Originally Posted by pm124
You might consider clip on pedals and biking shoes. Folders have extra long stems that shouldn't be stood and pulled on. I personally would not stand and pull on the stem of any bike--including the Swift, Birdy, Dahon, and Bike Friday--with small wheels. The stem is very long and puts tremendous force on bearings that were designed to take a much smaller load. While you are unlikely to snap the stem on a Swift, you may well damage the headset. The one small wheeled bike that allows you to pull is the Moulton. It has a head tube the size of a paper towel roll. But it's not a folding bike.
Bike Friday owners will here will tell you they stand and pull all the time. Birdy owners, too. But if you talk to mechanics, they'll tell you that they've seen quite a few ruined head tubes.
Head tubes or head sets?
A head tube ... what precisely would that be? Would that be the frame section between the headset or the upper portion of a fork that gets inserted into the frame? I believe it is the former.
The standard recommendation is to get a Chris King headset on the Bike Friday. Regardless, I still don't pull very hard on the handlebar while climbing since I can flex the swan stem a bit. But compared with alternatives, it is quite sturdy.