Because aluminium fatigues. Steel is easier to repair. These Argos folding ebike buying dudes may complain about it's weight, but their frames will outlive them. I want my ebike to be handed down through generations and used to transport my descendents on regular pilgrimages to worship mountains carved with my fanged effigy. Painted orange.
Steel isn't always easier to repair, some of the frames from fuji-ta which dominate folding bike frame and fork manufacture use a steel which is difficult to weld, might be 1040 steel the one that is close to the strength of basic chromoly steel. Fuji-ta used to have a great site in China but I guess their OEM customers got annoyed with it and I can't find it now. They used to state a steel that couldn't be welded with low cost welding equipment. I wonder if there is any info about the frame material on the frame compliance sticker. I think in the old days of British cycling manufacturers it was basic 1010 or 1020 steel but the high tensile steel used in even quite cheap bikes today is better if 1040 or possibly something else.
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I think you may well be right that the Argos folder bike is likely made by fuli-ta. It has more than a passing resemblance to this one. Take a look at the mechanisms which secure the folding parts and the general geometry.Steel isn't always easier to repair, some of the frames from fuji-ta which dominate folding bike frame and fork manufacture use a steel which is difficult to weld, might be 1040 steel the one that is close to the strength of basic chromoly steel. Fuji-ta used to have a great site in China but I guess their OEM customers got annoyed with it and I can't find it now. They used to state a steel that couldn't be welded with low cost welding equipment. I wonder if there is any info about the frame material on the frame compliance sticker. I think in the old days of British cycling manufacturers it was basic 1010 or 1020 steel but the high tensile steel used in even quite cheap bikes today is better if 1040 or possibly something else.
SAE-AISI 1020 Steel vs. SAE-AISI 1040 Steel :: MakeItFrom.com
So there has been a improvement in steel used by some Asian manufacturers but its rarely mentioned in the press as they are obsessed with aluminium and carbon fibre frames and forks so a small improvement in steel budget frames doesn't really get a mention.
This is a statistic from around 2017/2018 but back then over 95% of bikes made in China were steel. I can't quite see it being so much today but its probably still over 90% as steel still dominates in Asia, Africa and South America and even in Europe a high percentage of budget bikes and children's bikes are steel. Budget bikes still dominate sales hugely even if such bikes aren't used as much as more expensive bikes, i.e. many budget bikes are occasional use bikes. The Buffalo bike sold in Africa in huge numbers is pretty much an all steel affair except for aluminium rims probably.
That's probably a Chinese market spec model designed to take lower weight riders. I know fuji-ta do huge variations of what frames people could order. I see that model has 28 spoke wheels and the stays look thinner to me. Battle bikes are only sold in Asia I think so designed for less weight and also where there are less consumer rights. The Argos ebike I think I read was made in India but likely just assembled there from mainly Chinese parts. Fuji-ta supply a lot of assembly plants like the Max.com factory in Bulgaria which assembles Dahon bikes for the European market. I find the company interesting as they make millions of bikes per year and have a fairly large chunk of the world market yet most people don't know anything about them as they just buy rebranded fuji-ta bikes and only know their bike by the rebrand. When I was strongly interested in the bike industry a few years ago, so many brands led back to fuji-ta from basic Muddyfox bikes to high end Bianchi bikes. A very successful company to say the least. I've got 2 folding bikes made by fuji-ta my Bicycles4u Paris Explorer and my Muddyfox 200 (same bike mostly as the Carrera Transit). However there are many other factories in China making folding bikes especially steel ones but what often they don't have is the correct certification to export their products at least for smaller factories. Not only would it be expensive to go through certification they would probably fail anyway. There probably aren't that many folding bike factories that are legal to export to Europe and the UK. The only way you could get such uncertified bikes or ebikes is as a personal import from aliexpress etc.
Interesting stuff. Maybe you worked in the bike industry to know such things.
Just doing a bit more research, the Carrera intercity disk 8 is the one to go for, the disk 9 has an odd rim size with really difficult to get hold of tyres (& tyres have to be very narrow)
