What Fold Up to get?

josh_1871

Hi

I want to get a fold up bike for commuting around London, looking for a bike for journeys 1-8 miles.

Are Bromptons really the way to go, in terms of folding ability, weight, joy of riding, or are there other brands I can get similar spec with but cheaper?

Is there much of a second hand market for this?

And if I buy new, am looking to spend £200 - £400...anyone know anything decent in the range?

Thanks

ride_whenever

Nothing really decent in that range new, and second hand good folders tend to hold their value pretty well. Only get a brompton if you're using the train, they're horrible to ride and there are too many compromises to get the fold so small.

My favourite riding folder is the kansi, cracking little ripper that is super fun to ride but still rather expensive.

clarkey cat

I've got a Dahon Vitesse - same as in the link. Its fine. Its quite fun to ride and I use it as my pub bike and my wife uses it when we're out having a family ride with the kid. Its on sale here at £475 which I dont think its worth at all but I bought mine 2nd hand for £200 which I think represents its real value (to me, anyway).

http://www.billybilslandcycles.co.uk/ca ... vitesse-d7

IanLD

My latest bike is a Tern Verge P18 which I got from Evans.

Have a look at their site as they have Tern bikes starting from £299 for new bike. I'm not sure how the Tern Link C7 rides, but plenty of positive reviews on Evans site and I've been very pleasantly surprised by my Tern.

http://www.evanscycles.com/categories/b ... ;sort=asc;

Link will hopefully give you their folding bikes sorted by price. Given the ongoing issues between Dahon and Tern, I'd stick with Tern just now as they seem to have the patents for the newer designs.

IanLD

clarkey cat wrote:

http://www.billybilslandcycles.co.uk/catalog/complete-bikes/folding-bikes/dahon-vitesse-d7

Just read your post again and saw the Bilsland's link. Just been browsing around and brings back memories of spending many hours in there back in early '80s. Got most of my Campag Super Record in there.

That was before I started spending even more hours in Alan Hewitt's shop in Garscadden Road

mzm70

I have an almost new Kansi 9Twenty for sale, comes with rack and cover, looking for about £470-ish

t4tomo

If you are going to use with train then Brompton is best choice by miles and its well out of your budget.

and for the record the ride is pretty good if you get the s type bars - takes away the vague feeling with the classic M handlebars that do flex a bit.