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- Folding bikes are a versatile and practical way of moving around cities and linking up gaps in mass transit.
- Their small size can hide their massive versatility, especially with the boost provided by the electric motor in the Tern Vektron, which is our top pick.
With cities becoming more crowded, gas prices remaining high and congestion not getting any better, driving to work seems to get less enjoyable and more expensive every year. Public transit works well if you happen to live and work close to hubs, but otherwise, it can lead to a frustratingly circuitous commute.
Cycling to work is becoming an increasingly popular way to get some exercise and save time and money on your commute. For some, riding from door to door is feasible, but many of us live too far away from work to make this possible.
Folding bikes offer a way to bridge these two options and still leave your car at home. Without the bulk of a regular bike, folding bikes can easily share your seat on the bus or train and be tucked away in your home or office when not in use, but they're still far faster and more fun than walking that first and last mile of your trip.
We tested folding bikes to see if they really are as practical as they promise to be. This meant riding them up and downhill to test out the gearing and brakes. We also made sure to see how they handled on rough roads where some of the smallest-wheeled models become very unstable. We looked at cargo carrying capacity as well, because replacing a car commute might mean picking up some groceries on the way home.
Once we had established how the test bikes performed as bikes, we also checked how quickly and easily we could stow them, because nobody wants to miss their train while they fiddle with a tricky lever or complicated mechanism.
Here are the best folding bikes you can buy in 2019:
- Best folding bike overall: Tern Vektron
- Best folding bike for flat ground: Vilano Urbana
- Best budget electric folding bike: e-JOE EPIK SE Sport
- Best folding bike for
travel : Dahon EEZZ D3 - Best folding bike for long rides: Tern Link D8
Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.
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