Folding Bike- Advice happily accepted

Alexei

Hi All,

I need advice on a decent folding bike, which I'll be using to ride 2 miles from Waterloo up to the Barbica and back. Can anyone help?

Hopefully the bike can be sourced from Evans as I am going to utilise the old Ride to Work scheme.

I'd prefer a larger wheel size, though ease of folding and unfolding is probably more important due to the small distance covered.

I know nothing about folding bikes- I currently commute 30 country miles a day on my Bianchi- so any London/train coummuting advice is very gratefully rec'd.

Thanks

Aidanw

Get a brompton and be happy!

If you spend the full £1000 of your cycle to work scheme then you can get a fancy pants titanium one for extra lightness.

Alexei

I've only paid off the last 1k that I put towards my Bianchi....

Are Bromptons head and shoulders above the competition ?

ride_whenever

I saw a brompton which had be lacquered clear instead of painted, you could see the brass (i think) brazing and it looked amazing...

andrewc3142

Brompton folds up small (and quickly so you don't miss the train!). Also, small enough to tuck under a standard work desk if that's a consideration. For that journey the three gear is cheaper (and lighter) than the 6 gear model and would be fine. The standard bars work well enough. The front bag is handy.

Alternative is a road bike and ride the whole way, but obviously depends from where you come in.

Clever Pun

ride_whenever wrote:

I saw a brompton which had be lacquered clear instead of painted, you could see the brass (i think) brazing and it looked amazing...

I've got one of those... where were you? I've not seen another one yet. The finish will cost £100... worth it in my book

it's a lovely bike...see


I got mine on the cycle to work scheme and it's great, I even stumped up some of my own cash

ride_whenever

I saw it in oxford, folded up, I even stopped to ask the guy about it!

ris

brompton - great design, small fold, not bad price, can have a waiting list, 16" wheel.
dahon - not quite as good design, not quite so small fold, good price, easily available, 20" wheel.
birdy - uber-efficient german design, moderate fold, quite pricey, probably from specialists. 18" wheel.

if you have the cash and like small folders the brommie is the pup. if you want to save a few bob and don't mind a bigger fold then the dahon is probably fine.

Clever Pun

ris wrote:

brompton - great design, small fold, not bad price, can have a waiting list, 16" wheel.
dahon - not quite as good design, not quite so small fold, good price, easily available, 20" wheel.
birdy - uber-efficient german design, moderate fold, quite pricey, probably from specialists. 18" wheel.

if you have the cash and like small folders the brommie is the pup. if you want to save a few bob and don't mind a bigger fold then the dahon is probably fine.

condor have a 4-6 week list on bromptons... I guess you can get a stock one, but where's the fun in that?

ris

sounds like it has improved a bit then, a couple of years ago the waiting list was something like 4months, and i think that was for a stock one!

it did make me a bit smug when i got my airnimal, i'd been happily riding and enjoying it for months when workmates were paying off cyclescheme for a bike that wasn't there. :twisted:

cycledad2

Hi Alexi,

You give distance and terrain and a 1 or 3 spd brommie would be great in that zone. I think the cheapest model with a front luggage set would be ideal.

You dont talk about some of the other issues, like speed of fold, size of fold, tube\train requirements\ luggage requirements.

The brommie is kIng of all of these at the minute (bar speed...see below), its the cleanest\\most compact fold for zero maintenance with good luggage and accesories. The resale value is also excellent (check out ebay).

However, if you dont care about how small the fold is and arent too bothered about space on atrain\taxi\under the table at work\pub then you can get cheaper bikes.

Dahon have the biggest range, but I think the serious contender on the block at the minute though is the Bike Friday Ticket (search on utube). A2B magazine rated it highly. Its the fastest folder on the block by miles with a good ride. Its particularly easy to carry or wheel along. ? on luggage, but with searching and forum questions you could find solutions to this. The folded size is much more like a dahon as well, rather than a brommie.

The airnimals are lovely bikes to ride, but the folded package is big and they are more racers than practical everyday bikes (ie by the time youive added, lights, luggage,, mudguards its not so great.

PS The other pro of brommies is you get to ride in the Brompton world championships!

Clever Pun

ris wrote:

sounds like it has improved a bit then, a couple of years ago the waiting list was something like 4months, and i think that was for a stock one!

it did make me a bit smug when i got my airnimal, i'd been happily riding and enjoying it for months when workmates were paying off cyclescheme for a bike that wasn't there. :twisted:

but your bike is named after the most disabled man in history

for the brompton if you're worried about speed get the gearing highered.. I did and I'm scalping left right and centre

ris

but your bike is named after the most disabled man in history

arf. obviously i'd have preferred they call it the foldy-fold-omatic 4000 or the deathbike.

marsupial's never offer great names, at least they didn't call it the platypus sport.

Alexei

cycledad2 wrote:

Hi Alexi,

You give distance and terrain and a 1 or 3 spd brommie would be great in that zone. I think the cheapest model with a front luggage set would be ideal.

You dont talk about some of the other issues, like speed of fold, size of fold, tube\train requirements\ luggage requirements.

The brommie is kIng of all of these at the minute (bar speed...see below), its the cleanest\\most compact fold for zero maintenance with good luggage and accesories. The resale value is also excellent (check out ebay).

However, if you dont care about how small the fold is and arent too bothered about space on atrain\taxi\under the table at work\pub then you can get cheaper bikes.

Dahon have the biggest range, but I think the serious contender on the block at the minute though is the Bike Friday Ticket (search on utube). A2B magazine rated it highly. Its the fastest folder on the block by miles with a good ride. Its particularly easy to carry or wheel along. ? on luggage, but with searching and forum questions you could find solutions to this. The folded size is much more like a dahon as well, rather than a brommie.

The airnimals are lovely bikes to ride, but the folded package is big and they are more racers than practical everyday bikes (ie by the time youive added, lights, luggage,, mudguards its not so great.

PS The other pro of brommies is you get to ride in the Brompton world championships!

Fold speed/ease is important - not essential- the distance is flat and short, so the 3 spd should be fine. I have my road bikes, so dont need anything fast.

Needs to come from Evans- ride to work needs to be utilised.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

stuaff

As an owner of two Dahons (20" wheel Jetstream XP and 26" Cadenza) I'd have to agree the Brommie's the one to go for compact and speedy folding. Never ridden one, so I can't comment on that, certainly plenty of love for them round here. You might want to use the bike for more than short distances some time- and why not- after all, if you like riding it, you might use it more! Definitely a case of try before you buy. From the Dahon range, I'd suggest the Mu SL- lighter than even the lightest titanium Brommie (9 kg or so), a simple and fairly compact fold, and extremely quick (winner of the Smithfield Nocturne folding race). You might not need fast, but speed's no disadvantage either The Dahon 16" model, the Curve, is pretty good too, from what I've heard.
If you really, really want a big bike- and frankly, my two are as quick and as smooth riding as each other, even with me on top- the Cadenza is excellent. Evans have the '07, like mine, at £400 online. Might be a problem on a crowded commuter train though. I brought mine back from Waterloo down to Pompey with no bother, but it was the weekend...
Your options here might be limited by what Evans stock or will get for you, though.

cakewalk

Clever Pun wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

I saw a brompton which had be lacquered clear instead of painted, you could see the brass (i think) brazing and it looked amazing...

I've got one of those... where were you? I've not seen another one yet. The finish will cost £100... worth it in my book

it's a lovely bike...see


I got mine on the cycle to work scheme and it's great, I even stumped up some of my own cash

Is that a 2 speed -if so how do you find it?