Imagine a foldable bike that can be stored inside in the security of the home, or the trunk of the car.
But security from theft is one thing, security from bodily injuries from riding a foldable bike is quite another.
That is the chief concern and the focus of a Consumer Council test on 11 foldable bikes varying in wheel diameters from 20 inches (4 samples), 16 inches (6 samples), and 6 inches (1 sample).
The samples also varied vastly in weight from 5.8 kg to 14.3 kg, and in price from $670 to $9,300.
Foldable bikes are designed, with more hinges and joints than the traditional types, so as to allow folding and adjustment.
Most samples use the conventional folding mechanism, with the hinge at the centre of the frame to fold the front and rear wheels together. 2 samples use a different folding mechanism: the frame is in triangular shape with the hinge at the top to fold the front and rear supporting tubes together.
With all those hinges and joints, could a foldable bike still remain safely secured and sustain the load during riding, particularly if the cyclist is heavy and the road rough and bumpy?
In the test, the bikes were put through a series of stringent tests to assess their safety performance, including saddle compression and axial compression tests, vibration test and braking test.
The compression tests were carried out to simulate the load during riding and to verify if the foldable bikes could withstand the load.
The vibration test sought to verify if the different connection parts of the foldable bikes could remain safely secured after vibration in simulated actual riding conditions.
The results showed that all foldable bikes performed well in both the compression and vibration tests, without any damage and all connection parts remained intact and secured after testing.
In addition, all samples were found to give satisfactory braking performance in both dry and wet conditions.
As all samples passed these performance tests, the bikes were assessed overall on their design, quality and ease of use.
On ease of use which involved a user test to check how easy a foldable bike is to use in respect of riding, handling, carrying, folding/unfolding, it was found that the sample with 6-inch wheels is much easier to handle and carry.
However, because of its very small wheels, it is not sufficiently stable when riding on rough surface especially for heavy cyclist.
For folding and unfolding, the results were generally satisfactory with no significant differences among the samples.
The samples were rated on the basis of their design and quality (40%) and ease of use (60%). The top performers with 4 points on a scale of 5 went to 5 samples ranging in price from $4,600 to $9,300.
The cheapest model priced at $670 at 3.5 points was just 0.5 point behind these 5 top performers. The lowest score of 2 points went to the sample with 6-inch wheels.
For details, consumers can refer to the test report in this April issue of CHOICE.
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