The Joy of Folding Bikes

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'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

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

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!

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.

Surprised more people aren’t aware of Montague.

https://www.montaguebikes.com/

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.

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 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.

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?

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:...]

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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%

The reality is that all bikes can be folded once. The magic is in those that can be reliably unfolded for reuse.

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.

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/

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.

You could just always buy a cheap one on Amazon and then make a real investment if you like