If you're a loyal reader of MM, then you know I've recently moved to New York from Chicago and you also know that I had my things sent to me from storage in the last month or so. Among the things I was really happy to see after five months apart was my trusty bike. Man, I love my bike. I just bought it about a year ago, but I put some serious miles on that thing before I moved. In Chicago it's so easy to get around on a bike — from April to November, that is — so I rode mine everywhere. Not only was it economical, but it was awesome exercise and it lifted my 30-year-old butt about 3 inches higher.
So, you might expect that I was really looking forward to getting back on my bike now that the weather is nice in New York. I knew it wouldn't be the same as riding around in Chicago, but I'm just a few blocks from Central Park and a few blocks from the river, so I was excited about the biking I'd do there. But then the awful happened: I realized that my stairs are too steep and my bike is too heavy and big to carry from my apartment down to the street. Without any storage at all or any safe place to lock it up, there's really no practical way I can ride my bike. After my day of heartbreak, I've started thinking of other options: I could just ride my bike 24-hours a day and never carry back up the stairs, I could pay 30 bucks a day to store it in a garage 2 miles away, or I could look for a folding bike. The latter seems the most practical solution, so I've started my search. So far, the Dahon Espresso is my favorite. Looking at it in the photo above, you'd never guess it could fold up like this:
But it can! And you guys, I could totally carry that up and down my stairs. Plus, it folds up in five seconds!! But I'm a little sceptical. Has anyone tested a folding bike before? Do they really fold up easily? And how to they compare to a traditional bike?
[$420, BikeFold]