an affordable folding bike for the bus ?

[AlastairS]

Hi I'm thinking of buying a folding bicycle that I can take on our local First Buses.
I'm looking for a cheaper bicycle than the Brompton which is too expensive for me.
My plan would be to take the bus in the morning and then cycle home 6 miles in the evening.
Are there any bikes around which are good and won't break the bank?

[Ayesha]

http://www.hawkcycles.co.uk/CITY-SPIDER ... ct-21.html

[Russcoles]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pashley-Micro ... _500wt_949

This is probably the best bike for what you're after. They aren't made any more, are extremely well made, small and ride well.

[AlastairS]

Cheap, yes! Would it be reasonable to cycle 6miles on it 5 nights per week?

[pete75]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RALEIGH-BOARD ... 264wt_1195

Based on a Dahon.

[Edwards]

I would not like to ride the one from Hawk around the block each day let alone more than a mile. All those joints are going to wear soon

Cheap folding bikes are generally quite heavy at about 13 kgs, so the more you pay the lighter they get to a point. So if you want really cheap you could do a lot worse than getting something from Bikes For U. I have no idea how good they are but for the money compared to Halfords and the like they look reasonable.
Obviously if you pay a lot more in relative terms you will get something a lot better. Remember in the £120 price range they are nearly all bad.

[[XAP]Bob]

2nd hand?

[AlastairS]

Oh Yes please. I'm more than happy to buy 2nd hand.

[sevenhills]

I think you would need to put it in a bag, to carry it on public transport. I have a 20" ex Ikea folder, never tried it on the bus tho. I am hoping to take mine and my daughters full size bikes on the train. They only allow two bikes per train.

[Drake]

2nd hand?

That's the route i took . I'm fortunate to have a shop near me that sells only s/h bikes . I purchased a Raleigh Swiift for 80 quid . Spent approx 30 quid on it ( new tyre ect ) . All in all 120 spent and i'm quite satisfied with it .

[Russcoles]

Cheap folding bikes tend to be bad in ways other than weight. They will flex at all the folding points.
I would definitely look at 2nd hand.

[AlastairS]

Ok, 2nd hand it is.
Just need to decide on the bike now.
If i am to make the commute (bus out, cycle home 6 miles) work I need a bicycle that can fold reasonably small. A little bit bigger than the Brompton is probably okay. It needs to feel quite responsive and be enjoyable to ride. It needs to run along smoothly. I would like to fell that it is quite efficient to cycle. Ideally it would have a few gears for the small ups on the way home, but this is not essential. I would be delighted to hear from anyone.

[pete75]

Ok, 2nd hand it is.
It needs to feel quite responsive and be enjoyable to ride. It needs to run along smoothly. I would like to fell that it is quite efficient to cycle.

Well that isn't a Brompton... never ridden one but have ridden a Moulton and have been reliably informed that the Brompton ride isn't a great improvement on Moulton.

You need a Dahon really.

[Big T]

I have a Giant Halfway, which is a cheaper folder, was about £300 new. It's got decent quality kit on it, but the ride isn't that great. I tend to use it for journeys up to about 5 miles and wouldn't want to do a long ride on it. It is also quite heavy and a bit of a lump to lug around. I use it for train journeys mainly, where you can wheel it up to and on to the train. It folds up fairly small and fits on a small train luggage rack (not the overhead ones).

The good thing about a Brompton is that it folds up very small, but the ride quality still isn't great. Dahon do a drop bar folder which looks quite good.

[Malaconotus]

Can I ask why you only want to cycle home, and not in to work? Five miles is presumably quicker by bike than bus? If it's ten miles every day that is the problem, why not use the bus both ways two days and a bike both ways on three days?

All folding bikes are compromises. The ones which feel and ride most like a big-wheeled 'normal' bike tend to be the hardest to fold and the most expensive. The list of bikes at http://www.foldingbikes.co.uk/index.html is pretty exhaustive of what is available in the UK now.