Help me choose: folding commuter for a small adult!

CommuterCity

New Member
Region
USA
I am looking to ditch my second car, which is used for almost nothing but the six miles to and from the train station (downhill there, uphill every inch of the way back) and popping over to get groceries when I need more than I can walk with. I am just under five feet tall; when I was a collegiate road racer back in the day I had to have 650 wheels to get a bike that fits, and so I am a littler nervous about one-size fits all frames, though clearly everything here has still smaller wheels. I don't expect to need more that ~170 lb or so of carrying capacity between me, heavy clothes and a week of groceries. I do not need huge power, I just don't want to be dragging up that hill in the dark with a bag after a long day at work, unable to get out of the way of even modest hassle with any speed. I am not nearly as fit as I was in college! Road quality is so-so in the area but again, it's not a long ride, I don't need la-z-boy comfort - but too skittery could be an issue. I value reliability, serviceability and to some degree weight for those days when the elevator at the station is broken. It seems like being able to easily remove the battery to reduce theft concerns on the short errands might be nice, too.

In looking around, I have ended up with open tabs for four bikes, all 20 inch wheels and shimano gear sets and disc brakes. None of these are stocked remotely locally for a test ride. Do folks have a sense of what I'm getting that makes these bikes range from 900-1800 dollars other than looks, or of how they actually fit smaller people?

The Totem TC3: stupid cheap, not too pretty but who's judging?
The Jupiter Discovery X7: a little fancier looking? Got to buy your own rack, too.
The Qualisports Volador: same price, doesn't even come with fenders, but has a lot of people who seem to really love it, presumably for reasons.
The Vika+ flex: great looking bike, racks and fenders and a bag. A little heavier but maybe that's the joy of build quality?

All these prices are less than I pay in parking for a year, so I'm not too worried about prices in this range. Any insights? Any great bikes I haven't noticed in my weeks of idle browsing and trying to figure out which reviews are real?
 
The Jupiter brand has zero posts on "known problems & solutions" thread on the brand forum.
Qualisport has 22 posts. Totem has no brand thread on this forum. Neither does Vika.
I've had trouble carrying groceries on MTB and cruiser. Two of the first and one of the second had the fork snap sideways, then the seat dumped me on my chin. Be sure to carry any groceries in a front basket. I had mine in a rear basket, and once when I measured I had 120 lb on the rear wheel 20 lb on the front wheel, without me on the bike.
You must have perfect pavement to want to ride a 20" tire bike. I find potholes jaw rattling. I can't always miss them, sometimes they are under rainwater or the car in front of me at a traffic light. I have enough trouble finishing the crossing before the light turns red without delaying my start to see the pavement.
The trouble with cheap bikes is that many are built with grey metal spokes and cables. These stretch and require frequent adjustment. It is possible to get real steel from a certain country, but not in a bike costing $200 in parts. A reliable 12 AH battery would be $400 wholesale just by itself.
The one 24" wheel folding bike I know of is the airnimal joey. https://airnimal.co/products/joey/sport/#.Yk4EpTwpBIc 11 kg. It is L1700 in Cambridge, UK including local sale tax. I would convert one of those myself to electric if I wanted to ride Greyhound. Another 7 kg for a hubmotor and 14 AH battery. I have no knowledge of the quality of that bike.
 
Last edited:
Back