thanks for your comment. we have adapted the translation on the page.
Two of the most important advantages of a folding bike, namely the weight and the folding volume, are also the largest cost factors in the product price.
The price is a matter of quality of material and manufacturing and number of parts. The lower the weight, the higher have to be the quality, the more compact, the more high-tech parts are required. the more expensive will be the bike.
You can't produce a folding bike with only 10 kg and only 55 l of folded volume that can easily be ridden up to 25 km/h and is stable for people from 1,30 m to 1,95 m and up to 100 kg for prices below 2,000 euro, unless you produce 100,000 or more in a year or you sell directly to the customers.
Use cases: Traveling by train (Kwiggle fits under the seat), commuting everywhere, leaving Kwiggle in the car trunk with enough space left, because trunks are designed for handluggage size, and taking it for last mile, putting it in the camper van, in the sail boat in the sport airplane, in the boat, ...
Each chain and sprocket are subject to wear. Each sprocket of any bicycle must be replaced after a certain time. And the chain elongates and must also be replaced at some point. The chain also elongates on the Kwiggle, but the sprockets adjust to the elongation. Therefore also with the Kwiggle, the sprockets and the chain must then be replaced at some point. One of our first customers drives already 8,000 km still with the first chain and sprockets. This is quite much for a bicycle.
Just my comment to "but I suspect the overall ride experience to be a bit bouncy and flexy".
Kwiggle is a new movement for a flexy human being. Humans have been accustomed to putting their natural flexibility into a rigid posture on a bicycle for 200 years.
If you are thinking the bicycle from the anatomically view, you should invent a bicycle, that could be ridden upright with your flexible natural movement similar to the walking.
This was the first idea of the Kwiggle. And this is an opportunity to get back to your natural flexibility. After a little get used to, Kwiggle will adapt to your movement and not the other way round.
My biggest question is the combination of an extremely short wheelbase, small wheel diameter and, perhaps more importantly, the negative fork offset and the steep head tube angle. It seems it would be extremely easy to get thrown over the handlebars when hitting an obstacle... What's your reasoning behind this geo? Is it only space saving?
First of all: The fork offset is needed to obtain the same trail as with a normal bike. Large wheels need to bend the fork forward in order to reduce the natural trail for easier steering. Small wheels need to bend the fork backwards in order to get the same effect, because the natural trail of small wheels is to small. Just look on a shopping cart. The fork of the steering wheels is bent backwards too.
On Kwiggle you ride upright with a small wheelbase. So you have to adjust a little bit and you should pay a little bit more attention to the road. We have so many customers who have mastered that with bravour, so we stopped worrying about it.
Only with this small wheelbase it is possible to get a bicycle folded to handluggage size.
The difference between the A-Bike and the Kwiggle is:
With an A-Bike you can make max 12-15 km/h, with a Kwiggle you will ride at relaxed 25 km/h and can do even much more.
