We have both decided to sell our electric bikes and get fold up versions, she's sold hers and I am going to sell my Woosh CD Sport, of late we haven't used them a great deal, mainly as we have a smaller car now and can't fit them in anymore, we used to enjoy travelling out, and taking the bikes with us for rides. Neither of us are that knowledgeable when it comes to fold up e bikes, would prefer to buy a well made bike, don't mind paying a bit more for quality and reliability. Anyone got any suggestions on bikes to look at. Thanks
Fold up bike
- Thread starter denwyn
- Start date
Depends on budget. At the higher end of the scale:-
Not strictly a fold up but there's Gocycle.
There's also that Tern Elektron which isn't out yet.
Not strictly a fold up but there's Gocycle.
There's also that Tern Elektron which isn't out yet.
A folded ebike is still quite bulky.
One would fit in any small car, but two might be a struggle depending on the smallness of the car and model of bike.
About the neatest budget folder of which I'm aware is the woosh Gallego.
Kudos has recently introduced a couple of new folders, so they are worth a look.
The most compact, reliable - and expensive - solution would be a converted Brompton.
Bromptons are famously sturdy, and no usable bike folds smaller.
Trouble is a Brompton is about £1,000, and most ready made conversions add almost as much again.
One would fit in any small car, but two might be a struggle depending on the smallness of the car and model of bike.
About the neatest budget folder of which I'm aware is the woosh Gallego.
Kudos has recently introduced a couple of new folders, so they are worth a look.
The most compact, reliable - and expensive - solution would be a converted Brompton.
Bromptons are famously sturdy, and no usable bike folds smaller.
Trouble is a Brompton is about £1,000, and most ready made conversions add almost as much again.
Our Kudos K16 is currently our top selling bike. It was specifically designed to fold small to go inside a motorhome garage or boat locker or small car boot.
It folds in 2 ways either by rotating the swing arm to put the back wheel under the frame which gives a fold 960Lx260Wx600H or by breaking the frame gives a fold 700Lx330Wx600H.
It only weighs 15Kg but has a 10,4 Ah battery good for 35-40 miles range.
It is a good hillclimber because of the high torque reaction on the 16" wheels and a smallish chainring diameter.
I looked at dozens of these small folders,I didnt find one that ticked all the boxes,some were too heavy,some took ages to fold,some of the magnet drives had little power,some had tiny batteries,some you had to take the forks out to remove the battery and some felt a toy inder my 6ft frame,I felt the K16 overcome all of the design faults,we put a Brompton style double height telescopic seat post so that it accomodated all sizes of rider,priced reasonably at £735.00 incl vat and delivery.
Available in 4 colours...black,white,lime green and pink.
www.kudoscycles.com
KudosDave
It folds in 2 ways either by rotating the swing arm to put the back wheel under the frame which gives a fold 960Lx260Wx600H or by breaking the frame gives a fold 700Lx330Wx600H.
It only weighs 15Kg but has a 10,4 Ah battery good for 35-40 miles range.
It is a good hillclimber because of the high torque reaction on the 16" wheels and a smallish chainring diameter.
I looked at dozens of these small folders,I didnt find one that ticked all the boxes,some were too heavy,some took ages to fold,some of the magnet drives had little power,some had tiny batteries,some you had to take the forks out to remove the battery and some felt a toy inder my 6ft frame,I felt the K16 overcome all of the design faults,we put a Brompton style double height telescopic seat post so that it accomodated all sizes of rider,priced reasonably at £735.00 incl vat and delivery.
Available in 4 colours...black,white,lime green and pink.
www.kudoscycles.com
KudosDave
D
Deleted member 4366
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Have you thought about fitting a towbar to the car, then you could use a towbar rack, which will be much cheaper than buying two new bikes.
