Design Philosophy

By now you have noticed that Montague folding bikes are different from all others. Other folding bike makers start with the folded package, and work on how to telescope this out, and that out, to make something that is somewhat rideable for a short distance. Their priority is a small folded size, and not on riding performance. Montague on the other hand starts out with a full-size high performance bike, and, without compromising performance in any way, reduces the size as small as possible. The result is a bike that rides as well as, or better than, comparably priced unfoldable bikes from large bike brands, but folds down small enough to fit in a car trunk, closet, bus, train, private airplane or RV.

In short, we design with the philosophy that performance comes first – and the folding aspect is secondary. Many people in the bike industry agree that most bicycles of the future will fold. We firmly believe we are Unfolding the future of cycling™ by designing full-size, high-performance Bicycles that fold, not folding bikes™.

Other folding bike manufacturers compromise on the ride quality of the bike when they use small “circus-style” wheels. Montague is different; our folding bikes use standard, full-size wheels that millions of bikes use all around the globe. These wheel sizes have been chosen by a countless number of riders and all major bike companies because they offer by far the best stability, rolling resistance, and obstacle clearance. In contrast, small wheels offer, well, small performance. When compared to standard bicycle wheels, the small wheels found on most folding bikes sink into smaller potholes, offer less stability, create more rolling resistance, force you to use an increased gearing ratio to go the same speed, and when you get a flat tire, tubes are not readily available at any bike shop.