"Jay Honeck" wrote:

I'm thinking about getting the Hummer, have about 4 or 5 versions,
supposedly originally made for the military and they don't cut the frame
for the 'fold' which is a big plus. starting price around $500 which if
you've priced any quality bikes lately is not out of line.

"Reasonably priced" and "$500" don't belong in the same post when you can
buy a perfectly serviceable mountain bike (with disk brakes and suspension)
for around $100 at Wally World. My son owns one, and it's orders of
magnitude better than my old Schwinn Continental (which, in today's money,
would easily cost over $500.)

If Mark wants to get a folding bike in every automobile trunk in America,
that's the target price to aim for, IMHO.

It all comes down to the mission statement for the vehicle (not unlike
in GA). $400-500 is pretty much the entry level that I'd recommend
spending for a bike that will be ridden regularly, for any distance
for a number of years. Below that, the componentry is fairly marginal
(and in the case of most $100 bikes, not even fully functional).

That's not to say that a $100 bike won't carry the rider over the
occasional ride without killing them... obviously it will. A lot of
people who get into cycling seriously do "serial upgrades", starting
with the Wally World bike, and moving up one level at a time until
they end up with a bike that's up to the riding they're doing. For
many, that means a $500 bike - for others, $2000 or more.

Mark Hickey