[QUOTE=elares]
Originally Posted by Dahon.Steve
<snip> The smaller front wheel means you will feel every rut, bump and pot hole much harder than an ordinary bike.
<snip>
My experience does not support your statement. How did you draw this conclusion?
Does anyone know how much a spoke stretches/compresses when hitting potholes? I don't and I wonder about it. I expect the feel of impact would be affected by tire pressure and size more than any other factors. Though I'm open to persuasion.
Ron Sowers
I've been using folding bikes for the past 4 years. A 16' inch wheel bicycle with 70 PSI or above will be a very rough ride. I've ridden touring bikes with 700 cc wheels that are twice as comfortable as a 16' inch wheel. The problem with the smaller wheel is that you can only get good performance when the tires are pumped high. Otherwise, the performance drops significantly and you'll find yourself using more energy.
A 20' inch wheel bicycle is more comfortable than a 16 inch wheel that feels squarly. Yet, you can feel the ruts and bumps more than 26 inch or a 700 cc wheel. In fact, I had to buy a suspension seat post for my 16 inch folder (Dahon Piccolo) or it would have been impossible to ride that bike further than 10 miles! I also had to purchase a Brooks Champion flyer for my 20' inch wheel folder (Dahon Speed 8) or that would have been very uncomfortable after 20 miles.
I never had to do that with my other steal bicycles. (Bianchi Volpe, Jamis Aurora, Bianchi Eros) You'll find that many folding bike users are doing something to curb the pain by adding suspension seatposts and handlbars to curb the shock! I think a combination of the larger wheel wheel base being able to absorb the road bums and the flex provided by a low level chromoly frame is the reason why a full size bicycle tends to be more comfortable.
This may not be the case with many low level Alu bikes like the Trek 1000 which is a hard ride in itself. There is no question in my mind that my light tourer Bianchi Volpe provides a much more comfortable ride than either of my folders. This is not to say that the folding bike is bad. It's a compromise that I'm willing to give up in order to boad buses, trains and airiplanes.