Folding Bikes - Airframe Super 8 folding bike

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f317/clawador/airframe-super-8-folding-bike.jpgI bought one of these cheap last year for £400 (about $800), strangely there are no really negative reviews I can find about this bike, maybe because it was so expensive that few people bought them - Bromptons are still King of the folding bikes (if you don't include Moultons).

How bad is it? BAD.

If you were to pay full price this is a ridiculously overpriced bike and I think I paid twice as much as it was worth even at £400. It's WoBblY to ride which makes the vertical folding system a total failure - it's the least stable bike I've ever ridden - it's like riding a clown's bicycle - and the chain automatically falls off when you fold it up! What a joke.

It's as complicated to fold and unfold as a Transformer and I have never yet managed to set it up on the first try - expect it to take 5-10 minutes.

My old Phillips Promenade was far more stable and a hell of a lot cheaper - I miss that bike - and I can't understand why Airframe made such a horrendous mess of the design. Gear change is erratic; don't bother trying to tweak the gears, it won't make any difference. The gears on mine take between 5 seconds and 5 MINUTES to change! you can tweak all you like and it won't do a damn thing.

The one good thing about this bike is that it is quite pretty; it's rare and unusual and it looks cool.


Ride comfort: 3/10
Paint finish: 5/10
Practicality: 1/10
Steering: 1/10
Looks: 9/10

There are so many hinged/pivoted parts on it I can't really see how it's supposed to stay rigid. I recall my first impressions of seeing it being pretty much what you relay, though the gear problems are inexcusable. Sorry for your bad luck. Maybe you can ebay it and get something a bit nicer like a Xootr Swift, Mezzo or Airnimal?

I've considered selling it on but I don't know if I'd get much money back for a used bike - bikes depreciate fast. Still, I do like the look of it and it does get a bit of attention so maybe I'd keep it anyway. :)

oh, I forgot to mention the seat: When you try to lift the bike by the seat - like when you are lifting it or turning it around - it folds up on you! I think that's why they added that strange U-bar, it's not really for carrying bags, it's for strapping on a bungee cord to stop it folding when you hold the seat. Crazy design.

Gears should work. For that you should take it back.

For the flexy ride quality, hmmmm.... reminds me of UK TV shows. The Brits can either make really good shows (eg Top Gear, Attenborough's stuff) or excruciatingly bad ones (eg Brainiac).

So it seems with folders. First they had the Moulton, and later the Brommie, plus the Airnimals.

Then they got an umbrella designer to do a bike. Oops.

One day while riding the tube in London last year, there was a guy with an Airframe sitting close
by so I struck up a conversation. As chance would have it, we were getting off at the same
stop and he offered to let me ride it. The chain fell off while unfolding it and it took a while to
get it into riding position. I only rode it a short distance but it didn't feel particularly stable. Upon
returning it to the owner he offered to sell it to me if I was interested. I asked him why he wanted
to sell it and he replied that he didn't use it often but I seemed to detect a bit of dissatisfaction
in his voice about the bike. It is an interesting and unique looking bike but they are vastly overpriced
for what you get.