I own what could possibly be the coolest folding bike ever made: the Bike Friday Tikit Hyperfold. It has a folding mechanism with an extremely high nerd quotient. It has a reputation as the fastest bike to fold and unfold, requiring no latches, safeties, or adjustment at all. But more importantly, unlike many other exotic folders (ahem Brompton) it largely uses standard parts. You can fit it with whatever drivetrain, brake system, handlebars, pedals, and seat you want. Though it has the same 349 wheel size as a Brompton, it rides much, much better. It was designed by in conjunction with Bike Friday by Rob English, a mechanical engineer who long was (maybe is?) the British speed record holder.
But Bike Friday no longer manufactures it: the frame design is so exotic and weird that they had a number of frame issues and failures they had to overcome in the field, and Bike Friday has a lifetime frame warranty. It was a very popular bike, but by the time they had worked out all the kinks the value of them continuing to sell the bike had probably gone negative. The Tikit was just too bleeding edge for its time.
The Tikit relies on a special part in order to be ridden: its hyperfold cable. This cable is no longer being manufactured for Bike Friday and cannot be obtained anywhere. When my cable gives out, and it'll happen sometime soon, my Tikit will probably wind up on the display wall of a bike store. And I'll be searching for something to replace it. But there is no folder even close to the Tikit in sheer engineering prowess, which depresses me to no end as a tech guy. Bike Friday itself replaced the model with the Pakit, a decidedly inferior bike. I'm not sure what to do.
This is what a lot of people want to be true, but in fact is not. I believe it can be mostly explained by the "IKEA effect": any given model is bought by so many people that the inevitable design defects are quickly found and remedied.
Some data points: I bought a Decathlon folding bike (Fold 500; new, ~450€) a few months ago. Using it many times a week (probably more than it's intended).
N=2, but my Decathlon bikes have well over 50000 km between them with no issues, beyond the usual wear and tear. Value wise, they are fantastic. They are road bikes, however, not the folding specifically.
It folds the rear wheel “triangle” (red in the picture) underneath to make it shorter to fit in a car trunk. Also has squishy rubber-lump suspension because the rear wheel pivots.
(ICE being Inspired Cycle Engineering in this context).
I've had a regular Tikit (there's a single knob to lock the steer tube in place, adds 10 seconds to the fold/unfold time) for over 15 years. Picked Bike Friday because I wanted a foldable to be able to take it onto public transit, and the Bromptons were pricier than I wanted. I did have a frame failure early on (repaired thanks to that lifetime warranty), but it's been reliable ever since. If your hyperfold cable does break, I hope at the least you'll be able to retrofit the regular locking knob onto it.
I still think the strida folding bikes are the ones with the highest nerd quotient. Never ridden one myself, but been tempted a couple of times. In particular the low weight compared to any other folding bike is appealing. Unfortunately they are difficult to find for test rides and they look quirky enough that I'd want to do a test ride before buying
Hi fellow tikit owner! When they did the early upgrade of the cable, I thought it was just some gauge of airplane wire, threaded through the front nut and clamped or welded in place (I don't rude mine very often, it's a very early model and has a lot of the weaknesses like chain offs, and it comes unfolded too easily when I roll it). But I haven't been able to bring myself to sell it, it's still such a nice little device.
I've lived in the UK as a student in 1997 and it was hell owning bicycle then. People threw stones at me from cars while I was biking on the side of the road.
Glad to hear biking has gone mainstream. Don't forget to pay respects to many of us pioneers, some whom survived some who didn't.
I used to catch a train with a cheap folding bike every day. I was always envious of this other guy with a Brompton who took the same train. The worst thing about mine was that by carrying it by the only convenient place, you got oil on your cuff from the chainring!
I ride a Reise & Mueller Birdy Mk3 mostly because I think folding bikes are neat and the Birdy has my favorite fold. The other rationale was that I wanted a nice bike I'd never have to lock up outside in NYC. The intention was to use it as a commuter since not spending on the subway would pay for it pretty quickly but shortly after I got it I started working remote so I've only done commutes on it for a couple weeks of gig jobs and it's mostly a recreational bike.
I went through an extended project to make it faster and wound up with a loop handlebar for body position, replaced the wheelset to move from 355 to 406 for tire selection and did the drivetrain at the same time to accommodate a 9-32 cassette. Between the wheels and the sub-11 tooth sprockets I can pedal up to ~26mph instead of ~20mph on the stock setup (good enough) and the low end is about the same. It doesn't perform like a race bike but it's pretty close to an endurance road bike. I do 20 mile rides a couple times a week on it and I've done a couple centuries.
The Birdy is my main bike but I'm a folding and recumbent enthusiast in general. The addition of the fold or moving the cranks in front of the rider means the obvious solution diamond frame doesn't work and I like seeing the creativity of the solutions. I've also owned a Xootr Swift that I gave away to my nephews, a Bike Friday Sat-R-Day folding recumbent for riding slowly in the parks, and a Baron Optima lowracer recumbent that I prefer for rides over 90 minutes.
I think of my Brompton as an unbelievably well made tool. It fits so well into London with public transport and the general consciousness of the U.K. traveller. You’re not going to get a squiff glance from a train conductor or cab driver if you lug one onboard. The ride is more comfortable than a racing bike. Compartments fit, gyms have storage for them and it’s also a beautifully constructed item. It just solves a part of the transport problem so well.
The article touched on it, and I agree, the biggest benefits for me are the portability and storability.
I can easily fit my folding bike into my car trunk, and very easily fit another one in the back seat. This enables you to drive to the start of a distant cycling route without having to deal with bike racks behind or on top of your car. So much less friction to you just going somewhere and cycling around.
And the small size means I can skip the common bike storage in my complex and store it in my apartment and it doesn't take up as much space as a full-sized bike. In my city, like most major cities, bike thievery is rampant. And if they can't steal your bike, they strip it of parts.
There are some drawbacks though. You can't really use them for hauling heavy loads, so forget bicycle touring or pulling a little trailer for kids or other things. They are also quite slow. And maybe some models have lots of gears, but the ones I checked out (in my admittedly limited search) did not, so they are not suited for very hilly routes.
I got mine used for $200 off FB Marketplace, it was in great condition and ready to ride. It is some generic brand that was sold in Walmarts a few years ago and I could not find any other information on it. I don't really care though. It got me out and cycling again!
Load meaning bags and rucksacks weighing down on the tyres, not trailers being pulled.
That’s another reason I like the G-line and am suspicious of the “just buy a cheaper folding bike from Ali express with a Brompton style tri-fold”. Idk how much I would trust a bike to take a 100kg person if it didn’t explicitly say a carrying capacity.
I loved my Brompton. I used to keep it in my car when visiting clients so I could take a ride at lunch time or in the evening. Once I changed career I dumped the car and didn't really need the Brompton any more so sold it.
I don't fault OP for this, but it's pretty frustrating to me as someone who's quite attached to his non-folding bike that the main benefit of folding bikes is that, unlike regular bikes, they aren't banned from pretty much all public transport
Full size bikes on public transport doesn’t work well when crowded though. I briefly took a bikee recumbent (really small) on BART and it was great for me but pretty annoying for others for 1 stop (sorry if you went between Ashby and Oakland in 2011!)
Even in the Netherlands you need to pay €8.50 to bring your bike on, perhaps so the trains aren’t overrun.
Thankfully uncommon in North America. Growing up in Los Angeles where every bus has racks and every train car has bike spots, I was shocked the first time I visited SF and found I couldn't bring it on Muni trains.
I know DC bans them and Boston/NYC/Toronto have limited hours, but every other city with a metro seems to welcome them.
DC does not ban normal bikes. I see them all the time on the metro. I'd say it is becoming less common as they build out more bike parking infrastructure at stations, but it is definitely something people still do.
I do find my brompton a lot more convenient for the train, though.
Yeah, this definitely wouldn't fly in any country where a lot of people bike and use transit. Tokyo metro would be hell if full sized bikes would be allowed.
The bike is for biking. Of course it is annoying when people bring it on the bus. Or park it in front of my door.
The bike on the metro is not rare because it is annoying. People do simply not have that much tact. It is more rare because people bike those distances and you pay extra on the metro. It is free on the S-Train which also covers longer distances - hence more bikes.
I find bikes annoying in general as well. But that is because they are usually attached to a human.
The point was that it can actually work.
It is not all of nothing. It is an integrated system which actually works.
This was a reply to a comment which claimed that bikes could not work in a large city with a lot of bikes and public transportation.
The same people often argue that bikes cannot work in cold weather.
I remember one time on the bus a commuter had his full sized bike in the bus. This was a full sized with plenty of space bus, so it wasn't really in the way at all. The bike rack was full and it was a summer day. So probably the guy figured he may as well just try bringing it on instead of waiting another hour for a bus and hoping there's space.
