit the widest MTB tire ?.After some time I settled on Velo Orange fenders, the price and lousy exchange rate made them very expensive but they were worth it.The rear were a breeze to fit , not so the front.After some brain wracking and surfing the net I put together some brackets to hold the front fender in place.Next was a quick run to see if everything would stay in place , so far so good.More work to go but I'm happy with the results so far.
