House-train your bike

 

"Just store your bike in the hallway. That's convenient" . . . said nobody ever.

Sure, it may be convenient for the rider to store a bike securely inside and then just zip out the nearest door for a ride, but for everyone else, that situation looks a lot like this.

The good news is, you don't have to choose between rider convenience and everyone else's. Just install a Flatten-Your-Bike Kit, and then the same bike actually does fit conveniently in the hallway!

It's not just about hallways and rooms either. Do you have a messy herd of bikes in the garage?

How about bikes that resist getting into an RV, van, boat or truck cab? Or the grippy pedals on heavy e-bikes that threaten to scratch your car when you roll them up the ramp? All of those problems can go away with a Flatten-Your-Bike Kit. 

This super-convenient solution is the result of two components--a THINstem and Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals.

A bike stem is that part that connects your handlebars to the rest of your bike--more specifically, to the fork, so turning your handlebars turns the front wheel.

Admittedly, a THINstem is a bit unusual-looking for a stem. The low side of this folding stem attaches to the top of your fork, and the tall side attaches to your handlebars. A cam lever holds your handlebars securely in place (along with a back-up lock at the bottom). 

When the cam lever is pulled out and the safety tab on the bottom turned, then your bars are free to turn 90 degrees (and latch there if you want). 

Pull the lever back out, and your handlebars not only turn back to riding position, they click into place, perfectly aligned for latching. All with no tools.

 

A word about handlebar standards...

Eliminating the historical dead-ends of obsolete French, British, and Italian anomalies that briefly went their own unique way, there are four clamp sizes (where the bars connect to  the stem) of handlebars today. In popularity order, they are:

• 1.25" (31.8 mm). This type of handlebar is commonplace on modern bikes from mountain bikes to road bikes and features a bulge in the middle. Typically made of aluminum or carbon fiber.
• 1" (25.4 mm). Once common for dropbar bikes, this size of handlebar became an international standard and is still common on older bikes and some inexpensive e-bikes. It is made of aluminum or steel and has no bulge in the center.
• 1.5" (35 mm). Some MTB riders and component suppliers are going their own way for the harsh shock and force demands of downhill racing.
• 7/8" (22.2 mm). This size of steel handlebar was used on older mountain bikes and BMX bikes. 

A THINstem is designed for both 1.25" and 1" handlebar sizes with no extra parts needed -- 1" uses an included handlebar shim. A THINstem can also be used with 7/8" handlebars, but will require a separately-purchased 22.2mm-to-31.8mm handlebar shim.

A THINstem is incompatible with 35mm downhill bars.

A word about stem standards...

Starting in the mountain bike world, there has been a multi-decade transformation of how bike stems are attached.

On older bikes, or on some e-bikes using older technology, the fork ends at the top of the frame in a threaded nut, and the stem--called a quill stem--sticks down inside. 

But in a threadless stem, designed for more rugged use with lighter materials, the steerer tube of the fork extends above the frame, and the stem just grabs hold of it. This is called a threadless stem.

A THINstem is a type of threadless stem. It can still replace a quill stem, but only when used in combination with a quill stem adapter, purchased separately.

 

How it works: Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals.

Once your handlebars are flattened, the widest part of your bike is your pedals---the part of your bike that grabs at your car floor when you put your bike in the car, and risks scratching your car paint and other bikes when you put your bike on the car.

We've got an answer for that, too, and it's equally amazing. Watch this.

OK, that's almost TOO easy. Will these stay on during everyday use?

Here's a day on the trails with Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals...

How can a set of pedals be so easy to remove that you can take them off in seconds with just one hand, yet be so rugged that they stay on during trail riding with jumps?

The key is the patented pinch-system latch that's so revolutionary that it won Flatbike a design award at the 2025 Taipei Bike Show.

It contains two independent latches. Both need to be depressed at the same time:

• Squeeze both at the same time with a simple pinch and the pedal comes off.
• Hit one or the other repeatedly with a heel or rock strike and the pedal stays on.

Take that simple concept, reinforce it with a CNC-machined pedal axle (spindle) and latch head, and you've got the only removable pedal in the world that has passed the ISO-4210 destruction test suite for mountain bikes. 

 

Now put them together: The Flatbike Flatten-Your-Bike Kit.

What's better than a THINstem and a set of Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals? A bundle that saves you a bundle. There are two levels of Flatbike Flatten-Your-bike Kit:

• THINstem + Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals.
• THINstem + Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals + Flatbike Seat Bag to put them in.

It's a simple concept that makes a huge difference for anyone storing or transporting bikes. It changes your relationship with your bike to one of convenience, and that's huge.

Where would you put your bike if you could save space?

Happy riding,

Bob Forgrave is president of Flatbike, an ecommerce company offering kits to make any bike fit in half the space or less.

425-985-6219