Anyway one busybody got all uppity. But the driver and rest of the passengers didn't care. So it was fine.
Granted I live in a smaller town, but I see a lot of bikes on the bus. Given that we don't have a super dense transit system, bike + bus is a practical way for a lot of people to make buses work. The bike solves the "last mile problem."
Both of my kids have jobs that let out after the last buses run at night, so they take the bus to work and ride their bikes home.
I understand the frustration but also bikes take up a lot of space. When someone brings one on the NYC subway at rush hour it’s definitely an inconvenience.
I feel like the failure here is that it gets so packed that there isn't space for a bike. Because it's not just bikes impacted here. If you can't fit a bike, you can't fit a wheelchair, you can't fit a pram, you don't have space for someone who needs to sit down, or someone who can't handle being pressed in at all sides by other passengers.
It's a wrong allocation of resources where we decide everyone can have 4 empty seats to drive to work but we can't fit 1 person and a bike on PT.
Pretty much any decent mass transit system in the world is packed at rush hour. The whole advantage over private vehicles comes from the fact that people take up less space.
I agree it's a fairly common issue but I feel like it's not an impossible issue to solve. A person and a bike is still massively smaller than a person in an SUV. The system is basically designed with just enough capacity to barely work. But I feel like if we really wanted PT to be the obvious best choice it should be provisioned a bit over the least possible capacity.
The thing is, everyone can't have 4 empty seats to drive to work in New York City. There's only so much space on the streets and in the bridges and tunnels, and now there's a congestion charge on top of that.
In Berlin you just have some areas in wagons designated as bike areas. They are still cramped but you can be there with your bike. Plus you pay extra for your ticket to bring the bike.
I know it's not for everyone, but it is also a reasonable touring bike if done within its constraints. I've probably done closer to 40 days on my 16" Brompton, longest was a two-week 1000km ride. On the topic of leaving the bike out-of-sight: In those 40 days I've left it locked a total of 20 minutes, otherwise it comes with me into restaurants, supermarkets, public restrooms, hotel rooms..
The biggest downsides are speed and climbing ability. 80k or so has been a reasonable max distance on tour (I've done one 100k day, it was long) and I wouldn't take it to the Alps.
Like the OP, I run Schwalbe Marathon Plus which has been good. But I have had one catastrophic puncture after riding over a particularly nasty piece of glass that cut straight through the tire. After that I bring a folding backup tire.
I really wanted an e-scooter to help my shorter routes here in Germany, but the legislation is quite unfriendly to it now. I need insurance and can't carry it in public transport. Maybe a folding bike would be great.
There are also E-Bike Folding bikes, though the mentioned Brompton is very expensive when buying with a motor. A Carbon Folding Bike with motor under 15kg is really worth considering
Depending where in Germany you are (Berlin for examnon-foldable ple) you can carry a regular bike in public transport (ubahn, sbahn, not bus). It is very common.
Technically yes, but the batteries on bikes are better protected, higher up, and usually of better quality than cheap scooter batteries, that are low to the ground. It's more of a statistical decision.
Boomers legislating away a method of transportation they have no use for, combined with a few people using it with little regard or civility, and rental operators so focused on competition that they're unwilling to enforce the rules.
But really, mostly it's the first of the three factors. Thank god they're avid adoptors of ebikes, making those safe for now.
For general use, they are in theory thief-proof because you can take them everywhere with you. The downside is they're expensive so you HAVE to take them everywhere with you. Leave them out and they'll get stolen. For that reason I think the happiest I've been is with a dirt cheap bike in Japan. Didn't even lock it properly (just a key built into the frame) and could park it outside any old shop or restaurant for hours. Super convenient.
For me, just having a $7,000 bike parked on the street would be too stressful even if it didn't get stolen. I've had bikes stolen in Australia and there is basically nothing you can do about it. The thieves have hoodies, masks, and battery powered grinders that will cut any lock.
The only defense is storing your bike inside. And then you get karens on the owners corp whinging that you aren't allowed to take bikes inside. Who also don't give two shits when your bike gets stolen from the basement bike storage.
Not any more. A new generation of locks have an abrasive-filled plastic layer that aggressively wears down angle grinder discs. They aren't completely immune to angle grinders, but the better locks will take 20 minutes and multiple cutting discs to defeat.
I felt this way until I bought full coverage bike insurance.
For my $250 deductible I basically just get a nice upgrade to the latest version / a brand new ebike for ~$200 / year.
The peace of mind alone with insurance (and a really nice lock) have fully mitigated this for me. I've been leaving my ~$2k ebike locked up all over San Francisco for ~3 years without it being stolen. (My first beater bike was a POS locked up in my apartments secure bike storage and it was stolen after I owned it for ~9 days so I figured I couldn't double down on the bad luck).
Even if you ride it a full 2 hours every day, storage still accounts for more than 90% of what you do with your bike.
Where do I keep it is the problem Brompton’s solve really really really well. And incidentally, if you don’t ride a Brompton, the tires don’t get flat spots because when folded the tires don’t touch the ground.
When I was looking I found many full-sized folding bikes but they are solving a problem for an overlapping but different niche. They make it possible to fold and load it into a vehicle or make it more compact for storing at home, but they aren't very good at multi-modal commuting nor are they particularly compact. I remember someone with a folding Tern that struggled to carry it onto the train - it really isn't well suited for that.
This one in particular seems quite bad for it. Removing the tire and the folding mechanism designed to make it stable and stationary doesn't bode well for that use case. It really does seem to be designed only to be folded once you're done riding for the day and not intended for transporting it folded except for loading it into a trunk.
They are definitely prioritizing the ride quality over the foldability, compactness, or transportability. Bromptons try to balance it, which for me is a much better package, but for others, probably making too many compromises to ensure that it can meet those requirements.
I use my Brompton in ways which are not on its label.
Besides rides in the city, I take it on long 100+km rides on the road, on gravel, forests, rocks, mountains.
It has taken me on every street of Barcelona and around it many times over. I've had it for 14 years.
Because of the small wheels it's extremely agile and allows you to go really slow without losing balance. This makes it like a sharp knife in the city but also off road on rocky trails, steep climbs, eg. in places where you'd never think of going with a Brompton.
If the trail is impossible, I can just lift it up and climb with it on my shoulder. Or I can fold it and carry it like a bag, on the metro, trains or in the trunk of the car.
As I understand, I'm not the only one using the Brompton as a gravel/mountain bike, so they released the G-line, which I still haven't checked out, but it's on my bucket list.
If I were to write one eulogoy for a piece of equipment in my life, the Brompton is definitely it :).
Piling on with the Brompton love here. Apartment friendly. Car trunk friendly. Motorcycle sidecar friendly. Their hardcase makes it airplane friendly. Theft-resistant, since it's carried and stored next to you more often than most bikes.
The Brompton luggage system (its mount and low, forward position) is amazing. Bags can be massive and carry a lot of weight and the bike still feels great to ride.
For pedals, I use MKS EZY Superior Lambda pedals with street shoes. Long but not wide metal platform. And they're quick release. The stock Brompton pedals are clever, but not awesome for long distance or hammering. I've spun SPD clipless pedals on for spirited riding and those are, of course, a joy.
The Brompton design is genius but if I could improve one thing, it would be to allow slightly wider tires into the frame.
I'm 15 years into owning a Brompton and I know I'll never get rid of it. and I'm still finding useful and/or hilarious new places to take that might otherwise not allow for a bike. e.g. I had to ride a cargo bike across town for service last week and taking the Brommy in the box so I could ride something home was just so nice
I have two Bromptons (a 3 and a 6 speed). Unfortunately, I've also had TWO stolen .. painful. This was years ago now and both were locked up in central London. The second time, locked via a "Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit", a good U-lock. An angle-grinder gets through these easily and they're battery powered. I don't believe ANY bike lock is safe now and never lock the Brompton up outside. Great bikes!
When I moved to downtown a big city, I bought a Chinese folding bike and it was awesome tool, replacing a good deal of e-scooter and taxi rides. The one I bought in '23 cost ~€250, plus ~€50 for a sprung saddle, long saddle tube and minor accessories. Works very well. Taxi here is cheap, so I haven't yet saved much -- roughly it just broke even, but it saves me the pain of some routes where public transit is inconvenient, and taxi gets stuck in traffic jams.
I remember having mountain bikes and the lycra cyclist fashion norms -- like no road bicycle fenders, no basket -- it looks ridiculous in retrospect. When I lived in a 80K ppl town with fields 5 min ride away, and almost never used bikes as a transport -- almost exclusively for leisure.
I had a Brompton in Boston. It makes absolutely everyone happy. It's been a conversation starter with everyone from 15 year old kids dressed to give a don't start anything vibe to 75 year old retirees.
