Originally Posted by
pm124
Disagree with the panic stop comment. That has to do with the amount of weight distributed on the front and rear wheel, wheel base, even the brakes themselves.
I agree, actually. In my limited experience with panic stops on one 20" folder, one 26" folder, one 700cm hybrid, and one 700cm road bike, what
feel like (yes, I know, but I don't carry a slow-motion camera rig with me) the biggest factors in whether the rear kicks up are my position relative to the front wheel and the overall length of the bike.
I've never had a bike threaten to pitch me over the handlebars like the Swift does in a panic stop, and it feels as though (1) I'm closer to the fulcrum (the contact patch), and (2) there's not much bike weight behind me to help counter the movement.
Perhaps incorrectly, I do attribute this to the nature not of small wheels, but of the kind of frame geometry you're likely to encounter on a small-wheeled folding bike.
PS Was that you on the greenway Tuesday morning?