[mi100hael]

Intriguing design and it looks like they've sold enough to see some real-world success, but I can't help but think the headset must be under extreme torque with a 150+ lb person sitting on essentially a large lever.

That and the small wheels don't inspire confidence dealing with the typical curbs & potholes that one is likely to encounter in an urban environment.

What's the use-case for folding bikes like this? Is there a pervasive lack of bike racks in certain places that would necessitate stowing a bike in such small quarters?

[daleharvey]

From a British perspective it's quite often public transport, bikes are banned on the tube afaik and taking them on trains can be hit or miss, some routes require a specific (and hard to get) cycle booking, most local buses are a non starter and even intercity buses are a big problem (they will often require your bike be dissembled / be in a hard case bike bag thing).

There are none of those nice bike racks on the front of American buses here. The whole system is fairly hostile towards active travel.

[bluescrn]

> The whole system is fairly hostile towards active travel.

And even more hostile to PLEVs. Electric scooters still illegal (beyond a few set-up-up-to-fail rental trials), a 250W limit on eBikes, and no hope whatsoever of electric skateboards, OneWheels, and so on ever being legal on roads or pavements.

Yet still people wage war on the car, without any attempt to make alternatives more viable.

And despite the roads being at breaking point, the trains being overcrowded and ludicrously priced, and road safety/bike theft/weather deterring all but the most dedicated cyclists, somehow transport isn't even a significant political issue in the UK.

(London-centric politics doesn't help. Many Londoners, particularly politicians, don't seem to have a clue about life beyond the M25)

[gnufx]

And even on train lines that do allow bikes, like the Liverpool-Manchester line, you probably won't get a full-sized one on at rush hour, and even feel anti-social with a Brompton. At least in the past; I haven't done it for two years. They're also handy for putting in the car for riding from where you park it, like on the city outskirts.

[deltarholamda]

One use case is for cruisers (sail and power). Having some kind of go-machine to get from the marina to a real market is often preferred over taxis/rideshares due to cost. Some high-end marinas may have a car or something to borrow, but that's rare.

What I've read from people who fall into this use case is the biggest requirement is a large wheel size. (This one wouldn't be great for that reason.) You'll want big wheels and fat tires to deal with, shall we say, less than optimal road conditions. The other main requirement is, of course, some kind of load carrier. Usually some sort of trailer, though several Dahons have a carrier. Dahons are the usual go-to brand.

[histriosum]

I've been looking at folding bikes like this.. in my case, I'm a private pilot, and I'm looking for ways to solve the last mile issue of getting from my destination airport to somewhere fun to go - ie a nearby beach, or into town for dinner, etc. Size and weight are important in my use case, since general aviation aircraft don't have alot of cargo space.

This bike looks like it would be a decent fit, but I'm not sure I can convince myself to shell out 1500 bucks for it... So the search for a last mile solution continues :-)

[soared]

Similarly I like to get very cheap ($40-$70) round trip flights to random town and explore around. Unfortunately my uber from the airport to the town is usually more expensive than the flight. Most small towns don't have much in the way of airport buses.

[histriosum]

Wow, that's amazingly cheap.. where are you flying out of and how are you finding those fares?

[soared]

Out of Denver, and I use the date grid on google flights. Frontier and spirit fly to Miami pretty consistently for a $80 round trip, but most flights are to like bentonville, AR or similarly random places.

The key is to people able to take a flight at any time and day, so you can always take the cheapest options. But also if you book 2 months in advance you can go anywhere in the Caribbean/central America on spirit for $100 or so.

[ideamotor]

Why not take an rideshare/taxi? It seems you'd be able to even optimally schedule the rides in advance. I wouldn't want to ride this thing on car-only roads.

[histriosum]

I live in Michigan, and especially since Covid, many of the small towns in this state have no taxi or rideshare options. Cadillac MI is one example - big enough town that there's some stuff to go do, but only a single taxicab and no rideshare. The single taxi is fairly unreliable. The saving grace at Cadillac is that the airport has a courtesy car you can arrange to borrow, but that's more and more rare.

Ground transportation at a whole lot of the places I can fly to is just nonexistent or not at all reliable. I expect much of the rest of the country probably has similar issues..

[_moof]

At the kinds of airports people fly their own airplanes to, rideshare is not always reliable, and may not even exist.

[iso1631]

Very unreliable in my experience

[newacc9]

Rollerblades will take care of that 1.6 mi commute in Cadillac in about 10 mins.

[histriosum]

Not sure which destination you picked, but KCAD to Clam Lake Brewery is closer to 3 miles, and that's the general area that I'm usually headed to in Cadillac. I take your point about rollerblades, though, it's certainly an option!

[ledauphin]

hah - there are dozens of us! let me know when you find a solution...

[dghlsakjg]

I tuck a onewheel into my plane. Not for everyone, but I think it's great.

[MrKwiggle]

Use cases: Traveling by train (Kwiggle fits under the seat), commuting everywhere, leaving Kwiggle in the car trunk with enough space left, because trunks are designed for handluggage size, and taking it for last mile, putting it in the camper van, in the sail boat in the sport airplane, in the boat, ...

[renw0rp]

The only thing I can come up with is last mile commute, but for that probably a bit larger foldable bike would do.

Btw. In UK on certain routes or during rush hours you can only take a foldable bike onboard.

[bambax]

Bike racks are not very secure; in many cases it's better to bring the bike with you in your office and keep it there.

[gushie]

A use case is crowded rush hour trains where space for bikes is at a premium

[slaymaker1907]

It'd be nice for short trips where you are concerned about theft. Bike racks are far less secure than just keeping your bike with you.