As TFA notes, they're allowed on trains even during rush hour when full-size bikes are not. They fold effortlessly; folding and unfolding a couple times a day at the station is no hassle at all. They ride much like a full size bike, with the exception of the fact that if you pedal through a turn, you're much more likely to strike a pedal into the ground.
The only downside is that the 16" tires are murder on bumpy roads, of which Boston has many.
The 16" tires killed all the joy I normally get from riding a bike tbh. I tried better seats, shock absorber posts, different gear ratios, everything. Just sucked the joy out of the ride for me. Hiding "throw away" bikes around the city and far off bus stops etc ended up being my solution and it worked better for me at least.
My other option was leaving my all-weather beater bike down at the station near work. I ended up not doing that just because I didn't want to have to haul it back and forth a couple times a year for maintenance. But yeah, valid solution for sure.
I went with the simplest possible design for mine: fixed gear, v breaks sealed bearing wheels. Was basically zero maintenance as I only ever used the brakes for emergencies and used foot power for planned stopping etc. had gater tires, worked fine in the snow in Boston round all year.
I've always wondered about that. It sacrifices much for portability. Seems great for a certain kind of commute or short trips, but I'm not sure I'd want to tackle seattle hills on it. That said, I've certainly seen a few around.
You can get them with gears to handle the hills. They also make an electric one too. I chatted up someone putting an electric one in their trunk and they love theirs. More gears, more dollars, and the electric adds considerably to the price too.
For my money, the sweet spot for a Brompton is 1-5 mile rides as part of a commute. Upthread there's links to people who tour on them, which is cool. I've done a 7000 mile bike tour, and I'm not sure I'd trade a touring bike for a folder for that kind of use. If I only had a Brompton, I'd try it, but I own, uh, three (3) other bikes.
Besides the ride comfort from the small wheels, it really does ride a lot like a regular bike. The ride comfort is a huge compromise, to be sure, but if you can ride a bike, getting on a Brompton takes basically zero adjustment. The steering isn't at all twitchy, and while they note that standing to pedal might feel weird, in my experience, it isn't.
Admittedly, I’ve never ridden a 16” wheeled bike. My 20” is rough enough that I’ve never bothered considering the smaller wheeled models. Maybe if I bike/train commuted every day rather than a few times a month.
Have a foldable bike as well, but in Japan, generally you have to put the folded bike in a bag as well. So it’s always just a little bit of extra friction.
Then again, taking the front wheel of my road bike takes an extra minute. Then i can put it on the train as well. That’s when I start questioning my decisions no matter whether I took the foldable one or non foldable one.
I'll add my anecdote here: I bought a Tern Verge and the accessory bike bag about 1.5 years ago because I imagined taking the bike on the train or public transport and because I lived in a small apartment. With the bag, you can take it like any other bag, but without, even if folded, you need to pay extra and place it in dedicated bike spots.
Now partially that's just my laziness and trajectory in life, but I haven't used the bag once (I'm not even sure how to use the bag, it's...complicated?). And the bike was folded only once, when I moved.
About a year later I bought a road bike because I wanted better climbing and longer distances and more comfort. Ultimately, for me the folding bike - while great fun in general, it's fast and agile - was kind of the wrong choice.
Yeah fair. My folding bike is actually an e-bike, and unfortunately not as light as my road bike. In larger stations of Japan it gets very annoying to carry it around in a bag.
Can confirm, they're great! I will sometimes take a day trip from London to a different town, and it's nice to take the bike with me on the train, disembark, and be able to cycle around without worrying about which bus to take, how to pay, etc. But I can still take the bike on the bus if needed!
Brompton is probably the #1 brand bike thieves will target though, everyone I know who has one never leaves it out of their sight. That's way too stressful for me, I don't want to take it with me in the supermarket or watch over it at the pub. I just got a cheap Decathlon with very low thief appeal.
This is a high quality video of a guy reviewing his own Brompton, but generally showing around it, the features, the fold, the kickstand mode with the rear wheel folded under, the rolling wheels to wheel it around when folded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6bmuJ98Zc8
It's his bike, he loves it, it's not an unbiased independent review.
I have a Tern Eclipse P18 24" folding bike which I like a lot. Tern and Dahon are related. Wasn't cheap and is hard to find. I literally drove to Vegas and met an IT sysadmin in a casino parking lot at 2am. He was coming off shift. It was legit (found it on EBay and he had the manuals) but it looked+felt like a drug deal.
I have upgraded the Tern. The original FSA crank would come loose and so I replaced it with a Shimano 105 part which required a Wheels Mfg 386 EVO Adaptor. I've never had a problem with it since. I also replaced the front derailleur with an SRAM Yaw which is just perfection.
It's great out to about 20 miles and you can't go up anything really steep because the shorter wheelbase just pops a wheelie. Tires and tubes are hard to find. But it's an awesome bike to have around.
One of the fun things about these bikes is you’ll get many curious onlookers in the US and delight them by showing them how it folds up. Kids seem to love the demonstration and it’s cool explaining how bikes work, especially the hub gear.
As someone who rode a folding bike for several years as their primary mode of transportation, I personally found no joy in it. It was simply the only option for being allowed on the commuter rail into the city during "rush" hours. I eventually got fed up with it and gave it away and chained up a full sized beater bike at the city limits and rode that the last few miles after getting off the rail. I'd prefer to never ride one ever again tbh
I cycle 60 mins per day along the tow path in London on my Brompton, put it under my desk in the office, and then get the train back in the evening. No issues handling that distance.
I extracted a lot of utility out of a folding bike during university in Korea. The smaller wheels are indeed a tradeoff for space vs. comfort but all in all it was a useful purchase.
There are a couple of companies doing full-size, or nearly full-size wheels on folding bikes --- very glad of my Montague Swissbike X50, and considered a Change Bike, and still want a Helix.
I love my Brompton. I've had mine for 12 years that I bought back in LA and brought it with me when I moved to Tokyo. It's such a great commuter for getting around the city and easily fits in my trunk when I want to take it with me for a trip.
Tokyo also has a couple of great Brompton shops for maintenance and parts.
I don't know the specific Schwalbe Marathon tires but they use a proprietary material called SmartGuard. Personally, I've used Armadillo (from Specialized) and GatorSkin (from Continental) tires, both of which I was told contain a kevlar layer which resists punctures from sharp objects.
In my experience I only got one sharp-object puncture on either of these brands in over 10 years of riding, contrasted with much more frequent punctures on traditional rubber tires.
I think it is possible to make extremely puncture-resistant bike tires with modern materials, without particularly terrible tradeoffs. Materials progress is amazing. Although these are not used, for example in racing, because there is some performance tradeoff in increasing resistance.
I did look a little further on the manufacturer websites, and it looks like neither is literally kevlar, but both are forms of dense cut-resistant polymer meshes (some kind of nylon mesh for the Armadillo and some kind of polyester mesh and polyamide mesh for the GatorSkin).
There's some subtlety about the difference in materials that resist slashing versus those that resist stabbing; my impression is that it's easier to make the latter (you can get extremely effective cutproof gloves, for example for kitchen use, very cheaply, but stabproof vests remain expensive). The puncture-resistant tires are more akin to stabproof vests, which I think is the more challenging property to achieve.
As a German it makes me tiny little bit proud that he mentions two German traditional companies. Schwalbe (tires, tubes) and Abus (locks) are basically the default choice other brands have to compete against. The primary competitor for Schwalbe is Continental which is also a German company.
I used to own a dahon that I got from a guy on craigslist back in like 2011/2012. Incredible bike. After moving further out of the city for cheaper rent I sold it to help pay rent. Really wish I could have kept it.
Many HNers will enjoy this book about the company’s maturation from a hardware startup founded by one difficult genius to an institution that had to be rebuilt as it scaled: https://bookpeople.com/book/9781615199563
I'd like to try a folding bike but (1) bromptons around here are filthy expensive and cheaper options (that can be found around 1/20th the price of a brompton) are really low quality, and (2) none of them come with big gears that I'd need to get home, with sections that can reach 22%
If you don't know if you need a folding bike, you probably don't need a folding bike. It's kind of compromised as a bike, and if the (admittedly huge) utility of it folding isn't painfully necessary, it'd be hard to justify owning one.
Once you get to the point where a folder is unavoidable, you may as well get a good one, be it Bromptom, Dahon, or whoever. At that point it's definitely a buy-once-cry-once kind of purchase. As much as I love mine, I wouldn't recommend anyone buying one who isn't already really into cycling for transportation rather than sport and doesn't really need a folding bike.
And yeah, the low end of the market is pretty crap, much as it is for regular bikes.
