Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, right side, made in China, Photo01 by Don Tai
A neighbour discarded this Bird Muskoka folding bicycle with 20″ wheels 7 speed, so I picked it up for review and tune up. I enjoy anything about bicycles and love to see how they are manufactured and how they ride. This is a Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, the paint job, including the Canadian flag, seemingly tailored to the Canadian market. Even more fitting is that I did most of the repairs on 2024 July 01, Canada Day. Fitting.
After a much needed tuneup, the bike rides and shifts nicely. The ride is somewhat harsh, because the 20″ wheels provides very little cushioning. A seat swap helped out a lot, providing much needed comfort. The bike does fold down pretty easily, and can be carried without much effort. Because I could not tolerate the seat shipped with the bike, I had to change it over to a much more comfortable “boingy” spring seat. All photos are with this new seat.
I ride mostly 24″ bikes, but used to ride 20″ bikes. Smaller wheel sizes are stronger but provide a harsher ride with somewhat twitchy steering. The bikes are generally lighter than 26″ bikes.
There is a single video about this bike from the manufacturer. The video goes into the parts of the bike and how to fold it up. It is clear that the manufacturer does not know much about bicycles and how to tune them up. The other label name for the bike is “YonGLD”. Interestingly the video is labelled “part 1” but there is no part 2. Comments are turned off.
Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, right side, made in China, Photo01 by Don Tai
Tools Needed:
- oil
- new seat
- metal file to file down wheel rim nipple opening
- spoke wrench
- 0000 steel wool
- adjustable wrenches to remove the tires
- tire irons, used to repair the inner tube
Rust on a New Bike
Few people will throw out a bicycle for no good reason, and especially if they have kids. This one was no exception. From the getgo I knew there would be issues, starting with the flat front tire. The bike looks pretty new, with very little wear on the tires. From afar it looks nice, yet upon closer inspection, around the shiny white paint job, many areas where metal came together, in the joints, were peppered with shades of rust. This is especially glaring on white paint.
Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, main middle hinge covered in rust, made in China, Photo02 by Don Tai
Note the middle main hinge on the bike. On most of the inside and some parts of the outside of the hinge are covered in rust. It looks like the bike was inadequately painted, then shipped in a container from China, where it was able to breath in the sea air and rust. The inside of the main hinge is a protected area where, if the bike was left outside, which looks like this was not the case, this area should not have rusted. I suspect there was inadequate or no paint applied to this area, and many other metal joints.
This main joint was also extremely stiff and needed a good amount of oil before it would easily move. Further the pedals are quite cheaply made, and are child sized, even though the bike can be ridden by an adult. The pedals were also extremely stiff and needed oil.
Folding the Bike
The bike has a main hinge in the middle (see above). There is a pin that you must pull up before the bike can hinge. This hinge is built quite strongly. The handlebars can then fold down. Overall it is pretty easy to fold up.
Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, bike folded at the middle hinge made in China, Photo03 by Don Tai
Wheels and Spokes
During the front inner tube repair I noticed that the hole for the valve in the rim was quite sharp. I needed to file the hole opening down, or it would have surely ripped the inner tube nipple off. Additional care and attention would have been nice.
Once riding I noticed a clickly noise coming from the rear wheel. From randomly pinging the spokes it was clear that some spokes were not tightened at all and could fail at any moment. With a spoke wrench I tightened all the spokes sufficiently so that they pinged at generally the same pitch. This fixed the clicky rear wheel noises.
The tires are 20″x1.75″, narrow, but I don’t mind this. The rims, however are painted white, and with every brake drag the white paint is scraped off, making the rims look pretty hideous. I expect that you would get used to it. The inner tubes are extra thick, surprisingly these days. Great!
Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, rear wheel and derailleur, Made in China, Photo04 by Don Tai
Gears, Derailleur, Brakes, Handlebars
A Shimano Tourney TZ 7 speed deraileur comes with the bike and works quite well. It was lubricated and did not need any tweaking. The shifter is on the right side, where there is a larger button for shift up and a smaller square blue button for shift down. I should probably tweak it some more, but it functions well enough right now.
The brakes are standard V-brakes, which work well enough but are a bit fiddly to fine tune. The brakes are branded “Yining”, with a star “*” in the middle. I’ve never heard of this brand. The front cables of the bike were somewhat of a mess. They seem to be a little long, I think to accommodate different heights for the handlebars, but I had to repeatedly remove and reinstall the front (left) brake cable to try to untangle the cable mess.
Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, front wheel and brake, Made in China, Photo05 by Don Tai
Note the heavily rusted lever arm used to fold the handlebars down. This is chrome, which should not easily rust. I will need to use 0000 steel wool to try to remove this rust. There are very few chrome areas on this bicycle. There is also rust on the front and rear wheel axle nuts, and rust peppered all over the bike.
Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, left view, sorry for cutting off the front wheel, Made in China, Photo06 by Don Tai
The bicycle handlebar is made of aluminum, and has as deep groove at the back. This allows the handlebar to not rotate. Unfortunately the handlebar also cannot be switched for something more comfortable than the provided flat bar. Most bikes have a handlebar riser which is independent from the handlebar, but on this bike they are welded together, resulting in less options for comfort.
Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, rear view, V-brake and wheel, Made in China, Photo07 by Don Tai
Rear Rack, Fenders
Some photos of advertisements for this bicycle show they also come with fenders, but this bike had none. The fenders also look extremely flimsy and would easily break. I will need to weld up a rear rack for this bike if I decide to keep it. This should not be too hard. In general it is difficult to find fenders and any rear rack for 20″ bicycles.
Overall Assessment
The Bird Muskoka folding bike is Chinese built. There is a lack of attention to detail. The paint is inadequate. You do need to know how to repair many aspects of the bike, or it will fall apart. This bike is of worse quality than Walmart or Canadian Tire bicycles. Without immediate maintenance it will quickly fall apart and die.
On the plus side the bike is light and the tires are narrow, making it easy to ride. On the negative side there are no fenders nor rear rack available, so you will need to fabricate one yourself.
I would not buy this bike. I had to put in 2-3 hours of work just to get it in serviceable condition that is safe to ride. It is obvious that this company knows very little about bicycles and should not be selling this low level of quality. I will ride this for a short while and then either sell it or break it apart and keep the tires and inner tubes.
Someone selling this bike, Toronto
Here is a Kijiji ad for this bike. Once it sells these photos would have been lost, so I have copied them here. I hope the owner does not mind.
Kijiji ad for a Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, right view, Toronto, Made in China
Kijiji ad for a Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, handlebar shifter, Toronto, Made in China
Kijiji ad for a Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, rear wheel and derailleur, Toronto, Made in China
Kijiji ad for a Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, partially unfolded, Toronto, Made in China
Kijiji ad for a Bird Muskoka folding bicycle, completely folded, Toronto, Made in China
Advertisements for this bike on the Internet
This bike is also branded YongGLD, and available from Alibaba, 2 and other sites
YongGLD branded bike, note the funky rear fender. Made in China
YongGLD branded bike, rear wheel, Chinese derailleur. Made in China
Note: There seems to be a rear rack of some kind here
YongGLD branded bike, white. Made in China
YongGLD branded bike, white, front basket and rear rack. Made in China
