Folding Bikes Redux - What I Purchased and Why

I recently wrote about my search for a folding bike, what I looked at and liked, and why. I finally made the decision and purchased one but not the ones that I expected.



I recently started a job that I plan to start biking to. I have a ten-year-old Trek hybrid bike that is generally fine to ride on (can handle city streets, is fairly comfortable and relatively cheap @ ~$350-400 1995 dollars) but needs new tubes and tires and is heavy, clunky and too large to easily get in and out of the house, let alone sneak into the PATH train during my reverse-commute. So I knew that my new bicycle had to be a folder.


My criteria for a folding bicycle ended up including the following: light, sturdy, easy to fold, easy to maintain and at least 8 gears. Nice-to-haves were good selection of standard accessories, folds small, more gears, less than 1,000USD. To minimize the carbon cost, I really wanted to buy a bike that was made as locally as possible.


I looked at the Reach, Dahon, Citizen Bike, Strida, Airnimal, Brompton, Swift Folder/Xootr and Bike Friday. All were good but each were either poorly made, felt cheap, uncomfortable, heavy, hard to fold, or were expensive. All except the Bike Friday were made overseas. I almost went with the Bike Friday as I greatly preferred its ride (never did test-ride a Dahon or Airnimal) and it met all my requirements and nice to haves except cost at 1300USD.


A friend recommended the Swift Folder and once I looked into it decided that this was the bike to get. It was well made, engineered simply, light and compact enough, rode well and cost $700 for an 8 gear model. Best of all was that one of the inventors built it down the street from me and it's sold through a network of bicycle refurbishers, so getting repairs and recommendations is easy. Only downside for me - besides the hard-as-granite seat - is that it is not as compact a folder as the Dahon, Bike Friday or Brompton.


You can actually buy the bike from multiple sources: mass produced from Xootr for ~650USD; at Recycle-a-Bicycle for the Peter Reich's Brooklyn-built Swift Folder for ~700USD; or one out of hand-built steel from Human Powered Machines for at least 950USD.


Riding it has been great. I've already been able to bike to a couple of places I would have skipped or taken the train to. I plan to post a little more about my experiences using the bike as the unit itself settles in and as I start dealing with a near-daily commute on it.

Commuter Bike Technology

The commute to my new job in Jersey City requires 3 trains: F to the A to the PATH at World Trade Center. The commute generally isn't bad - maybe 45 minutes all in - but I sorely miss the days when I biked to my job at UBS in midtown. I stopped after I joined Lehman because of their 24x7 business-formal dress code, and the hairy eyeballs I'd get whenever I entered the Lehman building in running or biking gear. Now that I've landed at a place where I can dress comfortably, I want to bike to work again.

I'm evaluating a couple of folding bikes: Brompton and Bike Friday. I went to bfold (in the basement of the same building I lived in when going to college), met Steve, and test-rode the bikes.

General comments:
* Folding bikes are like clown cars. Everything feels miniature, except the rider, who feels like a jackass.
* They both fold up really quickly.
* The ride is bumpier than a full-sized bike.
* You can bike pretty fast on both.
* They're very expensive.
* Folded, they feel a little bigger than I'd expected.


Brompton
Con: Made in the UK.
Con: 3 gears.
Con: All custom parts.
Con: Weak bell.
Con: Weird handle-bars with a deep dip in the middle.
Con: Heavier.
Con: Slow to assemble.
Pro: Not made in China.
Pro: Most compact fold-up.
Pro: Sturdier - metal pedals.
Pro: Additional little wheels to facilitate wheeling it around when it's folded.
Pro: Simple folding mechanism.
Pro: Securing mechanism feels more secure.

Bike Friday Tikit
Con: Not so compact fold-up.
Con: Cheaper feel - plastic pedals.
Con: Harder to carry and wheel.
Pro: Made in the USA.
Pro: 8 gears.
Pro: Standard parts.
Pro: Great bell.
Pro: Flat T handlebars.
Pro: Can be wheeled around on it's front wheel when folded up.
Pro: Heavier.
Pro: Simple folding mechanism.
Pro: Fastest to fold up.