Bike test: electric folding bikes

Small-wheeled electric folders are good for the same kind of journeys as their unassisted counterparts: urban commuting, mixed-mode travel and exploring from a holiday base such as a caravan. They’re heavier but the motor and battery help overcome hills, miles and excuses not to ride.

FLIT and MiRider are two relatively new British brands that design and assemble their bikes here – FLIT in Cambridge, MiRider in Wigan.

Frame, fork & folding: FLIT

The FLIT is built around Brompton-sized 16-inch wheels (ISO 349), using a futuristic-looking, bonded-aluminium frame and monoblade fork. The battery is housed in the main tube; you can charge it in situ or remove the seatpost and slide it out.

Like the Brompton and Birdy, the FLIT folds into thirds rather than in half. This gives it a longer wheelbase, while minimising its folded dimensions. To fold, you turn the front wheel, release a frame catch with your foot and flip the rear end under.

Then you undo the fork hinge and fold the front wheel back on itself, engaging a nodule on the axle with a retainer on the swingarm. Undoing the stem hinge drops the handlebar down between the wheels. Then you lower the seatpost and fold the pedals.

There’s one more step I skipped. At the start, you retract the rear mudguard, sliding the rear section forward. This enables the folded FLIT to be rolled along on its rear wheel. It works fine – when you remember and don’t fold the bike onto the un-retracted ’guard – but risks dirty fingers. I’d prefer a fixed mudguard and castors, à la Brompton.

The folded FLIT is compact enough for two or three to sit side by side in a train luggage rack, and light enough (for me) to be carried in one hand. When rolling it, I occasionally found the fork unclipping, even after ensuring it was properly engaged.

There’s a max rider-and-luggage weight of just 100kg for the FLIT.

Frame, fork & folding: MiRider

Like its singlespeed stablemate, the MiRider 16 (£1,595), the GB3 features the smaller, ISO 305 version of 16-inch wheels. It’s a quirky-looking bike with a frameset of die-cast magnesium alloy rather than welded aluminium.

Magnesium is lighter than aluminium – a moot point for a 19kg bike – but corrodes more easily. However, the bike’s protective green paint didn’t scratch during the test. The rider and luggage limit is 120kg.

This rear swingarm has suspension but doesn’t decouple at that point like a Brompton or Birdy as the rear end doesn’t tuck under. The MiRider simply folds in half, with the seatpost lowered and the handlebar dropped down. When the bike is folded, you can unlock the battery from the frame.

It rolls along OK as a folded package. There’s a castor under the bottom bracket and a strong magnet at the dropouts to prevent them flopping apart. Just as well as it’s a pig to carry, being heavier and bulkier than the FLIT. I avoided folding the MiRider until I was on the train, where it took up most of a lower luggage rack.

The MiRider’s suspension is a coil-steel spring with about 40mm of travel. It’s unified rear triangle (URT) design: the bottom bracket is part of the swingarm. This eliminates chain tension issues so is ideal for a belt drive, but means that the saddle-to-pedals distance is not fixed.

Components

Both bikes have 250W rear hub motors with five levels of assistance, powered by modestly sized batteries. MiRider’s own-branded motor has a little more torque – 40Nm versus 35Nm – than the Mivice hub of the FLIT.

However, the FLIT uses torque sensors on both sides of the bottom bracket for power delivery. Assistance thus starts when you press down on a pedal. The MiRider uses ‘torque simulation’ and is fundamentally dependent on cadence sensing. When setting off, the cranks turn almost 180 degrees before any assistance kicks in.

Fortunately, it also has a thumb-operated throttle by the right-hand grip, which provides instant power to help you get away from a standstill or to temporarily boost the assistance level while pedalling.

The FLIT’s mode-switch button is easy to use without looking, while the MiRider’s display has a USB-A outlet for charging, say, a phone. The FLIT is a singlespeed with a chain tensioner. Its 66in gear is achieved with a 44-tooth chainring and an 11-tooth sprocket. I’d prefer 50/13 for a similar-size gear with less rapid sprocket wear.

