seawater

There is an interesting article in Cycling Plus October magazine comparing several folders. Anyone have the article to share?

Lalato

As far as I can tell, Cycling Plus does not have a web presence at all. The same company owns bikeradar.com and cyclingnews.com.

The only way to read the article would be to get the magazine... and the only way to share it online would require scanning or transcribing. I didn't see a PDF subscription option.

--sam

Dahon.Steve

Since Cycling Plus is U.K. based, the Brompton usually comes out way ahead or wins outright. I wish Cycling Plus would make a U.S. based version of their magazine. I stopped subscribing to Bicycling awhile back.

PDR

I can give you the scores:
Birdy City = 7
Brompton S6L-X = 9
Dahon Vitesse P18 = 8
Dawes Ace = 8
Mezzo D10 = 7
Swissbike TX = 7
BF Tikit = 8
So, yes Brompton wins

HGR3inOK

Looking for current street prices, I was able to find the 2009 Birdy City for £1,189, the 2009 Brompton S6L-X for £1,125, the 2009 Dahon Vitesse P18 for £584.99, the Dawes Ace for £499 (but year model was not listed), the Mezzo D10 for £845 (but year model was not listed), and the 2009 Swissbike TX for £699. I'm guessing the Tikit would be between £1000 and £1100. Do these prices look basically correct to you?

That seems like a pretty hefty premium for the Brompton and, to me, raises the question of how a lower-priced Brompton model would have scored. Was "price" a factor in the scoring?

vmaniqui

brompton is about 1 point ahead of dahon and even dawes ace and yet it cost twice as much.

feijai

Seriously. A BF Tikit tied with a Vitesse and a Dawes Ace, and a Birdy lower than them? Honestly? It had to have been based partly on cost. This demands further explanation.

Lalato

Those numbers don't mean much without the actual review which likely explains the scoring system. All of them appear to be pretty close just based on the numbers... which appears odd, but is completely without context.

Thanks, PDR for posting that. I'll see if Cycling Plus is available at my local Barnes & Noble or Borders.

--sam

Biont

There is no point in a general shootout. Everyone has a different priority: folded size or weight or ride quality or proprietary/non-proprietary components etc.

For me Birdy and Brompton are clear winners maybe Birdy getting the trophy but only just. For me. For you it will be a different one, so do away with magazine articles.

bykerouac

+1. These kind of articles are entertaining and informative though, albeit they reflect the authors' choices. The moral of the story is to own several folders

Lalato

Now that's a moral I can agree with. LOL

Dahon.Steve

That's Cycling Plus for you. They take a high end Brompton and compare it with a mid level Dahon. Natrually, the Brompton wins. I can't believe the Birdy scored so low!

edwong3

Well I haven't read the article but I imagine the Brompton's very compact fold impressed the reviewer(s) enough to place it at the top. After all, that's what folders are supposed to be known for.

Edward Wong III
Qile Duo 5 Speed 20" Folder

jur

maybe they guy who wrote this review now works for Cycling Plus...?

Diode100

Everyone who has an interest in folding bikes has more likely than not a bias, it comes from having an interest. At least articles in a magazine like this, which hopefully will be on newsagents & bike shop shelves up and down the land, will spread the folding word, come on chaps, that cant be such a bad thing can it ?

gringo_gus

I agree with Diode, not least because they do have most of the agreed top makers in their list. Compare, for example, with the Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/...s-1778803.html

Diode100

They have got write ups on four of the bikes (Brompton, Mezzo, Bike Friday & Birdy) on line at Bike Radar here :-

https://www.bikeradar.com/gear/catego...tikit-09-35207

invisiblehand

If shootout means giving scores and a winner, then I concur. Comparisons, however, are worthwhile. But often the people conducting the test fail miserably at making something useful.

Biont

invisiblehand, you are right. I also like comparisons especially from honest people who does not have special heavy inclinations (such as preferring sportier stretched out riding position too much to avoid upright posture like hell).

In fact if some website for folders could deploy a folder finder where every folder's many properties will be rated individually from a scale of say 1 to 5 and the user has the ability to add a weighting point to each of the properties to find out what scores the best.

Anyway this would be fun but the real choice is either done by physical try out, if possible or by a mixture of reason and feelings

tcs

Well, finally got a chance to read this. British bike magazines take a while to show up on mid-western American news stands - but it's amazing they show up at all. The world is smaller these days.

Anyway, it was fun to see so many folders get some ink, but also agree the "comparison" aspect made little sense.

The article seemed to take the approach of multiple users, but like most bikes I think these will primarily be used by a single rider and "first-timer intuitive fold without instructions" isn't nearly as important as they made it out to be. I've always thought the tikit's fold not requiring a change of seat post setting was a small but nice advantage, but Cycling Plus was non-plussed by that and criticized the tikit (twice!) for having an allen bolt instead of a quick release on the seat post.

I was reminded again about what a nice bike the Birdy sounds like. I've only seen one once; if I ever see another I intend to check it out more thoroughly.

Hey, you live where you live and there's not a lot one can do about it, but I was interested in the price comparisons. Here in the USA Brompton prices are almost identical to UK prices, but we seem to pay only about 2/3rds as much for all the other models.

Best,
tcs

Dahon.Steve

I read the article too at Barns & Noble since the magazine cost $10.00 USD! Holy Cow!

If you disregard the scoring, the article gives alot of information about the bikes. This data can be used to actually buy the bike. In fact, if you disregard the scoring, you'll find they actually praised the Tikit more than the Brompton but they couldn't score it higher which is fine.

The reason they did not like the Birdy was the complex fold but didn't think it would be a problem over time. To the educated reader, if you didn't have the funds for a Brompton, Dawes and Dahon were the clear way to go. The high score on these bikes in comparison to the costly Brompton said much about their quality and value.

brakemeister

I love them all
lets have a group hug and another cola with rum

thor