Im looking to start commuting to work on a folding bike, so I can use bus if needed also. My ride would be 14mile each way. What I would like to know is how many miles can you do comfortsbly on a folding bike. For e.g folding bikes from decathlon.

not very far , the gearing is low and positon upright, , ive got one, and it feels weird after riding a big bike, but its nimbel.

14 miles each way?

Airnimal or Mezzo. No other folder is good enough to do that distance.

Mezzo D9, no worries doing that distance on it.

Is there any other makes which are good, dahon?

Dahon 26″ wheelers are good for that sort of distance, some of the higher end small wheelers would do as well, pricey though.

No other folder is good enough to do that distance.

apart from a birdy – done the 35 miles home on mine before with no problems, apart from being saddle sore as I hadn’t ridden for a while as I had only just recovered from a kidney infection.

With the sport stem the position is not upright (it is with the comfort stem) and is quite similar to a mtb, esp with Big Apple tyres. It is fast and fun to ride.

However the requirement to use a bus really ties you to a Brompton, as nothing else folds quite as small and getting on a bus with anything bigger might be problematic in rush hour.

So have a look at the S type bromptons.

And several people do the london to brighton on bromptons as well.

Dahon 26″ wheelers

won’t get on a bus with that though – and rush hours trains won’t be too great either. I swapped to the Birdy from a Dahon Zero-G 26inch mtb for that reason.

How about a ridgeback stowaway? Licenced by Dahon.

I’m on a budget, looking at a lot of these there quite expensive, is there anything athe lower end of the market that’s passable. I have around £100 to spend, I want to make sure il use it first befor I fork out lots of cash

I don’t know anything about any other brands, but Bromptons are expensive but very reliable, fold up small, and ride very well. I’ve ridden plenty of miles on mine and you’d have no problems doing a 14 mile commute on it. If your commte is hilly you might want to rethink things (because of the gearing) and beware potholes in the dark (because of the size of the wheels.

I’m not being funny but no £100 bike will survive 28 miles a day for long, not a chance.

And cheap folders are even worse than cheap full size bike.

I was looking at the dahon matrix or the Swissbike paratrooper. They look a bit more like the kind of thing I would ride, my commute generally will be hilly as its not around the major cities.

But really would like the flexibility of the folding bike incase I need the bus or train.

you might get an old style 2nd hand dahon expresso for near that if you are lucky:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dahon-Espresso-Folding-Bike-21-gears-/130767840012?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item1e725ee30c#ht_528wt_1196

but otherwise, for that budget, you would be better off with a decent non-folder and if you need to train/bus home one night, then you will also have to train/bus in the next day.

or be realistic with the budget.

You are saving commuting costs, so put some of the towards the bike and some waterproofs – I cut the tube part of my costs so 1 years worth went on some paclite waterproofs and another 2 years went on the bike.