I live in NYC and I was tempted to buy a Brompton but ended up not doing so in the end. A friend of mine that always lives in the city said he regretted his because it's surprisingly heavy and bulky even when folded.
a bit nitty, but "never get punctures" is just an attribute of the tires, not the bike. if you stick Gatorskins on a Tarmac SL8, you'll also never get punctures. but that's like putting tractor tires on a sports car, and you'll be slower and have a less comfortable ride than you would with GP5Ks.
I dunno about elsewhere but in Ontario the legality of a bike being on a sidewalk is based on wheel diameter to permit kids bicycles. So there ends up being kinds of adult bikes with intentionally tiny wheels, and it creates a real menace to pedestrians. Some municipalities also have age restrictions to combat this.
What are the more legitimate reasons for little wheels on bikes? I guess the goal like with this one is to have the least amount of bike as necessary?
> I dunno about elsewhere but in Ontario the legality of a bike being on a sidewalk is based on wheel diameter to permit kids bicycles.
There is no Ontario-wide law, per the Highway Traffic Act, §185(2):
> (2) The council of a municipality may by by-law prohibit pedestrians or the use of motor assisted bicycles, bicycles, wheelchairs or animals on any highway or portion of a highway under its jurisdiction. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 185 (2).
> 2.12 Motor vehicle - bicycle - on sidewalk - exceptions No person shall, without lawful authority, either by himself or by permitting others, operate a motor vehicle or bicycle along a sidewalk. This section shall not apply to a person who, […] or (d) being under the age of 14, operates a bicycle along a sidewalk.
My ‘low stakes conspiracy theory’ is that adults enjoy the Brompton more than you’d think, because it’s too small for them, so it feels more like a BMX for sensible professional adults who would never think to ride a BMX or want to be seen on one.
I’ve been eyeing up Bromptons for years, especially the new G (gravel) line which has 20” wheels up from 16” and chunkier tires (for ride comfort on potholes and rough asphalt, and being able to ride down a trail). But I have no need for one, and they’re not cheap to buy on a whim.
I’d really like to try a Kwiggle folding bike, too, just for fun. The standing-riding position might feel less like riding a bike and more like ‘accelerated walking’. And it folds smaller than a Brompton tri-fold.
12" wheels would be sheer hell on anything less than perfect pavement. Source: I own a Brompton with 16" wheels, and wouldn't ride it more than about a block without cycling gloves. It's absolutely punishing on the wrists. The elastomeric block for the rear triangle makes it pretty tolerable on your ass, but the front end is rough.
Not sure which grips you're using, but I found using the stock foam grips gave me severe wrist pain quite quickly. I changed to Ergon GP1 grips (they have much better hand support) and now ride long distances without discomfort.
- The steering column is made of austenitic stainless steel. This .. even provides a pleasant suspension.
- Of course everyone prefers to ride on smooth asphalt. With the Kwiggle you can also easily drive on paved trails. Even cobblestones are relatively comfortable to ride due to the wide tires.
- Is the Kwiggle suitable for longer distances? The physiologically optimal upright posture and the swinging saddle bring each of your muscles in motion, especially in the hip and lower back area. That's why you can ride even better than with any other bike, without tension, pain or signs of fatigue symptoms. We already rode 200 and 300 km (124 and 186 miles) in one day.
Recently I tried out Brompton Bike Hire in London for a week. Can recommend the bike, and the price is reasonable. The bikes are hired from automatic storage lockers, which makes sense as a concept. The app is atrocious though, and I had a lot of trouble returning the bike at the end of the week.
There was a Palo Alto-San Jose-Los Gatos homeless OG who went by "John", had a Southern accent, and a neckbeard who rode a red Dahon because it was easy for him to get on and off VTA buses and light rail. He was kooky but a nice guy.
I've used a Dahon Speed P8 extensively in Asia. In China you can just put a folding bike inside a large tarp bag and just get on any high speed train and then bike away when you reach your destination. It's awesome.
The only "gotcha" is how you deal with luggage. I've used a seatpost rack, but I've also had a seatpost rack fail on me one time.
What I've always thought was interesting about folding bikes is that it doesn't seem like it's possible for it to be done elegantly. It's been 150 years since the "safety bicycle" was invented, yet folding bikes are the exception and not the norm - even though it would be really handy if every bike could be easily shrunk down and packed up as easily as a baby stroller or a wheel chair.
Maybe it's just my experience, but every folded bike I've seen in the wild looked more or less like a bundle of bike parts, with bits sticking out here and there. You'll never look at a folded bike and think, "Hey, what's that?", because it always looks exactly like what it is.
It seems like there's something about a bike's geometry and mechanism which doesn't lend itself to symmetry and easy compaction.
As a user of a folding bike, I don't care that parts stick out of it, but I'll agree it's on the limits of geometry, and folding isn't elegant -- and when it's folded, it's still quite big.
I own what could possibly be the coolest folding bike ever made: the Bike Friday Tikit Hyperfold. It has a folding mechanism with an extremely high nerd quotient. It has a reputation as the fastest bike to fold and unfold, requiring no latches, safeties, or adjustment at all. But more importantly, unlike many other exotic folders (ahem Brompton) it largely uses standard parts. You can fit it with whatever drivetrain, brake system, handlebars, pedals, and seat you want. Though it has the same 349 wheel size as a Brompton, it rides much, much better. It was designed by in conjunction with Bike Friday by Rob English, a mechanical engineer who long was (maybe is?) the British speed record holder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQscBxx7wLE
But Bike Friday no longer manufactures it: the frame design is so exotic and weird that they had a number of frame issues and failures they had to overcome in the field, and Bike Friday has a lifetime frame warranty. It was a very popular bike, but by the time they had worked out all the kinks the value of them continuing to sell the bike had probably gone negative. The Tikit was just too bleeding edge for its time.
The Tikit relies on a special part in order to be ridden: its hyperfold cable. This cable is no longer being manufactured for Bike Friday and cannot be obtained anywhere. When my cable gives out, and it'll happen sometime soon, my Tikit will probably wind up on the display wall of a bike store. And I'll be searching for something to replace it. But there is no folder even close to the Tikit in sheer engineering prowess, which depresses me to no end as a tech guy. Bike Friday itself replaced the model with the Pakit, a decidedly inferior bike. I'm not sure what to do.
Decathlon btwin one second has been praised for its design and easy unfolding; it’s relatively cheap and still being produced.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XX2VSaXmAoo
I have consistently heard that the bikes by decathlon are very poor quality and fall apart easily. Is it a case of you get what you pay for?
This is what a lot of people want to be true, but in fact is not. I believe it can be mostly explained by the "IKEA effect": any given model is bought by so many people that the inevitable design defects are quickly found and remedied.
Some data points: I bought a Decathlon folding bike (Fold 500; new, ~450€) a few months ago. Using it many times a week (probably more than it's intended).
No issues so far. Internet reviews (https://www.decathlon.fr/r/velo-pliant-fold-500/343354/undef...) are quite positive as well.
I've had other Decathlon bikes when I was a kid/teen, I don't recall any issue either.
N=2, but my Decathlon bikes have well over 50000 km between them with no issues, beyond the usual wear and tear. Value wise, they are fantastic. They are road bikes, however, not the folding specifically.
Of course you get what you pay for. Note that this is not Decathlon’s cheapest folding bike.
i have (had) several cheap (under €500) single speed bikes and Decathlon is not the worst of them
For nerdiness there’s also the bike sat-r-day, a folding recumbent! http://cycle.atnak.com/SatRDay/index_e.html
The ICE Trice is a folding recumbent tadpole trike! https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d9/85/10/d98510f35c1aa63b8384...
It folds the rear wheel “triangle” (red in the picture) underneath to make it shorter to fit in a car trunk. Also has squishy rubber-lump suspension because the rear wheel pivots.
(ICE being Inspired Cycle Engineering in this context).
I've had a regular Tikit (there's a single knob to lock the steer tube in place, adds 10 seconds to the fold/unfold time) for over 15 years. Picked Bike Friday because I wanted a foldable to be able to take it onto public transit, and the Bromptons were pricier than I wanted. I did have a frame failure early on (repaired thanks to that lifetime warranty), but it's been reliable ever since. If your hyperfold cable does break, I hope at the least you'll be able to retrofit the regular locking knob onto it.
Sadly, they no longer make the knob stems.
I still think the strida folding bikes are the ones with the highest nerd quotient. Never ridden one myself, but been tempted a couple of times. In particular the low weight compared to any other folding bike is appealing. Unfortunately they are difficult to find for test rides and they look quirky enough that I'd want to do a test ride before buying
Unicycles probably have a higher nerd quotient. No folding needed!
Hi fellow tikit owner! When they did the early upgrade of the cable, I thought it was just some gauge of airplane wire, threaded through the front nut and clamped or welded in place (I don't rude mine very often, it's a very early model and has a lot of the weaknesses like chain offs, and it comes unfolded too easily when I roll it). But I haven't been able to bring myself to sell it, it's still such a nice little device.
