rhm

For me, this discussion is relevant mostly apropos my commuter bike(s). My main commuter is presently a Downtube Mini, which is an all aluminum folding bike, made in China, 16" wheels, Sturmey Archer 8-speed hub. It weighs 25 lbs. I ride it about 16 miles every day, in both sub-rural NJ and heavy Manhattan traffic, and cannot avoid every bump. In other words, I pound the **** out of it on a near daily basis. I'm on my second frame; the first one cracked after about 5000 miles.

I have a second folding bike that's a very cheap one, with a steel frame and a lot of other steel as well. It weighs 40 lbs, and I use it when the Downtube is disabled for whatever reason. It's main disadvantage is it has a Shimano Nexus 4 speed hub, which is a lot less fun to ride than the SA. But it is in many ways more comfortable, which I cannot really explain.

The weight of the bike makes very little difference when riding. But it makes a big difference when I fold the bike up and lift it up over my head and put it on the luggage rack of the NJTransit commuter train (every morning and every afternoon).

I admit I have more faith in the steel frame than in the aluminum, but it hardly matters; I have a lot of aluminum components on all of my bikes, many of which could cause catastrophic crash in the event of failure (handlebar, stem, etc). Evem so, I would definitely be interested in a chrome-moly or 531 framed folding bike... but sadly they do not exist.