Folding Bikes - Is this usable off-road (Birdy DS)

While browsing for a folding bike, I came across this:



Is this folding bike usable on trails at all (assuming XC stuff... not drops the size of houses,) or am I misreading the presence of its dual suspension?

I do not know how much this Birdy bicycle costs, but I think you should check the Airnimal white rhino. This Airnimal is a very solid machine and confortable enough to make xc.

Is this folding bike usable on trails at all (assuming XC stuff... not drops the size of houses,) or am I misreading the presence of its dual suspension?

Not really, the suspension is not that forgiving. You can get an XC tryre for the Birdy however, and it will handle towpaths and mildly bumpy stuff.

The Airnimal Rhino would be much better suited to XCing (bigger wheels, better suspesion etc), but you would have to pay more...

I've been riding a fully rigid Dahon framed Specialized off-road for about a year now- you'd be better off with a rigid frame & fork and a suspension seatpost and the fattest BMX tyres that will fit, IMHO. I ride steep rocky singletrack, fast fireroads and occasional riverbeds (signposted bridleways-those wacky horesrider types) and have only recently put my road tyres back on for the winter as it's so muddy where i live its unrideable for even the MTB types...

I'll be checking out some alleged 'roads' (one lane, not surfaced since there was a secret torpedo boat factory here during WW2) at the weekend. You don;t need springs- they'd just break... I'd buy a rhino if i had the cash, having said that... :-D Or a crossed-out chameleon...

As far as small, real folders go, it's the best for off road riding. There's no frame hinge (so it's very strong), and the suspension is decent. The quality of the frame build is very high. However, any small wheel will find the bottom of a hole a lot faster than a 26" wheel. I ride my Birdy on packed dirt and bumpy roads all the time. But we're in Thailand at the moment with 26" wheeled basic Alivio rigged mountain bikes and a lot happier than we would be with Birdies on crazy rutted fire roads with hellishly steep descents!

You may also want to make sure to get a model with an 8 speed hub or a short cage derailleur. I run a short cage Deore XT on mine.

I believe that is an older model with a fatter tires with 'beach cruiser' concept in mind. You can still get it for around $ 1300.