Folding bikes and hills

Hi. I’m soon moving house and going to have a short commute each end of a train journey (or will once we get back into the office). I’m thinking about a folding bike, the only thing I’m a bit unsure about is how it might handle hills. One end of the commute has 70m of climbing over about 800m of distance, max incline about 14% (alternative route that is a little more scenic goes to 22%). Any issues doing that on a folding bike? Never ridden one before so really don’t know what to expect, if I get out the saddle is it going to feel like it’s falling to bits. I’m generally fairly bike fit and the climb will be when coming home so I don’t have to worry about arriving in the office a sweaty mess.

And any general advice about a folding bike – obviously Brompton’s seem pretty well regarded, but any particular brands/ models that are worth a look, or worth avoiding. Cheers

I would make sure you have low enough gears, riding Bromptons out of the saddle is not good, and I suspect others similar.

Otherwise I would say it should be fine as long as you accept it for what it is.

I used to see a guy regularly on my old commute on a Brompton, he rode 10 miles each way daily and was rapid.

I test rode one a too and was surprised at how well it rode, felt like a proper bike pretty much. As above, be wary of gearing, it gets expensive fast, and also really tricky to fix rear punctures if things haven’t changed in the last few years.

I’ve got a real soft spot for Bromptons, I don’t need one, but if I had the spare cash I’d definitely have one.

I’ve got an oldish Birdy Blue with 8 speed cassette on 3 speed hub. Steep hills in the saddle are OK (14% I’ve done but 22 might be iffy). Riding out of the saddle feels a bit precarious as the wheelbase is so short.
Bike rides fine with a little bit of suspension bob. Takes a bit of adjusting the position to be comfortable as a lot of folders can be quite cramped and a bit twitchy to confidently ride no hands.
It isn’t the easiest or smallest fold (compared to a Brompton) but our local train is fairly bike tolerant. I don’t regularly fold it but often rode it to work for a change (before this year) which is 10 flattish miles each way or to give me a train one way option if weather or tiredness dictated.
If you want optimum folding go Brompton, riding Birdys are probably a bit nicer but Brompton fans may say otherwise. I’ve not ridden any other decent folders so can’t comment on them.
They are all very pricy though. I got mine barely used for about £400 9 years ago. New prices are mad!

I imagine bike weight will be your enemy, just like my ~13Kg Voodoo Marasa commuter, I’m very welcome of the 26T granny ring in combination with 34T sprocket on the way home. By comparison, climbing up the same ramp (~125 feet in 0.25 miles) on my ~9Kg road bike in 34/34 is a breeze.

I used a Brompton for a bit. By far the best folded package if you’re sticking it on public transport regularly (and it’s still surprisingly annoying in a confined space). Pretty damn rapid acceleration and an absolute hoot in heavy traffic due to the miniscule wheelbase. I found riding mine out the saddle was fine once I got used to it, though I did use SPDs on it. I was (just) faster on my commute across London on it than I was on my fixie (which is what I went back to as it was nicer to ride)

The downsides – brakes were shocking. I’d be more worried about coming down big hills than going up them. No matter what I did with cables, pads, latest generation levers, there was never any proper bite to them. I think the caliper is quite flexy. Terrifying in the wet. A lot of the other components are rubbish too – and Brompton specific so not easily upgradeable.

The whole thing is quite flexy. I’m a 10st weed, but I could bend it every which way when riding. Pushing or pulling the bars an inch or 2 is no problem.

Gearing on mine (a 3spd) was very weird. 1st you could climb Everest in, 2nd was a wee bit low for general riding and 3rd – well Chris Hoy may be able to spin it up, I couldn’t. I bought mine second hand but would go single or 2spd if I was buying one new – but that won’t match your hills requirement.

Essentially there’s a direct tradeoff between “feels like a bike” and “compact fold”. I looked at a few Dahon-ey thing – including one which had a full Ultegra group on and looked like it would ride really nicely, but the package when folded was atrocious.

I live at the top of a hill and ride a 2 speed brompton, not 22% but is partly 12/13. What I will say is factor in the weight of a fully loaded bag! I didn’t and found the last push fully loaded into a headwind hard work, I used to ride fixed road and ss mtb so not afraid to work.

Would probaBly go 3 speed now if buying again. Gets you fit though 🙂

I forgot about my Birdy I need to sell! /Stealth ad.

I’ve see a fella ride up Ditchling Beacon on a 6-speed Brompton and barely break a sweat.

I’ve got up Turners Hill which max 10% – was a bit of a struggle on a three speed.

I have the “middle” chain ring, you can get a bigger or smaller one if you want to adjust where the range sits.

You can get a folding bike with gears low enough to be fine. BUT, what folding bike do you want?

Brompton is popular for good reason. I’d struggle to get up that on my 3 speed brompton, and that’s with lowered gearing. You’d be seriously gurning up that, it would make it but it wouldn’t be a casual spin. It’s also hard to stand and pedal and ETT is too short compared to a full size bike

Can you borrow a brompton to give it a whirl? a 6 speed will probably be OK, has a lower gear and then will have high enough gears for everything else. Only downside is that a 6 speed is heavier

6-speed Brompton can get up pretty much anything – 1st is a very low gear. 6th is a ridiculously high gear – if I was using it a lot I’d get the smaller chainring. The way the gears work is a bit agricultural, but you get used to it. Unlike @JonEdwards I’ve not really felt that the brakes were a problem – and I’m 10% heavier than he is! The fold is great, as others have said, but it is quite heavy to carry.

6 speed Brompton here. You can specify lower gearing (smaller chainring) too which they recommend for riders who ‘spin’. I’ve had both mine like that and not regretted it. No issue climbing hills on it.

I’ve a 6 speed Brompton for a few years and a large steep hill to climb on my commute and it’s absolutely fine. Probably your solution. Brompton are pretty robust and fun to ride but difficult to track stand at the lights and bunny hop potholes if you’re that way inclined! The drive train does need a bit of ongoing TLC to keep it smooth.

Brompton are pretty robust and fun to ride but difficult to track stand at the lights and bunny hop potholes if you’re that way inclined!

Trackstands difficult but doable with practice. I followed a guy once who was riding his like a Bmx, with the seatpost way down and was getting surprisingly big air off speedhumps.

I’ve got a 2 speed Brompton, which is good for lightness but I’d never be able to cycle up a 14% hill on it.

I remember seeing someone on Strava doing one of famous TdF tops (AdH or something like that) on the folder.
And that wasn’t exactly slow tootling up…

Cheers!
I.

I have an old Brompton with the Sturmey Archer 3 speed on the back. The max I’m OK with round Bristol is Park Street, which according to this tops out at 13%ish which sounds about right. I can just about standing slog up the steep bits on it, but wouldn’t want to go any steeper or longer I don’t think. I used to do this daily to the station and back, which was about a 2 mile ride at the time.

I guess the newer (7 speed?) ones might have lower gearing.

For what they are they are great bikes – I’d say yes for such a short distance, but give one a go first if you can.