> an extremely high nerd quotient
stealing this. you will be paid 0 in royalties/licensing
I've lived in the UK as a student in 1997 and it was hell owning bicycle then. People threw stones at me from cars while I was biking on the side of the road.
Glad to hear biking has gone mainstream. Don't forget to pay respects to many of us pioneers, some whom survived some who didn't.
I used to catch a train with a cheap folding bike every day. I was always envious of this other guy with a Brompton who took the same train. The worst thing about mine was that by carrying it by the only convenient place, you got oil on your cuff from the chainring!
I'm all for more submissions about manually-operated things on wheels.
Like "Rediscovering the Handcart"
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2026/04/rediscovering-the-...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47873192
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47870694
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47862913
Don't miss the Low Tech piece on Chinese one-wheel wheelbarrows:
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/how-to-downsize-a-...
I ride a Reise & Mueller Birdy Mk3 mostly because I think folding bikes are neat and the Birdy has my favorite fold. The other rationale was that I wanted a nice bike I'd never have to lock up outside in NYC. The intention was to use it as a commuter since not spending on the subway would pay for it pretty quickly but shortly after I got it I started working remote so I've only done commutes on it for a couple weeks of gig jobs and it's mostly a recreational bike.
I went through an extended project to make it faster and wound up with a loop handlebar for body position, replaced the wheelset to move from 355 to 406 for tire selection and did the drivetrain at the same time to accommodate a 9-32 cassette. Between the wheels and the sub-11 tooth sprockets I can pedal up to ~26mph instead of ~20mph on the stock setup (good enough) and the low end is about the same. It doesn't perform like a race bike but it's pretty close to an endurance road bike. I do 20 mile rides a couple times a week on it and I've done a couple centuries.
The Birdy is my main bike but I'm a folding and recumbent enthusiast in general. The addition of the fold or moving the cranks in front of the rider means the obvious solution diamond frame doesn't work and I like seeing the creativity of the solutions. I've also owned a Xootr Swift that I gave away to my nephews, a Bike Friday Sat-R-Day folding recumbent for riding slowly in the parks, and a Baron Optima lowracer recumbent that I prefer for rides over 90 minutes.
I think of my Brompton as an unbelievably well made tool. It fits so well into London with public transport and the general consciousness of the U.K. traveller. You’re not going to get a squiff glance from a train conductor or cab driver if you lug one onboard. The ride is more comfortable than a racing bike. Compartments fit, gyms have storage for them and it’s also a beautifully constructed item. It just solves a part of the transport problem so well.
The article touched on it, and I agree, the biggest benefits for me are the portability and storability.
I can easily fit my folding bike into my car trunk, and very easily fit another one in the back seat. This enables you to drive to the start of a distant cycling route without having to deal with bike racks behind or on top of your car. So much less friction to you just going somewhere and cycling around.
And the small size means I can skip the common bike storage in my complex and store it in my apartment and it doesn't take up as much space as a full-sized bike. In my city, like most major cities, bike thievery is rampant. And if they can't steal your bike, they strip it of parts.
There are some drawbacks though. You can't really use them for hauling heavy loads, so forget bicycle touring or pulling a little trailer for kids or other things. They are also quite slow. And maybe some models have lots of gears, but the ones I checked out (in my admittedly limited search) did not, so they are not suited for very hilly routes.
I got mine used for $200 off FB Marketplace, it was in great condition and ready to ride. It is some generic brand that was sold in Walmarts a few years ago and I could not find any other information on it. I don't really care though. It got me out and cycling again!
> "You can't really use them for hauling heavy loads, so forget bicycle touring or pulling a little trailer for kids or other things"
Eh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRqKP0XmhQ - Brompton with Burley Travoy trailer while the guy moves house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocMRuUBUFrU - Bromtpon with Cyclone trailer while grocery shopping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvBA1K8oFmQ - Brompton with child trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOH3wEB0pS8 - with different child trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waW1wq07JsA - Brompton with child seat adapter in front of the rider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV60S7ma4d4 - Brompton with child seat on the back.
https://global.brompton.com/s/article/What-Is-The-Recommende...
What Is The Recommended Maximum Rider Weight And The Recommended Maximum Load?
Rider + load 110kg-130kg(G line)
Load meaning bags and rucksacks weighing down on the tyres, not trailers being pulled.
That’s another reason I like the G-line and am suspicious of the “just buy a cheaper folding bike from Ali express with a Brompton style tri-fold”. Idk how much I would trust a bike to take a 100kg person if it didn’t explicitly say a carrying capacity.
Over the years I’ve acquired road bikes, MTBs and time travel bikes. Of all of them the only little kids regularly tell me is “sick” is my Brompton.
It paid for itself in saved fuel and parking fees in the first year I had it.
I’m a Brompton admirer but if your kids rate it higher than time travel bikes they have no taste.
I loved my Brompton. I used to keep it in my car when visiting clients so I could take a ride at lunch time or in the evening. Once I changed career I dumped the car and didn't really need the Brompton any more so sold it.
I don't fault OP for this, but it's pretty frustrating to me as someone who's quite attached to his non-folding bike that the main benefit of folding bikes is that, unlike regular bikes, they aren't banned from pretty much all public transport
Full size bikes on public transport doesn’t work well when crowded though. I briefly took a bikee recumbent (really small) on BART and it was great for me but pretty annoying for others for 1 stop (sorry if you went between Ashby and Oakland in 2011!)
Even in the Netherlands you need to pay €8.50 to bring your bike on, perhaps so the trains aren’t overrun.
Thankfully uncommon in North America. Growing up in Los Angeles where every bus has racks and every train car has bike spots, I was shocked the first time I visited SF and found I couldn't bring it on Muni trains.
I know DC bans them and Boston/NYC/Toronto have limited hours, but every other city with a metro seems to welcome them.
NYC subway allows bikes 24/7, only MNR and LIRR have time restrictions
DC does not ban normal bikes. I see them all the time on the metro. I'd say it is becoming less common as they build out more bike parking infrastructure at stations, but it is definitely something people still do.
I do find my brompton a lot more convenient for the train, though.
Yeah, this definitely wouldn't fly in any country where a lot of people bike and use transit. Tokyo metro would be hell if full sized bikes would be allowed.
Copenhagen has fairly decent public transportation and biking is quite common.
Bikes are allowed basicly everywhere: https://dinoffentligetransport.dk/en/how-to-travel/bicycles-...
Caveat: Bikes are not allowed in the Metro during rush hours 07:00-09:00 and 15:30-17:30. But it is allowed the rest of the time and has 24H service.
You should also know that the greater Copenhagen area is covered by "S-Trains" which are running on dedicated (not mainline) tracks. So metro-ish.
The S-Trains have dedicated space for bikes: https://youtu.be/hgfOxNRAktI
So even bumblebees can fly if you let them.
Actually taking a bike on the Copenhagen metro is rare, in my experience, except very late at night when it's empty anyway.
It is almost as annoying to others as taking a bike on a bus.
You missed the point.
The bike is for biking. Of course it is annoying when people bring it on the bus. Or park it in front of my door.
The bike on the metro is not rare because it is annoying. People do simply not have that much tact. It is more rare because people bike those distances and you pay extra on the metro. It is free on the S-Train which also covers longer distances - hence more bikes.
I find bikes annoying in general as well. But that is because they are usually attached to a human.
The point was that it can actually work.
It is not all of nothing. It is an integrated system which actually works.
This was a reply to a comment which claimed that bikes could not work in a large city with a lot of bikes and public transportation.
The same people often argue that bikes cannot work in cold weather.
I remember one time on the bus a commuter had his full sized bike in the bus. This was a full sized with plenty of space bus, so it wasn't really in the way at all. The bike rack was full and it was a summer day. So probably the guy figured he may as well just try bringing it on instead of waiting another hour for a bus and hoping there's space.
Anyway one busybody got all uppity. But the driver and rest of the passengers didn't care. So it was fine.
Granted I live in a smaller town, but I see a lot of bikes on the bus. Given that we don't have a super dense transit system, bike + bus is a practical way for a lot of people to make buses work. The bike solves the "last mile problem."
Both of my kids have jobs that let out after the last buses run at night, so they take the bus to work and ride their bikes home.
I understand the frustration but also bikes take up a lot of space. When someone brings one on the NYC subway at rush hour it’s definitely an inconvenience.
I feel like the failure here is that it gets so packed that there isn't space for a bike. Because it's not just bikes impacted here. If you can't fit a bike, you can't fit a wheelchair, you can't fit a pram, you don't have space for someone who needs to sit down, or someone who can't handle being pressed in at all sides by other passengers.
