20 inch Wheel Road Bikes

[simonhill]

On a recent trip to Japan I saw a lot of 20" wheel bikes. They weren't mickey mouse shoppers or folders, but well specc'd road bikes, with drops or flats. Some did have a folding (handlebar) stem but the frames were solid.

One reason for the smaller size bike maybe that they have to bag to put it on a train and a smaller frame is obviously easier to deal with.

Nonetheless, these seemed to be excellent bikes and more than a few went whizzing past me on the road. They are presumably lighter than larger wheeled bikes and would make good urban, in out of car, up and downstairs, etc bikes.

I was wondering if anyone had seem them appearing in the UK yet?

Any other thoughts about using smaller wheeled bikes?

[TonyR]

The usual driver for bike design in Japan is the very limited space they typically have for storing a bike so that may be the reason.

[fossala]

Have you checked out moulton?
http://www.moultonbicycles.co.uk/

[TonyR]

Also Bike Friday which don't look like they fold but do.

[mercalia]

maybe their roads are not as pot holed as ours and better sufaced?

[hercule]

The downside to these bikes is that the small wheels are going to take a beating on rough road surfaces - chip seal or worse. I've been riding my Moulton AM14 with 17" wheels for more than 20 years and am completely sold on it as a quick and versatile bike. The suspension makes all the difference. I think it handles as well as my big wheel bikes - in fact better. In recent years I have branched out into recumbents and last year took the plunge to add full suspension to my 20" wheel trike. Whereas rough roads used to slow me right down, now the speed hit is minimal and I'm also a lot less fatigued at the end.

My take is that smaller wheels can work, but you need suspension to make them work properly.

[tatanab]

^^ agreed. I have 2 machines with 20" wheels. One is an original shopper with low pressure type tyres which is fine but is never going to be rapid. The other one I have modified with derailleurs, uprated braking, aluminium components and rims etc. I have 28mm tyres on that one which I run at 100psi, same as on larger diameter tyres. Any poor road surface sees me slowing quickly due to vibration and it quickly becomes tiring to ride. I will have to experiment with lower pressure some time, but I ride it only maybe once a year.

[Brian73]

I had one of these for a while. JE James were clearing them out at £250 so seemed a bit of a bargain.

Quite nippy, but gears a bit weird. Got bored of it in the end and sold it in favour of a folder

Giant Escape Mini 1

[Thermostat9]

maybe their roads are not as pot holed as ours and better sufaced?

They quite often aren't. The regular earthquakes mean the surface can be quite bad off major (car) routes.

[simonineaston]

Have a go on a New Series and then go see your "bank manager"... (whatever they are, these days).
http://www.moultonbicycles.co.uk/models ... nless.html

[Bikefayre]

Being sensible would say the drop bar Airnimal is probably the best small wheeled road bike in the UK. Are more than willing to accept comments telling me otherwise....

[TonyR]

Being sensible would say the drop bar Airnimal is probably the best small wheeled road bike in the UK. Are more than willing to accept comments telling me otherwise....

It would be if you weren't left with a front wheel hanging around loose to deal with. I looked at them in some detail but it was that that made me decide to go for a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket (which lots of pro's use when travelling) rather than the Airnimal even though I would have preferred to buy British.

[PaulCumbria]

Best 20" wheeled bike in the UK?

This gets my vote:


An oft-overlooked advantage of twenty inch wheels is that, especially on suspension bikes, they can be built very stiff (VERY stiff), which makes them much less liable to go out of true. HP Velotechnik use deep section V rims, which give even stiffer wheels, with no comfort penalty. Bullet-proof.

[Bikefayre]

Thanks for your comments as it's good to know and aye the Bike Friday is indeed a quality make-good choice! The Airnimal wheels measure according to my bike book 22 1/2 inches so my reason for including it.

[Norton]

I 've been using small wheelers by preference for a few years now, both Moulton and Bike Friday (which I prefer) inc a tandem.

Most UK models use small wheels as an intrinsic part of suspended or folding design, but the Japanese Mini Velos you mention tend to be neither (check out Tyrell bikes).

Even though they are not (usually) suspended, I find Bike Fridays in particular very comfortable.