Best folding bikes that are lightweight and practical

For less than £500, this folder from Raleigh is a great choice for city dwellers and commuters alike. At 14.5kg, it’s nippy around town thanks to those small 20in wheels which are quick to get up to speed. The seven-speed gears, operated by a grip shifter, will see you up all but the steepest hills.

Commuters will be pleased to see it folds down small enough to bring on the train and comes with a pannier rack and mudguards. It’s small enough to leave in your car for weekend adventures, and the dark blue paint job looks really smart. Once the brown tyres and handlebar grips wear out, maybe swap them for black ones and you’ll have a bike that looks a lot more expensive than the price tag suggests.

There’s some serious tech in this folding e-bike from Gocycle. With a 250W front wheel-drive motor with traction control and three-speed gears, you can ride to work without breaking a sweat. The traction control is a great feature – we often felt it kicking in to keep us safe when pushing the bike hard on slippery autumn roads – and we were impressed by the power of the hydraulic disc brakes, too.

A mobile app lets you tweak the amount of assistance you get from the motor and check your battery level while you ride. We preferred to use “on-demand” mode, where the battery assistance is controlled by a boost button on the bars , and used it for a little extra help away from traffic lights and on hills. Gocycle says you’ll get about 40 miles per charge, which only takes about 3.5 hours.

It’s a great choice for urban commuters as the drivetrain is covered to stop you getting oil on your clothes, and the wheels are mounted on one side only so you don’t need to take them off to repair punctures. You can get it kitted out with lights and mudguards so you can use it all year round, and in about 10 seconds it can be folded down small enough to keep by your desk.

If you’re after extra braking power to keep you safe, this bike is fitted with mechanical disk brakes alongside its eight-speed gears and lightweight aluminium frame. Weighing in at 13kg, the bike is pretty easy to carry and it folds down small enough to keep next to your desk. At under £400, we think it’s a real bargain.

Here’s a more minimalist alternative to the electric C line (£2,995, Brompton.com). If you prefer to travel light and don’t want the added weight that comes with battery power, that’s where the C line urban comes in. The two gears are plenty for riding in a flat city, and the fitted mudguards and lights on this bike mean it’s a great choice for commuters. It’s a great buy for anyone who likes to split their journeys between riding and public transport. It only weighs 11kg so it’s not a problem to carry, and as you’d expect with a Brompton, it’s a breeze to fold down.

We loved zipping around on this minimalist British-built machine – the lightest folding model in the world. At just under 7kg, it’s the weight of a top-end racing bike and a real blast to ride. The single-speed drivetrain means it’s very quiet and super simple to maintain. If you live somewhere with a lot of hills you might want to spend a bit extra on the more practical multi-speed or electric versions.

The carbon fibre frame and aluminium swingarm have a simple elegance, while the folding mechanism has been really well thought out. With practice, you can have it stowed in seconds. If you have deep pockets you can get it sprayed in just about any colour you want.

If you’re desperate to join the Brompton gang but don’t like the thought of turning up at work all sweaty, consider this electric option. It’s got a 250W motor built into the front wheel, which Brompton claims will help whisk you along for between 25-50 miles. The motor kicks in as you pedal, although under UK law the assistance has to cut out at 15.5mph. With a motor at the front and the pedals turning the rear wheel, you’ve effectively got an all-wheel-drive bike.

The battery slots in and out of a carrier at the front so you can easily take it into the house to top up, and it takes about four hours for a full charge. This six-speed version has mudguards and built-in lights too. The downside of all that extra kit is the weight – 17.4kg – meaning it’s probably a bit heavy for hauling far. It is great fun to ride though. There’s also a two-speed option if you’re after a lighter ride with less maintenance.

This smart-looking option can cope with riders from just 4ft 8in tall through to 6ft 3in “giants” thanks to that telescoping steering tube. There’s a good spread of gears from the seven-speed transmission too, allowing you to tackle everything from flat city streets to fairly steep climbs. At just over 12kg it’s light enough to lift on and off trains, and it will take mudguards to keep the grime at bay on damp days. There’s also a 10-year warranty on the frame.

This bike came to prominence back in 2016 when it was used by Team GB members used during downtime at the Rio Olympics. It’s got hydraulic disc brakes yet tips the scales at just 8.2kg thanks to its carbon fibre frame. It also boasts a Gates belt drive rather than a chain, so no more oily marks on your trousers when you arrive at your destination. You can buy it in a single-speed version or with Shimano alfine 11-speed hub gears if you live in a hillier area, but this comes with an extra cost. To keep the weight down there is a carbon fibre seatpost and handlebars.