The MiRider has 3-speed epicyclic gearing with ratios of 1:1 (first), 1:1.43 (second) and 1:1.79 (third). The gears are housed not in the hub but, like a Schlumpf Speed Drive, in the crankset. Unusually for a hub-driven e-bike, that means the motor also gets the benefit of the gears. This should (and did) make it climb well.

Instead of a chain, the MiRider GB3 has a Gates belt drive. Belts are less efficient than chains but don’t leave oily marks on clothing or carpets, and are more or less maintenance free. Efficiency losses are easy to overlook when there’s an extra 250W on tap.

Both bikes have hydraulic discs that outclass the rim brakes or cable discs of some other e-folders. The chunkier MiRider tyres offer better bump absorption but suffered one puncture. The FLIT’s Marathons roll better and seem tougher. I’d nevertheless prefer 35-349 Marathon Plus tyres for even better reliability.

While you can fix a front wheel puncture on the FLIT with the wheel in place, a flat on any rear hub-motor wheel is more of a faff. There’s no 305-size Marathon Plus available for the MiRider.

If you do puncture, access to the valve for inflation is hampered by the unnecessarily large number of spokes (36). Get the £8 Weldtite valve extender that MiRider sells; it has a 90-degree bend.

The FLIT has hardwired be-seen lights built in, the front in the handlebar, the rear on the end of the battery. The MiRider has a front light but, oddly, no rear.

Ride

Both bikes provide a sit-up-and-beg position that suits utility-orientated e-cycling. There’s scope to adjust the MiRider’s position as it has a telescopic stem. I was happy with the FLIT’s handlebar height, however, and preferred its firmer, narrower saddle.

The FLIT rides more like a normal bike. That’s partly down to its torque-sensing power assistance, which feels like an amplification of your own efforts instead of an accelerator switch. Also, the longer wheelbase provides more stable handling.

The MiRider’s assistance begins after half a crank revolution. This felt odd to me. On a hill start, I pulled an alarming and unexpected wheelie when the power lurched from about 200 Watts (me) to around 450.

I didn’t like the MiRider’s URT suspension. With a variable saddle-to-pedal distance, I found myself bobbing on the saddle instead of pedalling smoothly. Preloading the spring (tightening it) minimises this, but I’d prefer no suspension at all.

When it comes to hills, the MiRider is the clear winner, despite FLIT’s video showing the bike being ridden (partly) up Snowdon.

While the FLIT is brisk on slopes of 10% or so, it struggles on very steep hills. Motor and I gave up on the toughest, 25% section of the hardest test climb. The MiRider managed this in first gear – with only a little front wheel lift.

Steep climbs hammered the range of both bikes. I got around 20-25 miles on them using high assistance levels in hilly terrain. In better circumstances, the FLIT can do 50km (31 miles), the MiRider ‘up to 45 miles’.

Verdict

The FLIT M2 is better as an everyday commuter. It’s light and compact, with Brompton-like attention to detail, decent handling and electric assistance that’s seamlessly integrated with its singlespeed drivetrain. I’d like a USB outlet and a different mudguard but, for around £500 less than a Brompton Electric C Line, it’s a compelling option.

The MiRider 16 GB3 will do bike-rail but is harder to haul around. It’s more suited to the leisure market as a handily portable electric hybrid – one that will climb any hill. While it’s well specified and good value, I didn’t get on with its abrupt power delivery and short-wheelbase handling.

The bigger MiRider 24 – still compact enough for a hallway – promises a nicer ride, and the singlespeed version is only £1,995.

Other options

Estarli E20.7 £1,510

Despite its low price, this 20in-wheel, 7-speed e-folder comes with mudguards, rack and lights. It folds to 830×660×460mm and weighs 18.5kg.

Brompton Electric C Line e-Motiq 4-Speed £2,999

Brompton has switched from front hub motors to rear but has kept the convenient battery bag up front. It folds to just 585×565×270mm and weighs from 17.6kg.

First published in Cycle magazine, December 25/January 26 issue. All information correct at time of publishing.