page_title: Folding bicycle
section_title: Size
hierarchical_section_title: Folding bicycle / Size
caption_attribution_description: English: An example of a full-size folding bike from Montague.
context_page_description: A folding bicycle is a bicycle designed to fold into a compact form, facilitating transport and storage. When folded, the bikes can be more easily carried into buildings, on public transportation, and more easily stored in compact living quarters or aboard a car, boat or plane.
  Folding mechanisms vary, with each offering a distinct combination of folding speed, folding ease, compactness, ride, weight, durability, and price. Distinguished by the complexities of their folding mechanism, more demanding structural requirements, greater number of parts, and more specialized market appeal, folding bikes may be more expensive than comparable non-folding models. The choice of model, apart from cost considerations, is a matter of resolving the various practical requirements: a quick, easy fold, a compact folded size, or a faster but less compact model.
  There are also bicycles that provide similar advantages by separating into pieces rather than folding.
context_section_description: Folding bikes generally come with a wider range of adjustments for accommodating various riders than do conventional bikes, because folding bike frames are usually only made in one size. However, seatposts and handlebar stems on folders extend as much as four times higher than conventional bikes, and still longer after-market posts and stems provide an even greater range of adjustment.
  While folders are usually smaller in overall size than conventional bicycles, the distances among the center of bottom bracket, the top of the saddle, and the handlebars - the primary factors in determining whether or not a bicycle fits its rider - are usually similar to those of conventional bikes. The wheelbase of many folding designs is also very similar to that of conventional, non-folding, bicycles.
  Some manufacturers are producing folding bikes designed around folding systems that allow them to use 26" wheels, e.g., Dahon, KHS, Montague, and Tern Bicycles. Advantages of smaller wheels include potential for more speed, quicker acceleration, greater maneuverability, and easier storage. For example, the A-bike is similar to the Strida but has tiny wheels and folds a bit smaller.  Bikes with smaller than 16" wheels are often called portable bicycles.  These forgo the performance and easy ride benefits of their larger counterparts, acquiring characteristics similar to those of an adult folding kick scooter.  Nonetheless, regardless of how each bike folds, the result is easier to transport and store than a traditional bicycle.
caption: An example of a full-size folding bike from Montague, with 700c wheels.
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