It's a wrong allocation of resources where we decide everyone can have 4 empty seats to drive to work but we can't fit 1 person and a bike on PT.
Pretty much any decent mass transit system in the world is packed at rush hour. The whole advantage over private vehicles comes from the fact that people take up less space.
I agree it's a fairly common issue but I feel like it's not an impossible issue to solve. A person and a bike is still massively smaller than a person in an SUV. The system is basically designed with just enough capacity to barely work. But I feel like if we really wanted PT to be the obvious best choice it should be provisioned a bit over the least possible capacity.
The thing is, everyone can't have 4 empty seats to drive to work in New York City. There's only so much space on the streets and in the bridges and tunnels, and now there's a congestion charge on top of that.
In Berlin you just have some areas in wagons designated as bike areas. They are still cramped but you can be there with your bike. Plus you pay extra for your ticket to bring the bike.
This depends on the metro. NYC generally doesn't care for the trains/subways so they only make a difference on buses.
I know it's not for everyone, but it is also a reasonable touring bike if done within its constraints. I've probably done closer to 40 days on my 16" Brompton, longest was a two-week 1000km ride. On the topic of leaving the bike out-of-sight: In those 40 days I've left it locked a total of 20 minutes, otherwise it comes with me into restaurants, supermarkets, public restrooms, hotel rooms..
The biggest downsides are speed and climbing ability. 80k or so has been a reasonable max distance on tour (I've done one 100k day, it was long) and I wouldn't take it to the Alps.
Like the OP, I run Schwalbe Marathon Plus which has been good. But I have had one catastrophic puncture after riding over a particularly nasty piece of glass that cut straight through the tire. After that I bring a folding backup tire.
> "a reasonable touring bike if done within its constraints"
Yes; for example, YouTuber Susanna Thornton does bikepacking and wild-camping on her Brompton: https://www.youtube.com/@susannathornton/videos
and Darin's Adventure Chronicles: https://www.youtube.com/@darinsadventurechronicles/videos
Many other one-off videos exist too under searches for brompton bikepacking and brompton wildcamp.
Also:
* https://www.youtube.com/@2Bikes4Adventure/videos
I really wanted an e-scooter to help my shorter routes here in Germany, but the legislation is quite unfriendly to it now. I need insurance and can't carry it in public transport. Maybe a folding bike would be great.
There are also E-Bike Folding bikes, though the mentioned Brompton is very expensive when buying with a motor. A Carbon Folding Bike with motor under 15kg is really worth considering
I have a jackrabbit e-bike, which is just shorter enough to go through doors easily.
Depending where in Germany you are (Berlin for examnon-foldable ple) you can carry a regular bike in public transport (ubahn, sbahn, not bus). It is very common.
> can't carry it in public transport
That's a bizarre rule. What was their justification?
Edit: apparently due to safety concerns about their batteries. IMO they shouldn't allow importing/selling them if the batteries are unsafe.
The battery concerns are just a ridiculous excuse. E-bikes are allowed in public transport.
Technically yes, but the batteries on bikes are better protected, higher up, and usually of better quality than cheap scooter batteries, that are low to the ground. It's more of a statistical decision.
Yeah it's ridiculous.
Boomers legislating away a method of transportation they have no use for, combined with a few people using it with little regard or civility, and rental operators so focused on competition that they're unwilling to enforce the rules.
But really, mostly it's the first of the three factors. Thank god they're avid adoptors of ebikes, making those safe for now.
They're obviously great for commuting.
For general use, they are in theory thief-proof because you can take them everywhere with you. The downside is they're expensive so you HAVE to take them everywhere with you. Leave them out and they'll get stolen. For that reason I think the happiest I've been is with a dirt cheap bike in Japan. Didn't even lock it properly (just a key built into the frame) and could park it outside any old shop or restaurant for hours. Super convenient.
I have owned a AU$7,000 (US$5,000) ebike in Sydney, Australia for a few years and have parked it everywhere without worrying about it getting stolen.
It has a built in lock that blocks the front spokes, an alarm and I use a $200 chain lock around the frame to fix it to something.
For me, just having a $7,000 bike parked on the street would be too stressful even if it didn't get stolen. I've had bikes stolen in Australia and there is basically nothing you can do about it. The thieves have hoodies, masks, and battery powered grinders that will cut any lock.
The only defense is storing your bike inside. And then you get karens on the owners corp whinging that you aren't allowed to take bikes inside. Who also don't give two shits when your bike gets stolen from the basement bike storage.
>battery powered grinders that will cut any lock
Not any more. A new generation of locks have an abrasive-filled plastic layer that aggressively wears down angle grinder discs. They aren't completely immune to angle grinders, but the better locks will take 20 minutes and multiple cutting discs to defeat.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/wrecked-and-rated-...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5tuFesVtAA
I felt this way until I bought full coverage bike insurance.
For my $250 deductible I basically just get a nice upgrade to the latest version / a brand new ebike for ~$200 / year.
The peace of mind alone with insurance (and a really nice lock) have fully mitigated this for me. I've been leaving my ~$2k ebike locked up all over San Francisco for ~3 years without it being stolen. (My first beater bike was a POS locked up in my apartments secure bike storage and it was stolen after I owned it for ~9 days so I figured I couldn't double down on the bad luck).
I taped an Airtag-equivalent to one of my bikes as well
Even if you ride it a full 2 hours every day, storage still accounts for more than 90% of what you do with your bike.
Where do I keep it is the problem Brompton’s solve really really really well. And incidentally, if you don’t ride a Brompton, the tires don’t get flat spots because when folded the tires don’t touch the ground.
They are amazing pieces of engineering.
Surprised more people aren’t aware of Montague.
https://www.montaguebikes.com/
When I was looking I found many full-sized folding bikes but they are solving a problem for an overlapping but different niche. They make it possible to fold and load it into a vehicle or make it more compact for storing at home, but they aren't very good at multi-modal commuting nor are they particularly compact. I remember someone with a folding Tern that struggled to carry it onto the train - it really isn't well suited for that.
This one in particular seems quite bad for it. Removing the tire and the folding mechanism designed to make it stable and stationary doesn't bode well for that use case. It really does seem to be designed only to be folded once you're done riding for the day and not intended for transporting it folded except for loading it into a trunk.
They are definitely prioritizing the ride quality over the foldability, compactness, or transportability. Bromptons try to balance it, which for me is a much better package, but for others, probably making too many compromises to ensure that it can meet those requirements.
I use my Brompton in ways which are not on its label.
Besides rides in the city, I take it on long 100+km rides on the road, on gravel, forests, rocks, mountains.
It has taken me on every street of Barcelona and around it many times over. I've had it for 14 years.
Because of the small wheels it's extremely agile and allows you to go really slow without losing balance. This makes it like a sharp knife in the city but also off road on rocky trails, steep climbs, eg. in places where you'd never think of going with a Brompton.
If the trail is impossible, I can just lift it up and climb with it on my shoulder. Or I can fold it and carry it like a bag, on the metro, trains or in the trunk of the car.
As I understand, I'm not the only one using the Brompton as a gravel/mountain bike, so they released the G-line, which I still haven't checked out, but it's on my bucket list.
If I were to write one eulogoy for a piece of equipment in my life, the Brompton is definitely it :).
Piling on with the Brompton love here. Apartment friendly. Car trunk friendly. Motorcycle sidecar friendly. Their hardcase makes it airplane friendly. Theft-resistant, since it's carried and stored next to you more often than most bikes.
The Brompton luggage system (its mount and low, forward position) is amazing. Bags can be massive and carry a lot of weight and the bike still feels great to ride.
For pedals, I use MKS EZY Superior Lambda pedals with street shoes. Long but not wide metal platform. And they're quick release. The stock Brompton pedals are clever, but not awesome for long distance or hammering. I've spun SPD clipless pedals on for spirited riding and those are, of course, a joy.
The Brompton design is genius but if I could improve one thing, it would be to allow slightly wider tires into the frame.
I'm 15 years into owning a Brompton and I know I'll never get rid of it. and I'm still finding useful and/or hilarious new places to take that might otherwise not allow for a bike. e.g. I had to ride a cargo bike across town for service last week and taking the Brommy in the box so I could ride something home was just so nice
"Theft-resistant"
I have two Bromptons (a 3 and a 6 speed). Unfortunately, I've also had TWO stolen .. painful. This was years ago now and both were locked up in central London. The second time, locked via a "Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit", a good U-lock. An angle-grinder gets through these easily and they're battery powered. I don't believe ANY bike lock is safe now and never lock the Brompton up outside. Great bikes!
Can you explain what makes the Brompton design genius?
