Originally Posted by
PIZZ
I don't think because something cost less then a name brand necessarily means it's an inferior product.
Not necessarily, but usually. However, the point is not whether one bike is inferior to another, the point is whether the inferior bike is *good enough* for your purposes.
I have a Motobecan road bike that I bought from ebay. It cost me half what my friend paid for his pricey FELT. I've ridden that Motobecan for three straight seasons now and only replaced the tires and chain. It's seen more miles then my friend's FELT at this point. At half the cost of the FELT, I'm very impressed at the build so far.
I think this says more about your and your friend than about Motobecane and Felt. A comparison of you Moto and his Felt would probably show that, by all reasonable measures, the moto is the inferior bike. But that doesn't mean it's a bad bike; almost all bikes are inferior to some other bike. You want to make sure that you get a "good" bike, but you don't have to have the "best" bike. But you don't want to go so far down the quality chain that you end up with a bad bike. A $69 department store road bike will also be inferior to a Felt, but your experience with it would likely be very different than your experience with the Moto.
So as for folders, I am expecting to find decent quality at a budget price. If it's possible in the road bike market, im sure it's possible in the folding market.
Did you pay less than $300 for your Moto? New?
In fact, as other posters have noted, you can get a Dahon Boardwalk for just under $300, and that will be a fine bike. Some other bikes may be okay, but a lot of the under $300 range will just be junk. (Which might also be good enough for occasional rides for a season or two, of course.)