The Joy of Folding Bikes

I was chatting to a friend about my folding bike and I had the urge to write about it - because this falls in the category of “Things I wish I’d had decades ago”. And maybe I can encourage some others to try these wonderful devices.

Note: I’m 3 months into a new job so blogging has taken a back seat to drinking from a firehose of new domain knowledge, new people, new tech. I’m still playing with AI-assisted coding, but at a slower pace - I do hope to blog more about this when things calm down.

12 years ago I started cycling in London, commuting by train, and I used the bicycle hire scheme mis-named at the time “Boris Bikes”. It was OK but a bit of a hassle - bikes were heavy, payment was fiddly, and often the hire racks would be empty in the morning and full in the evening.

So I followed the advice of other commuters and got this beautiful device - it cost £1000 at the time, a fair bit of money, but on a Ride to Work scheme I could pay this weekly over a year, so it was £4 a week, pre-tax, which made it quite affordable.

It’s a Brompton - and they are a marvellous brand, but I don’t want to just say “Get a Brompton” as I’m sure other brands must be competing in this space - and Bromptons are pricey. So do your own research.

I also (after a couple of annoying flats) got puncture-proof Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres - and I haven’t had a single puncture since.

And like I said at the start - I so wish I’d had something like this years and years ago. So many years of commuting in Melbourne where I’d walk slowly to a station, or drive to a station and have to cram into busy parking. So many years where my bike would languish in a shed, probably with flat tyres because I only got it out on specific “exercise” attempts.

The folding bike:

• Lives in my study. I have a nicer bike in the shed but almost never get it out because the bike in my study is so convenient.
• Can be carried in one hand - it’s heavy, about 12kg plus bags, but that’s ok for short distances.
• Can go on the train - this is the biggest benefit, commuting is so much easier when you can go cycle -> train -> cycle. Most trains, even ones with “no bikes” rules, allow them - they aren’t any bigger than a large suitcase.
• Can go in the boot of the car easily - when I get the car serviced, I drive to the garage, then cycle home, and cycle back to the garage at the end of the day.
• Can be carried in to the office or cafes or shops - no locking it on the street; a big benefit in London where bike thieves are everywhere and tend to carry bolt cutters or angle grinders!

I do have a lock - a folding ‘silver’ grade Abus Bordo lock that mounts on the bike. But I only really use it in my home town where thieves are much rarer, or on the very rare case where I want to go in a cafe and there isn’t room for the bike - but only if I can sit with the bike in eyeshot!

I get it serviced every year or two. And after 11 years, it’s had nothing major go wrong - a few cable replacements and the like, but it still has the original frame, wheels, and gears. That’s pretty impressive for 11 years of commuting, though post-Covid I only tend to commute one day a week.

For a lot of people this should be fairly simple economics. Our station parking is £10 a day - current Brompton prices start at £1400 - so even ignoring pre-tax schemes and savings in other transport like the underground, a Brompton would pay for itself in 140 working days, or 28 weeks for the poor folks still commuting every day.

Plus I just love the freedom of cycling, and the exercise!

#protip If cycling in one of the supported areas the free Cycle Streets app is marvellous. It uses Open StreetMap data so users can update it when roads change, and lets you choose quiet vs fast routes. People ask me if cycling in London is safe - it’s fine if you use an app like this to avoid the worst roads, and ride sensibly with a bit of care about passing trucks or busses, and (gasp) actually obey traffic signals.