16" Wheels on Folding Bike

[BenJT]

I am looking into getting the Blix Vika Travel, mainly for how compact it goes when folded. I would like to consider the A2B Kuo+ as it only folds down a couple of inches bigger despite having 20" rather than 16" wheels, but it isn't available in the US anymore.

This is, in many respects, my first question - does anyone know of a 20" folding bike that goes down to around 30” x 24” x 16” (The Blix Vika Travel size). The A2B Kuo+ goes as small as 12" x 25" x 33" despite the larger tires. I have noticed that not all the folding bikes have fold down sizes on the reviews which is slightly frustrating (although the reviews here have been phenomenally useful, so no shade at all meant there! Thanks to the gent!!)

The second question is what people's experience of 16" wheels are. I do know that Brompton, the holy grail of folding bikes, have these small wheels and are retaining them when they release their electric version, so I feel that it should be ok...

I will be using it daily in a situation where it needs to be pretty compact, but I may be riding it up to 15 miles at times. I have had a large amount of experience riding racing bikes, so I am used to being shaken around on very stiff frames and thin tires so the lack of comfort isn't an issue. However, has anyone else had this experience on such small wheels?

And does anyone have much experience of the Vika Travel?

Thank you!

 

[Ann M.]

@BenJT, just how small is the space you have available for a folding bike? The Blix Vika is a nice bike and 16" wheels are about the smallest I'd recommend for steering stability. You'll have to be ok with the shorter crank arms; you'll be spinning a little more to get speed from the 140mm cranks; however, you said folded size was critical so this may be one of those compromises.

Court has about 75 folding bike reviews that you can dig through. On each review if you scroll down to the specs area, one of the details is Geometry. On some he has both the open and folded dimensions, on others, the manufacturer didn't provide that data. My own experience has been that it's hard to get really accurate data on the folded size just using a tape measure.

As for the A2B Kuo, those were nice bikes and I liked the feel of the 20" wheels but there is no A2B, so having support if you found one used would be challenging and any Kuo around now would have a battery that was already several years old even before it's first ride.

Keep us informed about what your ultimate decision is; we get a lot of folks here looking for ebikes that fold up super small.