Folding bicycles

I am thinking of buying a folding bicycle so that when I get bored of cycling around these housing estates I can nip onto the train and cycle around some other housing estates. I went to the Cycle Show at the weekend to see what is on offer.

This is the ‘A bike‘, the lightest and most compact folding bicycle available. Unfortunately the wheels are so small I cannot imagine it is ridable for anything other than the shortest of distances especially on the appallingly surfaced cycle paths which are the main way from A to B around here.

The Folding Society have done a report of the various folding bicycles that were available at the show. The general consensus amongst enthusiastic folders (What else do you call them?) seems to be that the Brompton (like Ian‘s) is the best one available. Unfortunately this and the other more trendy models are, I think, (a) rather beyond the reach of your average internet cartoonist and (b) more expensive than the sort of bicycle I’d want to leave locked up in a town such as the one I live in when I go to all the museums* and art galleries* etc. I’m aware that you get what you pay for, but something a bit more like one of these might be a more likely option.

*Humourous point that might have gone undetected.