Small to medium folding bikes - Or "Really? Don't you have enough crap?"

Here's the way my brain works.

I'm going to Melbourne in a couple of months for a conference, and I'll have a few days at the end to amuse myself.

Naturally, my thoughts turn to bicycles.

Strida

I've been eyeing off Strida bikes for a while now.  Not because I need another folding bike.  I'm not sure anyone ever needs more than one good bike of any kind, and I've got a Brompton - which is one of the best folding bikes on the planet.

No, I want one because a) I love novelty bicycles, and b) I'm slightly obsessed with things that transform.  The Strida has a different design principle to the Brompton, so it's a different kind of folding bike.

There's a part of me that longs to be an inventor making my own folding bikes in my workshop.  But I'm not an inventor and I don't have a workshop (or any mechanical skills or experience, for that matter), so I just obsess over the work of other designers.

There's a shop in Melbourne that sells Stridas, so I'll have the chance to take one for a test ride.  Then I'll know if I just want one because it's pretty or if I'm actually likely to ride it.

Now, there is an excellent chance that, if it's magnificent enough in person to impress me, I'll just buy one there and fly home with it.

However, I've gone off trawling the Internet for folding bicycles again, haven't I?  And because I'm now looking for something that's in a different class to the Brompton, I'm now looking closely at a bunch of bikes I dismissed back when I was looking at folding bikes last time.

A-Bike

For instance, part of me really likes the idea of the A-Bike.  I've long thought the ideal folding bike would also be collapsible, and the A-Bike does pack up quite small.  It also has 6-inch wheels, which is a little bit alarming.

I'm sure it rides much better than it looks like it will, but I've had enough experience with scooters and the like to know the smaller the wheel, the more likely it is that a pot-hole will send you flying.

If they had offered a model with larger wheels, I probably would be thinking about it more seriously.

The Carryme
Image from Ridethisbike.com

The Carryme by Pacific Cycles is not quite as compact as the A-Bike, but it looks much more robust, it has 8-inch wheels (which makes more difference than you may think) - and it's got some pretty good reviews on the Interwebs.  Some of them even rank it higher than the Strida in terms of practicality and value for money.

I have to admit that the more I look at the Carryme, and the more I read about it, the more I want one.

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to take it for a test ride while I'm in Melbourne.  And something in the back of my head is saying: "It's sort of in the same 'class' as the Strida, and it might be better - so you really shouldn't get both..."

And, really, I shouldn't get either.  I don't need another folding bike.

No, really, I don't.

Are you listening to me, Sharon?  You don't need another folding bike.