Have you ridden any of these bikes ? I have spent nearly three years searching out the perfect portable ebike and for me its still a Brompton with a small front hub motor.
I'd never ridden *any* 20" bike..the funny thing is, although I take ages to decide which bike to purchase (just because there are so many), the quality of the ride doesn't rank that high on my list, as I take the view it's nothing that a comfortable saddle and some decent handlebar grips won't fix. I'm more interested in the look of the bike, how small it folds, and it's weight than anything else. I don't even look at the components and whether it's well made like I know many here do. Saying that, I don't have much experience with bikes really I wouldn't put myself into the cycling enthusiast class.. before I bought my 26" folder to convert (a cheapo chinese one to get my feet wet) I had only ever ridden an ordinary 26" MTB and prior to that a Raleigh Chopper up until the age of 12 which was a dream to ride and quite a shock riding a MTB after fond memories of that Chopper!
For me the perfect portable bike would be the Brompton with suspension both ends with either with 16" or 20" wheels though the 16" wheels would keep it small. Does not exist
Although I'm not a fan of the Brompton's I have to agree, nothing seems to even come close to them for portability and folding size..they definitely are the ultimate commuting bike it seems. I wonder would the size class as luggage on National Express Euroline? They have tighter size restrictions on those coaches than the UK which will accept almost any folding 20" bike.. Euroline is 70x30x45.
It's a wonder Brompton haven't bought out a full suspension model it surely wouldn't be that difficult to do and some owners might be willing to compromise a bit for that benefit?
The alternative as you have pointed out is to maybe use big apple tyres on a fixed/no suspension 20" bike. The Uno comes close to this. How many gears do you want ? Are you happy with a front wheel motor/keeping legal ?
It's unlikely I will be riding any bike unpowered now any great distance due to my bad knee.. I very rarely rode my 26" unpowered..if I wanted to get some exercise and put more effort in I just rode it on lower power levels on pedal assist... I used my bike mostly for work rather than pleasure and was always in a rush to get somewhere so kept it highly geared and on full power..
I guess it depends how you use the bike as to whether you need gears and how many... If you want a purely electric bike that you wont ride unpowered what's the point of having gears at all? Unless of course it breaks down and you have to pedal it home ;-) In that case I'd just slip the chain up higher by hand on my 26" as it was too highly geared to ride unpowered from a standing start and the shift was limited to 5-6...only happened to me once when a 5Ah battery got maxed out.
The Jetstream would probably be best for longer rides (the Brompton IMHO would be better for short city commuting) though you are restricted to rear hub motors and its not really super portable in terms of carrying it in and out of shops etc.
I guess it really depends how portable you want it to be and how far you are riding.
Yes, indeed..that's a good question..I don't mind about the rear motor limitation, in fact I think I'd prefer it after having a front wheel..it looks neater and less conspicuous, some say it's less noisy.
As to the distance question and how portable... well my main concern is the stairs to my flat and actually storing it in my flat which has hardly any space as it doubles as a warehouse ;-).. as you can imagine with a 26" the 2 flights of stairs are a nightmare.. and t's always getting in the way in the hallway where I keep it and falling over. I haven't yet sorted out a cupboard for it, it will fit in there but just means shelving it and moving things around a bit to maximise space.. I think with a 20" folder, almost anything would be an improvement on that for navigating the narrow stairway and storing it in my hallway! I don't really see myself going on long journeys on trains or coaches with it, but it would be nice to have that option I guess.
PS With the Dahon bikes (JetStream or Uno) make sure you get one with the welded lug on the front steerer tube (not all Dahons especially second hand and even some new ones seem to have this) as you can then carry stuff on the front which IMHO is much better than on a back rack. You can put luggage on the the front bars but it then all turns with the handle bars which is less than ideal. The welded lug is fixed to the frame and independent of the steering same as the Brompton. Any E conversion can then also be incorporated with an umbilical connector into the bag up front keeping the bike carry weight to a minimum .
Interesting! Thanks for the tip I'll look out for that. I think d8veh has persuaded me though from his conversion that mounting my kit on the back under the seat makes more sense than my present handlebar approach with a rear motor, but what you say here offers a third possibility. I'm still undecided really about rear v front.. it's entirely possible I may ride the bike unpowered and like the feel of it with the gears and find my knee is ok, and then go for a small cute motor on the front that doesn't stand out too much.
