Tomorrow I start my search to see if buying a very portable bicycle is any easier/cheaper in Ho Chi Minh City than Taipei.

My preliminary observation is as follows...

There is no (or a very small) market for folding Bicycles in Vietnam

High school girls and old men might ride a bicycle, Older teens to twenties mid class men ride fancy ($) bicycles. Occasionally I see folding bikes ridden by girls, but the fold looks incidental to two-wheeled transportation.

The folding bicycle ad image of a trendy counter culture executive with his helmet and office rucksack seems to be fantasy here. From casual conversations with locals here it sounds like there are several categories of bike users...

$30-100 functional non-folders (cheaper used)
$300+ young men's fancy bikes

Curiously, it is MUCH. cheaper ($200-250 used) to buy a motorcycle here than equivalent bicycle.

Clearly, except for cheapo heavy and not truly portable Chinese (?) bicycles there ARE NO FOLDING BIKES IN VIETNAM, premium ones locally made I mean. Even imported no? Brompton and Flamingo - no local distributors come up.

A Vietnamese inventor supposedly has designed a foldable e-bike (Corneto?). Will see.