I’m just a fan of folding bikes: from Eurobike 2025
The primary purpose of participating in an exhibition is, of course, to explore new business opportunities for iruka. But it’s also a great pleasure to check other brands’ booths and, at times, connect with the people behind them. At Eurobike, that pleasure is even greater, since so many brands not yet available in Japan are on display. Today, I’d like to introduce some of the folding bikes I discovered there that have yet to make their way to Japan.
First up is Vello Bike from Austria. Like Japan’s Tyrell FX, it has a triple-fold system where both the rear and front wheels rotate vertically to fold. The handlebar also turns 90 degrees, and you pull out the grips on both sides before folding it down.
Vello Bike seems to be the second most popular folding brand after Brompton. I often saw it around Frankfurt, and I know plenty of dealers carry it as well. I’ve heard that some Japanese importers have tried to bring them in, but no deal has happened yet. The lineup also includes a titanium model and an e-bike with an integrated motor and battery from Italy’s Zehus, but the bestseller is the chromoly model at EUR 1,690.
Next, Ahooga from Belgium. Like Brompton, it has a triple-fold system where the rear wheel folds vertically behind the bottom bracket, while the front wheel folds horizontally near the head tube. The top tube is a single beam, but the down tube is made of two tubes, with the rear wheel fitting neatly in between—an idea that also echoes iruka’s design.
With its large aluminum frame and gravel-spec tires, even the non-electric version of the Ahooga weighs over 14kg, making it a bit heavy—but that’s also part of its toughness. In fact, Stuart in the video above entered a 1,000km race in Rwanda—nearly half of it unpaved—on his Ahooga last year. He had to scratch along the way, but still became the first rider on a folding bike to reach the second checkpoint. Both the e-bike and non-electric models share the same frame, so owners of the standard version can upgrade to electric later. Prices are EUR 1,699 for the non-electric model and EUR 3,499 for the e-bike.
From France comes the Bastille. With its 27.5-inch wheels and diamond frame, at first glance it doesn’t look like a folding bike at all—but as you can see in the video below, it is.
At last year’s Eurobike it was still before mass production, but this year it finally made it to market. Congrats! With such a refined and novel folding mechanism, as a fellow folding bike maker I can’t help but wonder about the production yield. They told me they manage quality by producing the frame parts in Asia and assembling them in France. The founder, Gilles, is a well-known industrial designer in France, and every detail of the bike is both elegant and innovative. Price: EUR 2,590.
From South Korea comes the Mikalon, a separable folding bike designed—and even hand-welded in its titanium truss frame—by architect and artist Il Hoon Roh. Last year only a prototype was on display, but this year they finally started taking orders. As a fellow Asian, I couldn’t help but feel happy and proud.
The price is close to JPY 2 million, so it’s not a bike anyone can pick up. But beyond its striking looks, features like an auto-resetting handlebar height system and a one-touch cable release make it incredibly tempting to own. You can find more details about the mechanisms on the official website.
I can’t skip Dahon’s new model, Dabrom, which was on display as one of their latest releases. Dahon has already been selling the Curl, a model that adopted Brompton’s folding system, but the Dabrom is pretty much a full-on copy. To be fair, it does highlight some differences from the original—like 7 external gears, a stiffening cable under the top tube, and an adjustable handlebar for both height and angle—but still, the name itself says it all: “Da”hon plus “Brom”pton.
A sales person said it's scheduled to launch later this year at about 10–20% cheaper than Brompton’s C-Line. As someone who first got into the world of folding bikes through buying a Dahon, I personally find this approach lacking in pride and a bit disappointing. Still, from the standpoint of a manufacturer, I can’t help but be curious about how well it will sell.
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Writing this out, I realized I was enjoying Eurobike like a kid in a toy store. Before I’m the owner of a folding bike brand, I’m really just a fan of folding bikes.
Masaki Mark Kobayashi
Founder and President, iruka Inc.