Edit: the top comment (at this time) has a youtube link that shows it fold/unfold in like 8 secs. I can see the genius in it now
When I moved to downtown a big city, I bought a Chinese folding bike and it was awesome tool, replacing a good deal of e-scooter and taxi rides. The one I bought in '23 cost ~€250, plus ~€50 for a sprung saddle, long saddle tube and minor accessories. Works very well. Taxi here is cheap, so I haven't yet saved much -- roughly it just broke even, but it saves me the pain of some routes where public transit is inconvenient, and taxi gets stuck in traffic jams.
I remember having mountain bikes and the lycra cyclist fashion norms -- like no road bicycle fenders, no basket -- it looks ridiculous in retrospect. When I lived in a 80K ppl town with fields 5 min ride away, and almost never used bikes as a transport -- almost exclusively for leisure.
I had a Brompton in Boston. It makes absolutely everyone happy. It's been a conversation starter with everyone from 15 year old kids dressed to give a don't start anything vibe to 75 year old retirees.
As TFA notes, they're allowed on trains even during rush hour when full-size bikes are not. They fold effortlessly; folding and unfolding a couple times a day at the station is no hassle at all. They ride much like a full size bike, with the exception of the fact that if you pedal through a turn, you're much more likely to strike a pedal into the ground.
The only downside is that the 16" tires are murder on bumpy roads, of which Boston has many.
The 16" tires killed all the joy I normally get from riding a bike tbh. I tried better seats, shock absorber posts, different gear ratios, everything. Just sucked the joy out of the ride for me. Hiding "throw away" bikes around the city and far off bus stops etc ended up being my solution and it worked better for me at least.
My other option was leaving my all-weather beater bike down at the station near work. I ended up not doing that just because I didn't want to have to haul it back and forth a couple times a year for maintenance. But yeah, valid solution for sure.
I went with the simplest possible design for mine: fixed gear, v breaks sealed bearing wheels. Was basically zero maintenance as I only ever used the brakes for emergencies and used foot power for planned stopping etc. had gater tires, worked fine in the snow in Boston round all year.
I've always wondered about that. It sacrifices much for portability. Seems great for a certain kind of commute or short trips, but I'm not sure I'd want to tackle seattle hills on it. That said, I've certainly seen a few around.
You can get them with gears to handle the hills. They also make an electric one too. I chatted up someone putting an electric one in their trunk and they love theirs. More gears, more dollars, and the electric adds considerably to the price too.
For my money, the sweet spot for a Brompton is 1-5 mile rides as part of a commute. Upthread there's links to people who tour on them, which is cool. I've done a 7000 mile bike tour, and I'm not sure I'd trade a touring bike for a folder for that kind of use. If I only had a Brompton, I'd try it, but I own, uh, three (3) other bikes.
Besides the ride comfort from the small wheels, it really does ride a lot like a regular bike. The ride comfort is a huge compromise, to be sure, but if you can ride a bike, getting on a Brompton takes basically zero adjustment. The steering isn't at all twitchy, and while they note that standing to pedal might feel weird, in my experience, it isn't.
Admittedly, I’ve never ridden a 16” wheeled bike. My 20” is rough enough that I’ve never bothered considering the smaller wheeled models. Maybe if I bike/train commuted every day rather than a few times a month.
Have a foldable bike as well, but in Japan, generally you have to put the folded bike in a bag as well. So it’s always just a little bit of extra friction.
Then again, taking the front wheel of my road bike takes an extra minute. Then i can put it on the train as well. That’s when I start questioning my decisions no matter whether I took the foldable one or non foldable one.
I'll add my anecdote here: I bought a Tern Verge and the accessory bike bag about 1.5 years ago because I imagined taking the bike on the train or public transport and because I lived in a small apartment. With the bag, you can take it like any other bag, but without, even if folded, you need to pay extra and place it in dedicated bike spots.
Now partially that's just my laziness and trajectory in life, but I haven't used the bag once (I'm not even sure how to use the bag, it's...complicated?). And the bike was folded only once, when I moved.
About a year later I bought a road bike because I wanted better climbing and longer distances and more comfort. Ultimately, for me the folding bike - while great fun in general, it's fast and agile - was kind of the wrong choice.
Yeah fair. My folding bike is actually an e-bike, and unfortunately not as light as my road bike. In larger stations of Japan it gets very annoying to carry it around in a bag.
Can confirm, they're great! I will sometimes take a day trip from London to a different town, and it's nice to take the bike with me on the train, disembark, and be able to cycle around without worrying about which bus to take, how to pay, etc. But I can still take the bike on the bus if needed!
Brompton is probably the #1 brand bike thieves will target though, everyone I know who has one never leaves it out of their sight. That's way too stressful for me, I don't want to take it with me in the supermarket or watch over it at the pub. I just got a cheap Decathlon with very low thief appeal.
I'm in the market for one as well, but am only interested in an electrified, gravel-capable Bike-E-style [1] recumbent layout.
1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recumbent_bicycle#/media/File:...]
This is a high quality video of a guy reviewing his own Brompton, but generally showing around it, the features, the fold, the kickstand mode with the rear wheel folded under, the rolling wheels to wheel it around when folded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6bmuJ98Zc8
It's his bike, he loves it, it's not an unbiased independent review.
I have a Tern Eclipse P18 24" folding bike which I like a lot. Tern and Dahon are related. Wasn't cheap and is hard to find. I literally drove to Vegas and met an IT sysadmin in a casino parking lot at 2am. He was coming off shift. It was legit (found it on EBay and he had the manuals) but it looked+felt like a drug deal.
I have upgraded the Tern. The original FSA crank would come loose and so I replaced it with a Shimano 105 part which required a Wheels Mfg 386 EVO Adaptor. I've never had a problem with it since. I also replaced the front derailleur with an SRAM Yaw which is just perfection.
It's great out to about 20 miles and you can't go up anything really steep because the shorter wheelbase just pops a wheelie. Tires and tubes are hard to find. But it's an awesome bike to have around.
If somebody told me they knew an SRAM.com on this website, I would not expect a bike parts company.
One of the fun things about these bikes is you’ll get many curious onlookers in the US and delight them by showing them how it folds up. Kids seem to love the demonstration and it’s cool explaining how bikes work, especially the hub gear.
As someone who rode a folding bike for several years as their primary mode of transportation, I personally found no joy in it. It was simply the only option for being allowed on the commuter rail into the city during "rush" hours. I eventually got fed up with it and gave it away and chained up a full sized beater bike at the city limits and rode that the last few miles after getting off the rail. I'd prefer to never ride one ever again tbh
That said I love my fixed gear beater and I would take that thing over the fanciest folder in existence.
I cycle 60 mins per day along the tow path in London on my Brompton, put it under my desk in the office, and then get the train back in the evening. No issues handling that distance.
I extracted a lot of utility out of a folding bike during university in Korea. The smaller wheels are indeed a tradeoff for space vs. comfort but all in all it was a useful purchase.
There are a couple of companies doing full-size, or nearly full-size wheels on folding bikes --- very glad of my Montague Swissbike X50, and considered a Change Bike, and still want a Helix.
I should really try out a Helix ( https://helix.ca/ ) next time I visit Canada.
I love my Brompton. I've had mine for 12 years that I bought back in LA and brought it with me when I moved to Tokyo. It's such a great commuter for getting around the city and easily fits in my trunk when I want to take it with me for a trip.
Tokyo also has a couple of great Brompton shops for maintenance and parts.
I agree with the article but "Never gets punctures"? How's that possible? OP installed some solid tyres?
I don't know the specific Schwalbe Marathon tires but they use a proprietary material called SmartGuard. Personally, I've used Armadillo (from Specialized) and GatorSkin (from Continental) tires, both of which I was told contain a kevlar layer which resists punctures from sharp objects.
In my experience I only got one sharp-object puncture on either of these brands in over 10 years of riding, contrasted with much more frequent punctures on traditional rubber tires.
I think it is possible to make extremely puncture-resistant bike tires with modern materials, without particularly terrible tradeoffs. Materials progress is amazing. Although these are not used, for example in racing, because there is some performance tradeoff in increasing resistance.
I did look a little further on the manufacturer websites, and it looks like neither is literally kevlar, but both are forms of dense cut-resistant polymer meshes (some kind of nylon mesh for the Armadillo and some kind of polyester mesh and polyamide mesh for the GatorSkin).
There's some subtlety about the difference in materials that resist slashing versus those that resist stabbing; my impression is that it's easier to make the latter (you can get extremely effective cutproof gloves, for example for kitchen use, very cheaply, but stabproof vests remain expensive). The puncture-resistant tires are more akin to stabproof vests, which I think is the more challenging property to achieve.
Schwalbe Marathon tires are amazing. I went from getting a puncture every two weeks to having two over the last six years.
Same experience here. Was getting flats all the time on my commute, bike shop recommended Schwalbe Marathons, haven't had an issue since.
