Major bike manufacturers produce a new range of bikes on an annual basis and this determines the model year of a particular bike. This annual turnover is fuelled by advancing technology, industry trends and customer demand for a particular feature or style of bicycle.
Bicycle wheels come in a wide range of sizes from 12" wheels found on smaller Kids Bikes to larger 29" Mountain Bike and 700c Road Bike wheels. Larger wheels are normally faster and more stable at speed and their larger contact patch improves grip too. Smaller wheels are normally lighter, more manoeuvrable and have quicker acceleration.
Wheel sizes are defined by the country that first popularised the style of bike that used them - so you'll see some imperial and some metric measurements listed. Wiggle includes the ISO standard in brackets after each for ease of comparison.
A folding bike is one that can be folded up for storage, and then unfolded so that it can be ridden. This type of bike offers you versatility and convenience and is very popular with commuters.
Folding bikes can be stored in much smaller places than a regular bike. If you don’t have a lot of storage space at home, they are the ideal solution. Many train companies won’t allow regular bikes on board during rush hour, so people will regularly use folding bikes as their commuter bike.
The design of folding bikes is such that you have all the options of a regular bike – gearing, sizing, racks, tyres, and so forth. The differences between the models comes down to how small they will fold up, how large the wheels are (smaller wheels will create a more compact bike).