Winfried

Hello

If anyone's living there or been there recently, I was wondering if there were good quality folding bikes for cheaper prices.

Or is Brompton still unparalleled and definitely worth €1,000-1,500 for a folding bike?

Thank you.

EM42

if your seriously in cycling suggest get a brompton and a real one not the fake copies

if your just a casual rider a cheap one might be ok. you know there is a formula to quality and cost and I think you have an idea of what i mean.

ratdog

Actually, if you are into serious cycling, I would look into a Pacific Reach 20" folder since it is made in Taiwan before I look into an imported Brompton.

Robert C

I live in P.R. China and I have looked. for cheap bikes you will do OK in China, not great; but OK.

For good quality, it probably will not be available in China. If it is, it will cost more than it does outside of China.

If it is a foreign brand, even if it is made in China, it will cost significantly more in China. Foreign branded products are taxed heavily on the mainland, even if they are made here. The logic is that a large amount of the profit leaves the country; so, they are taxed to provide the country with a level of benefit as if they were made by a domestic country. The reality is that it is about favoritism and protecting domestic brands.

fietsbob

Most bikes seem to have Taiwan and China source stickers on them, now.
Brompton an, Exception,
but the product managers have components sourced overseas.

heck even Campagnolo went to Romania to undercut the labor costs of their own
Italian Workers.

ratdog

You can always take a trip to the Philippines. Maybe you'll recognize the bike.

https://peerlessbike.blogspot.com/201...lfway-p18.html

2_i 

Right, but in the end the brand or foreign reseller provide a quality control. Chinese themselves do not want to buy Chinese products because they expect the worst. In fact, more upscale domestic manufacturers there pretend to be foreign to overcome the disdain for domestic goods. On my own, after bad experiences, I adopted a strict survival policy that I would not get anything in China without an ability of testing the product right there and of return or replacement.

Winfried

Thanks for the feedback. I'll see if I can get someone reliable to test-ride one and ship it to me if he wants anything good.

fietsbob

Paris is closer to London, than Shanghai..
last I heard there is a Train between the 2.. thru the Chunnel.
You could go to the Brompton Works, and bring your new bike, back with you.

2_i 

There are also many reasonably priced second-hand Bromptons on UK Ebay. There is also Gumtree, but it requires in practice being there, particularly with the higher chance of the offered bike being stolen.

chagzuki

It seems to me a lot of the Gumtree Brompton ads are scams. People post an add stating 'London' as location but there's no map, i.e. no exact address. When you reply to the message (no phone option) at some stage the seller reveals he's in another part of the country and the London thing was some sort of Gumtree error, he then offers to post the Brompton in exchange for a paypal payment. Seems incredulous to me that anyone would be trusting enough to go along with it but when I was looking for a second-hand Brompton I encountered this a few times and I see that a lot of the ads follow this template. That's before you get to the stolen items.

keke

^^
Hmmm...

I guess with PayPal being so rubbish at defending straight forward robbery/deceit cases, they get away with such scams.

Thanks for the heads-up chagzuki.

Winfried

Thanks for the feedback.

I had the opportunity to take a short ride this afternoon on a Brompton (the titanium model, no less) and a Birdy. They both seem great folders, and I was surprised at the speed I could go on those 16" wheels.

The salesman told me the Brompton would be a better idea if I had to fold it often, while the Birdy was a better option for longer rides on week-ends and recommended taking a look at the World (comfort or sport) model that came out this year.

At around €1,000 each, I don't which to go for