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Folding bikes
A folding bike is simply a bike, which can be folded up for storage and
transport purposes. They are very popular with commuters who may travel part of
their journey on bike and part on the train or bus. Folding bikes are also great
for people who lack the storage facility to keep a full sized bike at home or in
the flat.
Many people like to buy folding bikes to take on holiday as they take
up less space and are easier to transport on airlines.
A typical folding bike has 20-inch wheels with a small frame that has a long
adjustable, sometimes telescopic, seatpost and handlebars. To fold them the
frame normally folds in half with the seatpost and handlebars being lowered.
Some of the more expensive models tend to have more details and gadget type
features to aid the speed of folding or to reduce weight. The average folding
bike is ideal for short to medium length commutes (up to about 10 miles).
To reduce the folding size and overall weight some manufacturers have reduced
the wheel size to as small as 6 inches in some cases but this obviously has an
effect on ride quality. On the other hand some companies have taken full sized
bikes and split them in two so they will fit into a suitcase when you travel
abroad, these tend to be called ‘take-down’ bikes and due to the longer process
of ‘folding’ and the larger folded size they are not particularly practical for
commuting.
Good examples of folding bikes are
Raleigh Parkway,
Dahon Matrix
folding mountain bike or top of the range Dahon MU EX. Prices start from around £160 to well over £1500.
