Bootie (bicycle)

The Bootie Folding Cycle, or 'Bootie', is a rare folding bicycle produced in West Yorkshire UK from 1965 to 1973.

The Bootie Folding Cycle was designed by Thomas Kitchin and made by F. T. Kitchin of Vickersdale Works, an old industrial estate in Grove Street, Stanningley, Pudsey.

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 larger firm would.

The Bootie was sold directly via advertising in the cycle press. In the December 1966/January 1967 issue of Cycletouring Magazine it was priced at £25.10.0 (inc. tax), delivered.

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.

The ‘Bootie’ name was chosen because the bike was designed to be small enough to store in the boot (trunk in American English) of a car.

Strictly speaking, the Bootie was not really a folding 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.

The Bootie featured a then-unique way to fold the handlebars and seat out of the way. This comprised a solid steel, two-part hinge fitted midway on the steerer and seat tubes.

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 handlebars to be rotated 90 degrees to fit snugly against the side of the bike.

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 rear of the bottom bracket, to allow the seat post to slide all the way down.

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