5 Reasons Why You Need a Folding Bike Right Now

Folding bikes have come a long way since the early days of questionable stability and awkward folding processes. In fact, you could argue that today’s folding bikes are a step ahead in terms of technology and attention-getting design. Here are five reasons why you need to catch up with the times and put a little style in your ride:

1. You can take it with you everywhere

Let’s start with the obvious benefit of a bike that folds down to half, or sometimes less, of its unfolded size. When you can collapse your bike down to a handy size and take it with you into offices or classrooms, you don’t have to waste time looking for a suitable place to lock it up outside. You can walk right past the five people all trying to fix their bikes to the same stop sign and get on with whatever you’re doing. Wherever you go, it goes.

The same benefits of mobility apply to every part of your commute. You can take your bike with you on a tram, bus or train during mixed commutes. Stopping for a coffee or a bite to eat? Just fold it and wheel it in behind you. A few things to pick up at the supermarket? You can take it with you up and down every aisle, through the checkout and back out onto the street!

2. Folding bikes store easily in more places

When space is at a premium, the benefits of a folding bike become even more obvious. You have more options for storing it away when your bike takes half the space as others. This is especially important when you have to put your bike away for longer periods of time, like in winter, or when you’re taking it with you on holiday. When your bike becomes more portable and fits into more places, it becomes more convenient to use generally, which in turn means you can use it more often and that’s the whole point, isn’t it?

3. It’s hard to steal when it’s with you all the time 

Another benefit of keeping your bike with you where you can see it is keeping it out of sight of bike thieves. The fact is that anyone with the right tools and enough time can defeat any lock you use but their chances of getting their hands on your bike fall to zero when it’s not even left on the street to begin with. When your bike can disappear under a desk or into a closet while you’re at the office, you don’t have to worry about it disappearing for good. As a side benefit, you also don’t have to carry around heavy chains or expensive locks. That’s what we call win-win!

4. You can combine multiple transport elements in a mixed commute

Ok, I know I mentioned this in the first benefit above about being able to take your bike with you anywhere, but I’m going to count using public transport with your bike separately. Many public transport networks don’t allow riders to bring full-size bikes onto buses, tubes or trains. Once you set out on your bike, that’s it—it’s two wheels for you all the way. Folding bikes are allowed because they take the same space as a small piece of luggage. If you need to get out of the weather or if it’s simply more convenient to split your journey into different segments using public transport, you can. Meanwhile, the guy with the regular bike has to watch all the buses and trams pass him by while he waits for the rain to stop…

5. Folding bikes are cool

Let’s be honest, folding bikes stand out from the crowd. You will get noticed when you unfold your bike, hop on & ride off while everyone else is still fumbling with their keys and trying to free their bikes from the fence post or railing it’s locked to. When was the last time you were impressed by a non-folding bike or wanted to strike up a conversation about one? Probably never, that’s when. Step into a lift or walk into your office pulling your folded bike behind you and it’s just a matter of time before you get some interested looks. Questions and comments will follow and soon you’re known as the guy with the cool bike. Who knows, maybe they’ll let you put that on your business card.

Speaking of cool, you can learn all about JIVR and what makes it stand way out from the crowd here.