Wouldn’t it be nice to easily pack your cycle, load it in your car or bus and then unfold it and ride it again?

Dahon Vitesse

A folding bike makes a lot of sense, especially if you want to use your cycle in a flexible manner. Maybe put it in the bus for a section of your journey. Or ride to a place and get the bike back by bus.

Here’s an interesting account of how Sameer tested it out for a weekend trip out of town when he packed it into the bus, unloaded it and then rode up to his meeting point in Chennai. What a novel way to avoid irritating rickshaw drivers, who anyway won’t take you where you want to go!

On the weekend, I tried out the Dahon Vitesse D7, thanks to Rohan, the brainchild behind the BOTs store.

What I liked about the bike:
1) Easy to handle and manouvre through traffic
2) Folds quickly and fits into a car/bus easily
3) The gears are enough for riding in a place like Bangalore where the terrain is rolling and you rarely get very steep hills
4) Quite a head turner!
5) Easily adjustable and comfortable ride. I did around 40 kms on it around town and didn’t have any discomfort at all riding around.

There an extensive review of the bike here, so I won’t get into too many details.

Though I was initially a little uncomfortable with the size of the wheels, it didn’t take me too long to get used to it.

Having said that, this is probably not the right bike if you want to go trail riding or jump over potholes or do some rough and tough stunts. I would call it more of a commuter and leisure bike, over shorter distances though I also know of some folks who have taken folding bikes over long tours. But, it might not be the most suitable for roughing it out.

If you’re looking for a compact bike, and especially a “one size” fits all for the family, to run errands and commute, this might just be the right one for you.

You can drop into your friendly neighbourhood BOTs store and check the bike out.