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Folding Bike vs Road Bike: What is The Differences?
Folding bike today is gaining popularity over road bikes. When it comes to buying a new bike, typically people will determine which the best type of bike to buy. If you are still confused about whether you want to buy a folding bike or road bike, you can get a review and comparison of Folding Bike vs Road Bike. It will provide you plenty of information about the advantages and disadvantages of each type of bike.
Folding bike is a bike that can be folded into a compact bundle of parts which commonly still connected. There are also some models of folding bike that require you to remove the wheel or a pedal, most enable the parts to fold on the bike that makes reconstructing and unfolding the full bike a quick endeavor. When not in use, this bike can stay in your car trunk or in the closet.
The road bike is a common and traditional bike that mostly available today. Actually, the road bike is a bike, which is built for traveling at the speed on paved roads. It is often called a racing bike. Sometimes, the road bike is also described as a common bike. However, it is built for more endurance. Typically, they have fewer high tech racing features and more gear combinations. Certain types of road bikes have been referred to as sportive bikes to distinguish this bike from racing bikes.
The General Differences between Folding Bike and Road Bike
When the road bike is compared to a folding bike, the difference can be found in the gears. Road bikes commonly use derailleur gears. But, fixed gear and single speed varieties exist. From the design, road bike typically is built from a lightweight construction. The main difference between a road bike and the folding bike is its design and construction.
A vintage road bicycle (src: Wikipedia)
According to its name, a folding bike can be folded into a compact design while road bikes cannot. The road bike is specially designed for transportation who needs good speed while folding a bike is suited for facilitating your transportation. However, today there are also some folding bikes are offered with more gears that allow for faster performance.
Road bike itself is categorized into several types which are touring bikes, hybrid bikes, utility bikes, recumbent bikes, vintage road bikes, and flat bar road bikes. Talking about the ease of storage and flexibility of Folding Bike vs Road Bike, a folding bike is able to be folded in a compact size, the folding bike provides better storage and flexibility. It will be a good solution for those who have a small storage space because if you can fold this bike, you can easily store it. But, if you have a road bike, you need to provide more space to store it.
The Difference of Tires for Folding Bike and Road Bike
The main difference between Folding Bike vs Road Bike is the material used for the bead of the tire. The bead is a fabric-covered cord that forms the inner circumference of the tire. It helps hold the tire to the rim. For the tires of a road bike, the manufacturer uses the steel wire to construct the bead that forms the stiff durable bead.
For the tires that are designed for folding bikes, it uses synthetic fibers like Kevlar that is durable and more flexible than the tires of common bikes. The flexibility provided by Kevlar is something that gives fold-able bike tires their name. With Kevlar bead, you can fold the tire easily to a compact bundle rather than a stiff steel bead of a road bike tire.
In addition, tires for folding bikes typically are lighter in weight than the road bikes. Talking about the wheels, folding bike typically use small wheels. However, it can go as fast as the larger wheeled bikes. Actually a folding bike is designed for the special consumers who want to get flexible bikes for their daily routines such as go to work, shopping, or need a bike that is compact and easy to store.
Today, a folding bike is manufactured with better construction and materials that make this bike is lightweight and easy to transport when you do not need to ride it. Even, some folding bikes today are also equipped with better features rather than road bikes that will add your convenience of using the folding bike. Actually, there is no one that best because the best bike is depending on your needs.
