Mercton is the enthusiasts rename of the Merc bike. Flamingo bike seems to be a variant brand of it.
As I get it. Merc looks like a clone while Flamingo have models looking uniquely Flamingo.
Do a search here in bikeforums.net for Flamingo and Merc and you see a lot of enthusiastic owners giving their reports on how thankful they are.
I live in Sweden and I had never heard of neither of them, cause here we are kind of proud to be able to pay double price for quality bikes.
Merc and Flamingo have maybe plastic where Brompton have metal. Flamingo maybe Alu where Brompton have Steel?
But I trust the enthusiastic Merc owner that reported here that he has used his bike all the year around and Merc is holding up to much beating. Could be well worth the price.
If money is of concern then buy a Flamingo? But 1500 maybe buy you a good Brompton. There are many many variations on Brompton. You should find a dealer that hav many of them and test folding and riding until you are satisfied with it.
I have not checked though. Both Brompton and Merc and Flamingo too expensive for me to buy. Even at half price a bit stiff.
Other bikes with tight folding? The Integrated Folding (IF) that Mark Sanders have done for Pacific Cycles in Taiwan looks rather tight.
http://www.foldingforum.com/forum/vi...9711e32d79292e
Th older name for IF was
http://www.swivel-head.com/ and they are made by this company
http://www.pacific-cycles.com/news_d...&cat0=2&cat=27