Can Folding E-Bikes Handle Gravel Riding?
[Music] All right, now we’re going to dive into the meat and potatoes of every week, which is the question and comments from you out in our audience. These are all pulled directly from our YouTube channel, our website, or sometimes from our email at questionselectricbikereport.com. So, if you’ve got burning questions, just remember you can always reach us and hopefully we’ll be jumping into yours next week. But let’s start things off with a question we got from I believe it’s David Poe with 2066 at Velrifold One Plus review on YouTube who says, “I take it this bike wouldn’t be good on gravel. If not any folding bikes that would be or excuse me, are there any folding bikes that would be great review?” Well, thank you, David. Uh well, definitely David Poe with two. Yeah, that Yeah. Also, I wanted to say I love meat and potatoes, so I’m glad we made it to this section. Okay. Uh so anyway, I obviously tested and reviewed the Fold One Plus there. And during my testing, I did briefly take it on a couple of gravel sections. Uh so one was like a pear-ravel parking lot area and then another one was a sort of behind our area spot where there’s some like full-size large gravel. Um and it actually did a surprisingly good job in both places. A little bit uh you know smoother on the pravel than the huge gravel. Um, but you know, the suspension fork helped out a lot there. And then of course the 20×3 knobby tires that the bike comes with, that’s that’s what they’re there for, you know. Um, so if you are going to choose this bike and ride it in areas like that, I would recommend uh dropping the handlebars down a little bit lower. So steering can just be a little harder to control with bars that are high due to the bike’s long reach. um that you know is pretty common on a lot of folding ebikes, but uh just something to keep in mind. Actually, one thing that we liked about the Fold One Plus is the fact that the handlebars are a little bit wider than than you find in most cases, but uh more stable. In any case, so with that in mind, this is not a gravel bike, per se. Um so, if you are looking for a folding bike that is specific to gravel, there is one that we know of out there called the Brmpton Electric G- Line. It’s a pretty new ebike that is specifically made towards gravel. Uh and of course has Brmpton’s very quick folding technology built in there. So, uh it’s not on the it’s on the pricey side for sure, but you know, you can definitely check that one out. Um but other options out there, the electric XP4 may be a good one. And the reason that I recommend that really is uh the differences in in geometry there. So, electric switched uh to a 0° stem. So that brings the handlebars a little bit closer, makes it a little bit more ergonomic and comfortable, just a little bit easier to steer. But with that bike, you would probably want to look at swapping out the tires. So Electric did sort of a custom tire tread pattern on that. Uh that doesn’t really have the the knobby tread that you would need for riding on gravel. Um so you would need to probably look at that. But, you know, to round that all out again, again, the if you’re looking for something right out of the box that’s, you know, pretty affordable, uh, the Fold OnePlus is still a good option
Velotric Fold 1 Plus, Brompton Electric G Line, and the Lectric XP4. What is the best option for riding a folding bike on gravel roads and paths?
