Why are basic 26inch folders less expensive than 16 & 14 inch?

[stearman65]

We are now a two folder family. While we were accumulating our fleet, it was noticeable that 26inch basic folders were less expensive than 16 or 14 inch versions & usually came with suspension of one form or another.. If you have had both can you run us through the relative advantages & disadvantages please?

 

[doginabag]

Probably due to more standard and therefore cheaper components, and more development costs into packageing a small fold.

Also, small folders tend to be bought be people who have a specific need for minimal size. A specific need is normally enough to justify a higher price for something.

 

[stearman65]

This 97 x 32 x 75cm seems to be the usually quoted folded size for a 26inch version , & if a 26inch wheel measures 65 ish cm I don't suppose they could be made to fold much smaller? Unless someone knows different?

 

[Kell]

They're for different uses. I'd say the full size ones are better if you want a bike that would fold for storage, rather than for transport.

I've had three 26" folders before getting the Brompton and have to say that none were as useful for me.

The 26" one is great if you want a 'normal' bike that just about gets around the rules for folding bikes on trains.

My last one had front suspension, but I used to lock it out as it was way too springy and just sapped any energy you put in.

I would have ended up putting rigid forks on it if the frame hadn't snapped.

As mentioned above, most of the parts are available already and are produced very cheaply to satisfy the global demand for cheap BSOs. That's Bike Shaped Objects - things which look like bikes, but are in fact rubbish.

Whereas there doesn't seem to be much that's standard about a Brompton, for instance.

That's a good thing and a bad thing in many ways. When parts are standard, but cheap, they're easy to upgrade. If they're one offs, and you don't like them, you have no choice but to work with it.

At £1,080, my Brompton ended up about £300 more than my Dahon Matrix, but I'm hoping that in will last a lot longer than the four years my Dahon managed before it was junk.

 

[stearman65]

I did say "basic folders" in my first post, maybe I should quantify that down to sub £250 folding bikes & mention their stability in relation to 20 & 26inch wheels.

 

[the_mikey]

Some train operating companies are requiring folding bikes to have wheel sizes of 20 inches or smaller. Sometimes it's easier if you can fit the bike into a bag of some kind before you board the train...

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...an/19/cycling-ethical-living?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

[Kell]

Everything still stands I think in the posts above.

Basic or otherwise, almost everything bar the frame on a regular sized folder is transferable with a regular non-folder.

Stability wise, then the 26" wheeled bikes feel more way secure.

For example, part of my current commute takes in a long, steep hill where I reach speeds of 44mph (going down obviously). This feels safe and like I could go faster on on big wheeled bike, and like I'm hanging on for dear life sometimes on the Brompton.

I'm guessing it's down the gyroscopic efect of bigger wheels.

 

[stearman65]

What I'm getting around to saying is, last time I had an outing on my Claud Butler Stratos, with 16inch wheels, I had trouble with my balance. I suffer from vertigo & tinnitus & have done for a long time but usually control them. So I'm thinking of trading in the stratos for a folder with 26inch wheels & possibly suspension. My cycling is purely medicinal & no way competitive. My last bike was in 2004 & had 26inch wheels with the same ailments & managed them OK.

 

[Cycleops]

I don't think I've seen any 26" folders sub £250. Perhaps you could say which you are referring to.

 

[stearman65]

There are loads of new bikes around & even more used versions on Ebay Gumtree & Preloved, this is a couple of new ones at the bottom end.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3324680.htm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stowabike-...&qid=1472737023&sr=1-3&keywords=bikes+folding

 

[Kell]

If I were you, I would go SH rather than new.

This is (the same as) my old bike on ebay. For your use, it's the sort of thing that could be OK. Mine cracked, but then I do about 2,000 miles a year, at pace, and I weigh more than the recommended 95kgs weight limit.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dahon-Mat...766112?hash=item41b17f0620:g:CAIAAOSwIgNXwHxp

The only think to look out for would be cracks on the seat tube as that's where both of my bikes cracked. I had a 2009 Matrix with the lockjaw system (like the one posted) and the 2008 Matrix with the standard Dahon hinge system. Despite being different frame designs, they both went in the settube after about 4/5 years. Could be aluminium fatigue, or it could be that i'm just too fat.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

As above, parts are more standard as usually the bigger wheel types are more simple and basically just fold in half around the seatpost which is mechanically easy to accomplish vs the origami of a Brompton or Birdy say.

Also such bigger bikes tend to be seen and aimed more as caravanner or back of the car leisure bikes, so aren't really going to command the same premium and long term VFM as e.g. a Brompton being used by a commuter as part of a multi modal bike-train-bike trip twice a day.

 

[Kell]

One other thing to consider - the riding position is very different.

My Dahon, for example, was a good deal longer from seat to handlebars. This, along with bigger wheels, meant it felt a lot more stable, but does mean you are more stretched out.

I'm sure I saw that you mentioned you were in your 70s on another post, so while I don't want to offend you, it may be something to consider.

I'm only mid-40s for example and I have to be careful on my road bike as I have two compressed discs in my back and being bent over too far can cause pressure on the nerve.

 

[Cycleops]

There are loads of new bikes around & even more used versions on Ebay Gumtree & Preloved, this is a couple of new ones at the bottom end.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3324680.htm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stowabike-...&qid=1472737023&sr=1-3&keywords=bikes+folding

Sixteen and a half and seventeen and a half kilos!! These are real clunkers, plus you are buying them on line so once you get it there's no help if something goes wrong or is badly fitted. Like everything else in life if something is as cheap as chips there's a reason. I'm sure there equally terrible small wheelers out there too for around the same price.

 

[stearman65]

Sixteen and a half and seventeen and a half kilos!! These are real clunkers, plus you are buying them on line so once you get it there's no help if something goes wrong or is badly fitted. Like everything else in life if something is as cheap as chips there's a reason. I'm sure there equally terrible small wheelers out there too for around the same price.

I just gave those as examples, which you thought didn't exist. There's no way I would buy either of them without seeing them. There is a Dahon 25inch for sale locally, 5 years old but practically unused which I may try out. For the age query, I'm 76, but young at heart.