Originally Posted by Bonzo Banana

Here in the UK you can pay up to £700 for a Dahon folding bike which is fitted with a freewheel although you may not know it by looking at their website because they describe freewheels as cassettes which I personally think is disgusting. As far as I can tell all their 6 and 7 speed derailleur bikes have basic tourney gearing with a freewheel. So price doesn't always reflect quality. The cheapest folding bike I know of with cassette based gearing is the Carrera Intercity which is £350 but Halfords regularly have promotions to get it to £280 (20% off) and if you go via a cashback site you might get another £10 off so potentially £270. There is also the muddy fox nexus 7 hub geared folding bike at £265. Both great options for quality folding bikes at a low entry price. Even if you don't recognise the parts by sight you only have to spin the rear wheel of a Dahon to see the freewheel wobble same as many cheap bikes. I'm sure there are many other so called quality brand folding bikes that fit low end components and charge big money for them but Dahon is just the most common one that you see everywhere so it makes a good example. I'm just making the point you can spend serious money and still get a low quality bike with low end components. You can't just buy a Dahon bike by brand and expect to get a good bike you have to judge the bike on its components and price.