Why Bikes Fold
My Folding Bike Experience...
After many years of pretty much ignoring folding bikes I recently purchased a couple for a trip overseas. I had always thought they would be slow and heavy. Turns out they will be very close in performance to a comparably price full size bike.
I just compared an $800 Dahon to a $800 comfort/city/bike path bike from a major bike manufacturer (Giant).
This Dahon MU D10 Folding bike Blows them away in many ways.
No car rack needed.
One bike fits riders from 5' to 6'3".
Fits in almost any car trunk or back seat.
Easy to keep out of the weather. Store it in a closet or behind a chair. Easily fits behind my recliner and next to my desk at work.
Take it inside at work so you don't have to lock it up outside.
Did I mention you can share this bike with your partner even if you are 6’3” and she is 5’.
The full size bike did have a couple of advantages:
Wider ratio gearing. The low gear is a little lower allowing you to ride up a little steeper hill
About 2 pounds lighter than the Dahon--The small frame of the Dahon is beefed up to handle the folding mechanism and is usually a little heavier than a full size framed bike..
Traveling with a Folding Bike in my Car
I like to travel and take a bike with me. I have a full size Montaque folding mountain bike and a Dahon 20" folder. I have put a lot of miles in small cars with my Dahon on a third of the back seat. I still have full use of the other seat and the whole trunk. I use a $10 black Harbor Freight packing blanket to cover the bike and I can use it to cover the seat where the bike sits.. This works great to hide the bike from thieves. I usually fold down one side of the back seat and put the bike on the flat carpeted seatback.
Sometimes I travel in my Minivan. With the minivan I will take the Montague Mountain bike. It works fine as rails to trails bike and also for light mountain biking. I can fit the Montague in my Subaru sedan trunk but normally just take the Dahon when driving the car.
Long Term Bicycle Storage
No Garage at home? No problem. Store your folder in a closet, car trunk, behind a recliner, under a desk.
Never store your bike out in the weather again. As most people know the weather is very hard on bicycles. Normally one winter or rainy season outside and your bike is due for a $200+ tuneup with all the cables replaced and rusty chain and cassette replaced also.