Budget UK Folder?
 

Does anyone have any recommendations for a budget folder in th UK? I've seen the Downtube IXFS for £200 plus £25 shipping, or the VIIIH for £209 plus £25 shipping (both on ebay) and considering the cheapest Dahons (Speed D7) starts at £299 they seem like a good deal. This bike will really just be used by my wife for throwing in the car alongside my Bianchi Fretta, and it will probably only be used for fairly short rides - I can't see her doing more than 20 miles in a day at an absolute maximum. It's probably worth noting that my wife is only 5'2", so a bike with a short reach is needed.

Thanks

Not joking, but have you taken a look at the bikes on Ebay that Ikea bought for all of their employees. A friend of mine got one and likes it. I think it cost her about £65. Thousands of them were bought at Christmas for all Ikea employees by the firm, and as far as I can see, most of them ended up on ebay and go for around the £65 mark. They are made by Raliegh and have a RRP of about £150 in the shops. The bike seems pretty good for the money, though it isn't a lightweight. If your wife won't be carrying it, that won't be a problem. I guess they'll last for years and give good service. This one has certainly been great right out of the box, though when I rode it, I felt a bit short of cockpit room. The gearing is quite low - as a guess I'd say the top is about 65 inches. It has about six gears I think. The lady in the picture is about the same size as your wife.

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/4540/dscn1320ic8.jpg

Sorry the Ikea bike is behind mine.



Ebay auction for one on at the moment. In January there were forty of them on at a time, and that went on for months.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ikea-Raleigh-A...QQcmdZViewItem

+1 to what EvilV is saying; Raleigh also sell a rebranded version of Dahon's Boardwalk model for a bit less than the Dahon equivalent that might be worth looking out: http://www.raleigh.co.uk/bikerange.aspx?rangeid=9

Best to stay clear of some of the other 'new' folding bikes on ebay - they're not really up to sustained use but by this I'm not bracketing Downtube which by the enthusiasm on this site are definitely an excellent budget option

Thanks for the replies - that Ikea bike looks interesting and i think the low gearing and internal hub would be perfect.

Wow. I did not know IKEA made folding bikes, what an idea

It isn't an internal hub, it has a six speed derailier.

The bike isn't made by Ikea Burmesepenguin - lol - they buy all their staff a present at Christmas and they had several thousand bikes made by Raliegh for them in a rather nice blue colour and fitted with an IKEA transfer. They've done it before too. About five years ago they gave all their staff a different kind of bike. The transfer comes off easily with a little hairdrier action.

These ones are quite good and have been sold very cheaply on ebay. The going rate in January was about £65 for a brand new bike in a box never ridden. I can't say how the auctions will go now. There were so many in January, that my friend was able to wait for one being sold locally, since there is an Ikea store near here. That way there was no postage either so she got it for £65. That was a hell of a bargain.