Touring - Folding vs standard tour bike

Hello everyone, I am a new member from singapore. I have been an active bike commuter for almost 15 years. I have tried some short cycling tour to neighbour country and I enjoy it very much.

Now I am planning to buy a tour bike to do some serious self-support tour. Each trip will last around 7-21 days by taking flight to the start destination.

I have did a lot of research over the internet to get the best bike below USD $1500. Recently, I came across the folding bike society of UK where they high recommended folding bike for tour. Those Big Name like Birdy, Brompton and bike Friday etc. Now I am confused. Should I invest on a quality folding bike or insist on getting a standard 700cc tour bike?

Can anyone who experienced riding both type of bikes give me some useful advice? Thank you

There are various types of folding bikes. Brompton and Birdys fold up small for commuting on trains, and are fine for shorter rides, but are not designed for long day rides.
Airnimal ( 24" wheels) folds up in various ways, not as small, but rides pretty well.
Some bikes are not folding but can be dismantles for transport. The Bike Friday and Moultons all ride well and take down.

Of all these bikes, only the Moulton is highly regarded as a serious touring bike. You can do hostel tours on the others, but not camping.

For touring you can use 700c or 26" ATB wheels (See Thorn bikes at sjscycles.com). You can get S+S couplings to takedown a standard sized frame, but these are not cheap.

If you are looking for a touring bike which can pack down, then the Moulton is best, but take a spare tyre and inner tubes because the wheel size in not common.

I've heard of people doing loaded touring on Bike Fridays and being quite happy with it.

I don't recall if they packed all their gear on the bikes or used a trailer, but I think they did the former.

BF has a bike called the New World Tourist that can handle loaded touring.

Moulton is a better ride, though, that's right.

You could also look at SJS couplings that will 'cut' a standard bike in half - for details see the SJSC.com site

Hi Everyone
Thank you so much for the valuable replies.

I made a conclusion that a standard 700cc bikes will be more appropriate for distance, loaded self contained tour. Whereas folding bikes are better for hostel or credit card tour which involved flight.

There are still a dilemma in me to decide which one to buy. Both have its pro and con. I think the best solution is to buy Both. Either one will be useful when their feature is needed!!

Am I right?

I think you are right, folders are great 2nd bikes. I may have to suppliment my tourer with a folder when my local train service reduces the number of bike storage spaces. It is also useful for occasional buisness trips. But which one???? I may go for lightness and performance over small folded dimensions. The Airnimal seems a good compromise.
http://www.airnimal.com/

Yes, I knew about this bike.

From its geometry, I believed that it will run real fast
However there is a problem, this bike dont provide much space to carry luggage and there isnt much choice in its accessories.

There are similar complaints with birdy too, the manufacturer finally got the messages by now and launched the new model "Birdy Grey" with more travel friendly features

Have the airnimal solved these problems too? i will only consider if it is travel friendly

Airnaimal touring version comes with front and rear racks.
You can also fit a Brooks B17 saddle and a large saddlebag as well as bar bag. I dont think luggage capacity is a problem. Can the bike support that load is another question altogether.

You can get it built up with other components if you dont like their standard builds. Its a small company and pretty responsive.