--- title: "Folding Bike for Tall Riders: 6’5″ Cyclist Shares Real-World Touring Experience on a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket" url: https://bikefriday.com/folding-bike-for-tall-riders-65-cyclist-shares-real-world-touring-experience-on-a-bike-friday-pocket-rocket/ type: post date: 2025-06-25 modified: 2026-01-07 markdown_url: https://bikefriday.com/folding-bike-for-tall-riders-65-cyclist-shares-real-world-touring-experience-on-a-bike-friday-pocket-rocket.md author: "Oscar Hearnden" --- # Folding Bike for Tall Riders: 6’5″ Cyclist Shares Real-World Touring Experience on a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket Can a 6'5" rider really feel at home on a folding bike with 20-inch wheels? Ted Johnson wrote in to say: absolutely yes! After 20,000 km on his [Bike Friday Pocket Rocket](https://bikefriday.com/product/bike-friday-pocket-rocket-road-bikes/?srsltid=AfmBOooljkQXDVvgpqM1mZAV6MJc7my0nbg9TQ2R28v-63zqO9nWEEcJ), he's got thoughts—on speed, fit, travel, and what it's like to tour on a so-called “little bike” when you’re anything but. For any tall riders eyeing a **folding road bike**, this one’s worth a read. “I wanted to offer a review from a tall guy so that prospective buyers in the vicinity of my size can have some assurance that a Pocket Rocket will work for them. I also have comments about the PR that should apply to any rider. My adult bike riding started on road bikes designed for speed. I then got interested in bike touring but was frustrated because my overloaded carbon fiber bike kept suffering broken spokes. I realized I needed a different bike for touring but still wanted to go fast, and also wanted something it would be easy to carry on overseas trips as I travel a lot. Research led me to Bike Friday. I perhaps should have gotten a [New World Tourist](https://bikefriday.com/product/bike-friday-new-world-tourist-folding-bike/), but was a sucker for the "speed" marketing of the [Pocket Rocket](https://bikefriday.com/product/bike-friday-pocket-rocket-road-bikes/?srsltid=AfmBOooljkQXDVvgpqM1mZAV6MJc7my0nbg9TQ2R28v-63zqO9nWEEcJ) and thought it would be adequate for the touring I was then doing, which was not "credit card touring" but also not fully loaded. *I was concerned whether I'd fit on a "little bike" – I'm 6'5"* (196cm), have a 36" (91cm) inseam, and weigh 215lb (98kg) – but the BF people told me I would, and I decided to take the chance. About 20,000 km later, I'm still thrilled with my Pocket Rocket and still ride it a lot even though I have a stable of four bikes. I fit on it fine (I have the largest model and a long stem) and have used my BF-PR for city commuting (mostly Tokyo), fast rides, and many thousands of kilometers of touring in multiple countries. Most of that touring has been moderately loaded (bike & "civilian" clothes to last a week or two, laptop, camera gear, etc.) and a couple of trips have been fully-loaded touring (including tent, ground cover, sleeping bag & cooking equipment). The PR has held up beautifully in all applications even though it's not marketed for what I most used it for, moderately loaded touring and city commuting. I get a lot of "circus bear" comments and people asking me if I have to pedal faster to make the wheels spin fast enough to keep up with others (no!) but I've loved riding the bike. Hopping on it generates a special smile that I don't get with my non-BF bikes (which I still love too). The only negative I see to the PR model is tire limitations. Tires for a PR are hard to find (the other BF models use 20-406, the common BMX size that can be found anywhere, but PR's use the elusive 20-451's). You need to order 20-451 tires online and always carry a spare or two because you are not going to find these tires in 99% of retail locations that sell tires. Further, you basically only have two widths available: 1 1/8, which feels a bit like a 23 on a 700cc tire and leads to a tight sporty ride where you feel the painted lines on the highway, or 1 3/8, which feels plush after riding 1 1/8 and is fine for fast rides but is narrow for touring purposes (it feels about like riding a 30 on a 700cc tire). With only narrow tires available, a PR is only suited for tarmac or the gentlest of packed gravel or similar paths. So, while I love my BF-PR, because I've become increasingly interested in loaded touring and wanted greater capability to get off pavement with wider tires, I looked into the All-Packa (not suitable for someone my height) and recently bought a Diamond Llama (too early in the relationship to review). The last comment I'll add is that I'm mechanically inept and not a person who enjoys tinkering on bikes, but even I got so I could quickly tear down and build up my BF for travel, carrying it in a Samsonite suitcase and, occasionally, in only a vinyl cover. The first tear down and build up probably took me 3 hours each as I studied each part and began to figure out bike components, but after doing this a few times it became a leisurely paced 30 minutes on each side of travel and a good way to keep up with ensuring that all is in good working order. My BF-PR has seen flights to multiple countries and been tossed around on trains and buses, but it has been indestructible so far.