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/blog/news/innovation/flat-less/
As a German it makes me tiny little bit proud that he mentions two German traditional companies. Schwalbe (tires, tubes) and Abus (locks) are basically the default choice other brands have to compete against. The primary competitor for Schwalbe is Continental which is also a German company.
I used to own a dahon that I got from a guy on craigslist back in like 2011/2012. Incredible bike. After moving further out of the city for cheaper rent I sold it to help pay rent. Really wish I could have kept it.
The reality is that all bikes can be folded once. The magic is in those that can be reliably unfolded for reuse.
I accidentally folded a Cannondale R600 while moving. It turns out very thin aluminum bike frames and C-10 Chevy truck bed sides don't mix.
Many HNers will enjoy this book about the company’s maturation from a hardware startup founded by one difficult genius to an institution that had to be rebuilt as it scaled: https://bookpeople.com/book/9781615199563
I love my Brompton, expensive as it was. Every time there is a break-in in the bike storage room, I am grateful I can store mine inside.
Still, even though I've had it for years, I always feel awkward about bringing it in to a cafe or similar, and almost never do it.
I'd like to try a folding bike but (1) bromptons around here are filthy expensive and cheaper options (that can be found around 1/20th the price of a brompton) are really low quality, and (2) none of them come with big gears that I'd need to get home, with sections that can reach 22%
I've the BTwin Ultra Compact by Decathlon and I'd recommend it as alternative to the popular Bromptons [1].
It cost less than half of the equivalent Bromptons bike that's featured in the article.
[1] BTwin Ultra Compact 1 Second Light:
https://road.cc/content/review/btwin-ultra-compact-1-second-...
If you don't know if you need a folding bike, you probably don't need a folding bike. It's kind of compromised as a bike, and if the (admittedly huge) utility of it folding isn't painfully necessary, it'd be hard to justify owning one.
Once you get to the point where a folder is unavoidable, you may as well get a good one, be it Bromptom, Dahon, or whoever. At that point it's definitely a buy-once-cry-once kind of purchase. As much as I love mine, I wouldn't recommend anyone buying one who isn't already really into cycling for transportation rather than sport and doesn't really need a folding bike.
And yeah, the low end of the market is pretty crap, much as it is for regular bikes.
> that can be found around 1/20th the price of a brompton
Where in the world are you finding a not-stolen bike for less than a hundred dollars!?
> none of them come with big gears that I'd need to get home, with sections that can reach 22%
Personally I'd recommend getting a bicycle with a motor.
Expensive? I bought mine for 1200 or so in 2006. Still use it daily. It is a steal.
A quality bike can last a really long time.
maybe I'm missing something, but just put a smaller chainring on? or do you need something like MTB cassette amount of range?
given the tiny wheels, a chainring that would be "normal" on a 700c 1x gravel bike should be very easy for climbing on a folding bike.
I live in NYC and I was tempted to buy a Brompton but ended up not doing so in the end. A friend of mine that always lives in the city said he regretted his because it's surprisingly heavy and bulky even when folded.
a bit nitty, but "never get punctures" is just an attribute of the tires, not the bike. if you stick Gatorskins on a Tarmac SL8, you'll also never get punctures. but that's like putting tractor tires on a sports car, and you'll be slower and have a less comfortable ride than you would with GP5Ks.
I was excited to see a picture of the bike folded up, but I didn’t see that in the article.
Not the same bike, but here's one folded up. Not the best picture in my opinion. But it looks like it folds up very compactly.
https://www.inoutfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Brompt...
https://www.inoutfield.com/2014/05/21/farewell-boris-bikes-h...
I dunno about elsewhere but in Ontario the legality of a bike being on a sidewalk is based on wheel diameter to permit kids bicycles. So there ends up being kinds of adult bikes with intentionally tiny wheels, and it creates a real menace to pedestrians. Some municipalities also have age restrictions to combat this.
What are the more legitimate reasons for little wheels on bikes? I guess the goal like with this one is to have the least amount of bike as necessary?
> I dunno about elsewhere but in Ontario the legality of a bike being on a sidewalk is based on wheel diameter to permit kids bicycles.
There is no Ontario-wide law, per the Highway Traffic Act, §185(2):
> (2) The council of a municipality may by by-law prohibit pedestrians or the use of motor assisted bicycles, bicycles, wheelchairs or animals on any highway or portion of a highway under its jurisdiction. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 185 (2).
* https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK286
London:
> 2.12 Motor vehicle - bicycle - on sidewalk - exceptions No person shall, without lawful authority, either by himself or by permitting others, operate a motor vehicle or bicycle along a sidewalk. This section shall not apply to a person who, […] or (d) being under the age of 14, operates a bicycle along a sidewalk.
* https://www.trekbicyclestorelondon.com/about/cycling-law-lon...
Toronto:
> Chapter 950-201 C(2) of the Toronto Municipal Code states that “no person age 14 and older shall ride a bicycle on a sidewalk of any highway.”
* https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-tra...
Nothing about diameter/radius.
Naturally, Ontario is just Toronto and London.
Yes. Hence the folding.
My ‘low stakes conspiracy theory’ is that adults enjoy the Brompton more than you’d think, because it’s too small for them, so it feels more like a BMX for sensible professional adults who would never think to ride a BMX or want to be seen on one.
I’ve been eyeing up Bromptons for years, especially the new G (gravel) line which has 20” wheels up from 16” and chunkier tires (for ride comfort on potholes and rough asphalt, and being able to ride down a trail). But I have no need for one, and they’re not cheap to buy on a whim.
I’d really like to try a Kwiggle folding bike, too, just for fun. The standing-riding position might feel less like riding a bike and more like ‘accelerated walking’. And it folds smaller than a Brompton tri-fold.
[1] https://www.kwigglebike.com/en_US/
12" wheels would be sheer hell on anything less than perfect pavement. Source: I own a Brompton with 16" wheels, and wouldn't ride it more than about a block without cycling gloves. It's absolutely punishing on the wrists. The elastomeric block for the rear triangle makes it pretty tolerable on your ass, but the front end is rough.
Not sure which grips you're using, but I found using the stock foam grips gave me severe wrist pain quite quickly. I changed to Ergon GP1 grips (they have much better hand support) and now ride long distances without discomfort.
The Kwiggle's FAQ contains:
- The steering column is made of austenitic stainless steel. This .. even provides a pleasant suspension.
- Of course everyone prefers to ride on smooth asphalt. With the Kwiggle you can also easily drive on paved trails. Even cobblestones are relatively comfortable to ride due to the wide tires.
- Is the Kwiggle suitable for longer distances? The physiologically optimal upright posture and the swinging saddle bring each of your muscles in motion, especially in the hip and lower back area. That's why you can ride even better than with any other bike, without tension, pain or signs of fatigue symptoms. We already rode 200 and 300 km (124 and 186 miles) in one day.
That's referencing their ride around the Dutch Ijsselmeer: https://www.kwigglebike.com/en_US/faltrad-extrem
That’s a fascinating design trade-off.
Folding bikes always seem to push engineering into very unusual directions compared to regular bikes.
Recently I tried out Brompton Bike Hire in London for a week. Can recommend the bike, and the price is reasonable. The bikes are hired from automatic storage lockers, which makes sense as a concept. The app is atrocious though, and I had a lot of trouble returning the bike at the end of the week.
There was a Palo Alto-San Jose-Los Gatos homeless OG who went by "John", had a Southern accent, and a neckbeard who rode a red Dahon because it was easy for him to get on and off VTA buses and light rail. He was kooky but a nice guy.
I've used a Dahon Speed P8 extensively in Asia. In China you can just put a folding bike inside a large tarp bag and just get on any high speed train and then bike away when you reach your destination. It's awesome.
The only "gotcha" is how you deal with luggage. I've used a seatpost rack, but I've also had a seatpost rack fail on me one time.
A smaller alternative is a half bike, though it’s really a trike
You could just always buy a cheap one on Amazon and then make a real investment if you like
What I've always thought was interesting about folding bikes is that it doesn't seem like it's possible for it to be done elegantly. It's been 150 years since the "safety bicycle" was invented, yet folding bikes are the exception and not the norm - even though it would be really handy if every bike could be easily shrunk down and packed up as easily as a baby stroller or a wheel chair.
Maybe it's just my experience, but every folded bike I've seen in the wild looked more or less like a bundle of bike parts, with bits sticking out here and there. You'll never look at a folded bike and think, "Hey, what's that?", because it always looks exactly like what it is.
It seems like there's something about a bike's geometry and mechanism which doesn't lend itself to symmetry and easy compaction.
As a user of a folding bike, I don't care that parts stick out of it, but I'll agree it's on the limits of geometry, and folding isn't elegant -- and when it's folded, it's still quite big.