One wonders what goes on in the boardrooms of folding bike manufacturers. Are board members instructed never to mention the ‘B’ word? Or do they ritually stick pins in plasticine models of the Brentford Folder? The fact is – and we might as well get this over with – the Brompton is more or less unassailable in terms of practicality, ride and foldability.We’ve never seen a bike come close: a few 20-inch big wheelers are faster (not all though), a handful of machines have a rudimentary luggage carrying system, and some fold quite well, but the Brompton scores at least 8/10 in all these areas, so it can’t be beaten. Not yet, anyway. To successfully compete against the wunder-fahrrad, you need a machine that is significantly cheaper (certain Dahons and others), faster (Bike Friday and Airnimal), or that exploit the Brompton’s primary weakness – its limited gear range.
Wisely, Airframe manufacturer Silkmead has gone for the latter course, upgrading from the lacklustre 4-speed Nexus to an 8-speed Sturmey Archer hub gear. We tested the 4-speed Airframe relatively recently (October 2002), so we won’t dwell on the things that haven’t changed.The main advance is with the hub – the Sturmey only weighs 100g more than the Nexus, but gear range increases from 184% to 305%, which is a lot more than the broadest Brompton option.The Sturmey 8-speed needs careful adjustment, and a degree of precision in the gear change, but once you’ve got the hang of it, the drive feels light and efficient. Our own early test sample has a weakness in Gear 6, and the Airframe has a tendency to slip out of Gear 7 after a few miles. Clearly, it’s the sort of mechanism where each gear has its own character and good and indifferent days… Gear selection isn’t helped by the Airframe’s unusual in-frame cables which put the gripshift at a funny angle, so you can’t see the gear selector window.
…the disconcerting creaks and groans have all gone…
Quirks aside, the 8-speed gives the Airframe a wider range than almost any other folding bike on the road.With a bottom gear of 27″ and top of 83″, it makes the Mezzo, Brompton and most Dahons look like seafront Airframe makes quite a boulevard cruisers.
The Sturmey is unusual, providing quite close ratios in the intermediate gears, but a big jump down to 1st and up to 8th. Generally, this works well, giving plenty of close gears for fiddly variable gradients plus a good low first (it’s also a more efficient direct drive, which helps) when the going gets tougher.
Although greatly improved, the Airframe itself is still a bit flexible.The disconcerting creaks and groans of the prototype have gone, and the frame is much more resistant to twisting, but if you expect everything to stay put without a millimetre of ‘give’, you’ll still be disappointed. Riding technique helps here – the best method is to sit lightly on the saddle and twirl the pedals – advice that holds true for most folding bikes, but especially for the more flexible ones. The only real disappointment on the road is the tyres.The Airframe is a gentle, soft, feminine machine, and quite unsuited to the rather stodgy ‘Wellington boot’ Schwalbe Marathon tyres.They feel hard and uncompromising, recording a roll-down speed of only 12.4mph on a cold afternoon, and 12.8mph after a good warm through. As the Airframe is never going to attempt serious – or even mild – off-roading, we think a faster, lighter, more delicate tyre, such as the Schwalbe Stelvio, would suit it much better.
One thing the Airframe doesn’t need is suspension.The advantage of the scissor-style frame is a degree of well-damped vertical ‘give’ that would take some beating with gas-shocks and other heavy, complicated things. Of course, the downside is some lateral flexibility, but much less than in days past. Quite how heavier than its predecessor – which might give a clue.That’s still lighter than most folding bikes, and a small price to pay for a more rigid machine with a much wider gear range.
…a briefcase or courier bag fits into the carrier pretty well…
Accessories
All broadly unchanged, but either the rear mudguard design has changed or we failed to notice how ineffective it was in 2002.The long front mudguard is quite good, but the short one at the rear leaves your back plastered in mud. It desperately needs a mudflap of some kind. Otherwise, there’s a bell, plus the odd hinged Airframe carrier system (you take the bike out of the bag, unfold it, hang the bag from the carrier and ride off) which we compared to a deflated balloon in our previous test. The latest bag has a little pocket so it slips over the carrier, but it still looks a bit of an afterthought. On the other hand, a briefcase, or courier bag squeezes into the carrier pretty well, and with a bungee to hold it in place, you have a quick and effective luggage system.
Conclusion
This isn’t the easiest bike to fold and it isn’t the most rigid to ride, but the new Airframe ticks a lot more boxes than the old one, and at £770 it offers a lot of gears for the price. We haven’t said much about looks, but there’s no doubt this is an attractive machine – another area where it scores over the un-self-consciously practical Brompton. If you’re light and don’t have stonking great calf muscles, we’d strongly recommend a test ride.
Airframe Specification
Airframe 8-spd £770 .Weight 11.1kg (24lb) . Folded dimensions W32cm H55cm L103cm Folded volume 181ltrs . Gears Sturmey Archer 8-spd hub . Ratios 27″ 35″ 39″ 44″ 50″ 57″ 65″ 83″ . Manufacturer Silkmead Tubular Ltd tel 01582 609988 mail silkmead@btinternet.com
A to B 52 – Feb 2006