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-specific-accessories/buzz_rack_bb2_2_bike_wheel_support_rack_no_brp302/Qx@w,6M42VAwp3@Rb{~cC4ure5HXEs
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-specific-accessories/buzz_rack_bb2_2_bike_wheel_support_rack_no_brp302/Qx@w,6M42VAwp3@Rb{~cC4ure5HXEs
Hi Denwyn the Brompton is probably the best folding bike when it comes to the ride, fold and portability. Hey also hold their value. We can electrify them at any of our stores: https://www.electricbikesales.co.uk/stores contact any of our stores for more info or let me know if I can help.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Had a towbar rack on last car, not very successful, sold it along with car. New car is a Fabia Hatchback, don't want to fit a towbar, with rear seats down I'm sure we could get two fold up bikes in.
She's sold her bike, we had a towbar rack on old car,not very good,sold it with car. Don't want to fit towbar to new car.
Just a thought with fold up e bikes, my Woosh Sport Cd needs a kanck to obtain smooth gear change, something i sort of got used to, my other half could never master it, her old bike had Nexus hub gears, think they were 7 speed. Most of the folding bikes i have looked at up to now have derailleur gears, do you have the same problem on these as my Woosh had when it comes to changing gears, if so thats a problem for her.
Have spent ages looking online, we both quite like the look of the Wisper 806 Torque, have tested a Wisper full size bike a couple of years back, can't remember the model, but build quality looked very good. Brompton was another but at over £2000 it doesn't warrent spending that much for leisure use, plus I'm not to keen on that huge ugly battery bag on the front. Woosh Zephyr B was another, just not sure on build on this. I have a Woosh CD Sport which I'm trying to sell, nice bike, wasn't impressed by awful Zoom brakes, up grading to pair of avid callipers and discs gave massive improvement, the Zephyr has hydraulic brakes so may be a bit better, but still not convinced on Woosh. Going to search out a shop with Wisper in stock to see if we can test it.
you will have to rule the woosh zephyr-B out. It has 26" wheels, not good for your Fabia. The only woosh bike that you can consider if you want to is the Gale, you can easily put two side by side. The Zephyr-CDN is another candidate but out of stock at the moment.
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?gale
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?gale
Thanks for that i did realise afterwards that the Zephyr B was no good with the larger wheels, i looked at the gale, but it could be a bit on the small size for our weight. i wasnt to keen on the Zephyr CDN, with just three speeds and what looks like same motor set up as on my sport cd, not eay gear changes under any load. A2B Kuo is something that has just been recommended to me,looks very good, plus apparantly the e bike shop were i live is an agent for A2B, so hopefully they may stock this, cant see it on there web page but wil give them a call tomorrow. Thanks for the advice
All of the crank drive plus derailleurs have a problem with uphill downshifts,the knack is to unload the chain by backing off the power before shifting. It stopped me developing bikes with the cheap TCM crank motor and I now use the BPM hub motor,more power,less complications.
The Bosch Mk2 is a much more sophisticated system,it turns down the power when you attempt a highly loaded shift,this can however reduce momentum uphill if you are slow with the shift.
But you won't have the same problem on bikes which have derailleur gears,most of the small folders have this set up. The derailleur is only taking the rider power not the hub power so it is no more loaded than a non assisted bike.
Did you not fancy my Kudos K16 or Kudos Secret?
KudosDave
the 3-speed hub gear is easier to handle than 8-speed derailleur, you can change gear while stationary and also it's quicker to change, just a quick flick of the wrist. The Gale has the same Bafang SWXH motor as many e-bikes with rear hub, its small wheels give better torque so weight and hills are not an issue for those 20" folders. If anything, the Gale has a bigger battery and stronger controller than most.
Tried out a Batribike fold up, not bad to ride, not to impressed with the folding side though, can't say it actually folds up that small, we could get two on back of the car, but not that easy. Local shop has no other folders in stock. Probably will have to travel further afield to find stockists of other makes. Reluctant to buy online without seeing first. Had problems with that in past. Going to put my Woosh Sport CD on Gumtree this weekend, what sort of price do used ones fetch, it's in as new condition with Rear Rack, Mudguards and Avid disk brakes. I was thinking of £400 no offers, not seen any for sale to check used prices.
Thanks for that, i had email from them tonight on what to do, going to sort out a few pics and send them tomorrow. it would be nice if it sold in a couple of weeks, only thing that may hold it up a bit is it will have to be collected, dont want to get into packing it and sending it.
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