Where to buy a folding bike

Ok, as the topic says I am looking for a folding bike! My husband for reasons known only to himself has decided he wants one, so anyone know where I might find one in Heidelberg? I have found a few online but really want to be able to check it out first.

Cheers.

here's a good place to start.

Dahon

Thanks for that Tor, I did find the site before & didn't see anything here, this time I looked I looked at handlersuche & they have a couple of shops in Heidelberg. Another quick and probably dumb question, my husband is about 5'8" what size bike do I need??

thansk

It depends on his leg length. He should be able to stand over the bike with a good ball clearance of the frame. The seat and handlebars can be adjusted. I think most folding bikes just come in one frame size though?

Ok thanks Leon, but it would seem that the frame on most of those folding things is way low & his balls don't dangle that far ;-) what are the sizes on the Dahon site then, wheel span or something?

folding bikes do not come in different frame sizes, they just have a very long saddle post which you adjust to fit. Dahon's are bigger (and a bit heavier) than Bromptons and Mezzos

20", 24", 26" and 28" refers to wheel diameter. Why don't you take him with you to the store to try out different types and find out what he likes?

I looked in quite a few of the local bike shops recently and eventually bought my (regular) bike here:
Gerger
Kranichweg 37, 69123 Heidelberg - Pfaffengrund
Telefon: 06221 - 7 50 09 80

Fahrrad-Händler und Werkstätten

I can't remember if they had many folding bikes, but it was a good sized store and the prices were reasonable.

Heidelbike is my go-to place for specialist bike stuff in HD. They do carry and service Dahon products. Most of their staff speak good English in case that's helpful to you, and in my experience they offer good advice (even when it has meant convincing me not to buy something I thought I needed).

GL

Leon, it is going to be a gift, Carter & Liebling thanks for the links, will go & check them out both are very handy as I work in Rohrbach & live in Eppleheim, after looking at a few on line, I am not sure it's such a good idea myself & I have seen a fairly reasonably priced Cannondale that I am going to check out as well, I just need to figure what size? He wears 32" leg in levis, so based on that can anyone tell me what size frame (on a mountain bike) I need??

The simplest way to do it: Bring your tape to the store. Stand bike on floor, measure from floor to the cross bar. If you come up with 32" or more, it's too big because he will hit his balls every time he stops and dismounts. Better get something no bigger than say 29" to the crossbar. You can also ask the guys in the store what size to get. They should know.

However, I thought you were getting a folding bike? Aren't most of those frames pretty low?

Maybe you should talk to the store about the possibility of exchanging the bike if he doesn't like what you get. It's always good to have that option.

Yes my original intention was a folding bike as he says he wants one, but they look kind of goofy to me & I don't know why he wants one, he has a pick up truck!! Anyway I am going to go & have a look & see what I think.

How much money do you want to spend? How is the bike going to be used?

Some are lighter, others fold into a more compact shape, others are a more comfortable cycle and therefore better for longer distances. You can spend anything between around 200 EUR for a cheap model to 2000 EUR for a top-of-the-range one.

E.g: Brompton (British) are very popular amongst commuters for their compact size and costs around 1000 EUR. At the other extreme, IKEA had a folding bike for around 150 if I remember correctly. I'll ask Mr Dreamer, but I think he got a Dahon in the end + it's a great bike.

Do a search for "Faltrad" or "Klapprad", there's tons of info out there. Once you know which brands you're interested in, then you can see what shops stock them. We went all around the place to be able to just try out the different models - no single bike shop seemed to have more than one or two models in stock.

If you want to be able to take the bike on public transport as normal luggage, then I think the wheels need to be 20" or less. The 16" wheels felt very weird to us, so we stuck to 20". Double-check with DB or the shop if public transport is important.

There are two Brompton dealers in Heidelberg:

Das kleine Radhaus Kaiserstr. 59
69115 Heidelberg Tel. 06221-18 37 27

Altavelo Fahrradladen Bergheimer Str. 101
69115 Heidelberg Tel.: 06221-453649

Leky,

a) Regarding the type of bike: It really depends on what he wants to do with it, I was looking for a bike to take on planes/trains without paying huge $$$. I found that the "folding bikes" were generally expensive and had poor performance (compared to a normal bike). I found this system (http://www.sandsmachine.com/) where they could take a normal bike, cut it into 2, and insert these special linkers. I now have a mountain bike and a titanium road bike that can be taken apart in 20 minutes and placed in a standard size (large) suitcase.

Regarding sizes: Folding bikes come in 1 size. Today, most mountain bikes (depending on brand) come in S,M,L sizes and they have "compact" frames that make the old techniques of sizing obsolete. It also makes sizing a little less important because the seatpost and stem can be adjusted to fit. A 32" inseam should be around M or 18" frame.

Best

Dave

Rohrbach