So I just finished my commute on the Schwinn folding bike, and I can say it wasn’t too bad. I normally commute on a Retrospec Beaumont 7 speed, but decided to invest in a foldable bicycle for when I travel, or if I ever make a quick trip downtown. So there’s kind of two parts to my review; my thoughts on the Schwinn Loop, and how it stacks up as a daily commuter. So I’m no bike expert, but I have ridden a fair amount, work on my own bikes, and commute 10-15 miles daily (I’m a medical student and switch between clinic for outpatient and hospital for surgery). I used to commute on a big box mountain bike, but have recently upgraded to 200-400 dollar bicycles (which I would recommend to anyone putting more than 200-300 miles on their bike a year, or want a bike that lasts a long time). The old adage in biking goes, “cheap, durable, or lightweight.....pick two”. This tends to be a pretty good rule of thumb. The bike weighs 33 pounds which is more than other folding bikes, but it’s also one of the cheapest bikes in the folding bike world. The bike seems to handle pretty good and be a fun ride, but at this price point companies tend to have to take a couple shortcuts. The tires seem to be of a cheaper compound, which is fine in good weather, but don’t tend to grip as well in rain. I wish they would’ve put on a little bit more expensive softer compound tire that would grip better. I know comparative to other bikes it’s cheap, but I feel they could’ve made a better selection on the tires. I just did 10 miles in the morning and 10 miles after work, and the seat wasn’t my favorite, but you definitely ride a 10 mile each way commute with no problems. People also tend to have their own personal preferences on bike seats, so finding a seat to make everyone happy might be pretty hard. Schwinn went with a bike seat on the softer side with a hint of firmness. Really really soft seats tend to be good for a mile or two, but tend to fatigue and hurt your rear faster than a firmer seat. I think this seat is aimed at people making a 3-7 mile commute. If I rode this everyday, I might seriously start thinking of changing it out for a harder seat post to match my longer commutes. But again, I just rode 20 miles with no problem, and would have no problem doubling that distance with no issues. I like how the bike has a welded on rear rack, you could buy a nice pair of saddle bags and not have to worry about the weight snapping or bending your rear rack. The bikes factory setup was really well done. I was impressed that the derailleur, brakes, wheel alignment were perfect and didn’t need adjusting out of the box. While I got lucky, I would still recommend having a bike mechanic look over your bike before riding if you’re not familiar with brake adjustments or derailleurs. I probably unboxed my bike and had it ready to ride in 30 minutes. A quick chain lube and once over and I was ready to ride. While this bike isn’t going to ride like a 1000 dollar bike or be light as a feather, it’s a pretty good looking bicycle for the money which could be pretty dependable if taken care of properly. The rim brakes are easy to maintain, but switching out to a brand like koolstops will give you a much improved stopping power after the stock pads are worn out. So how does this foldable bike compare to other bikes?? Well, I’d still prefer a full size bike over the foldable. You feel the bumps a lot more on the 20 in tires than say a 700. The hearing on this is very favorable to climbing hills, you won’t find yourself wishing you had a lower gear most of the time. On the same note, your not going to be flying by anyone either. The trade off on a 7 speed for climbing easy is that downhill or on a bike path you might wish you had a higher gear or two. You could always change this out, but I think most people will go with the factory setup. Plus who really is going to invest money modifying a brand new Schwinn bike that’s perfectly fine to ride. There is a little bit of flex, but I didn’t really notice too much difference on my commute. The main issues between this and a regular hybrid are speed ( this bike is slower due to gearing, weight, smaller wheels, and flex), but I don’t think the average person will care they’re going a tad bit slower around town. The bike is actually kind of fun to ride around, but I’ll be sticking with my 700. Overall, I could see this being a great bike for someone who works in downtown or somewhere where leaving your bike locked outside might not be an option, or for someone with limited space for a bike in their house or apartment. For me, it serves its purpose well for a the ocasional short commute if I want a quick change up from my 700, to lend out to friends if they wanna bike the greenway bike trails (this bike can be adjusted to fit virtually and adult with its quick clamp seat post), and to take with me if I visit any other cities. If you don’t see an update, you can assume the bikes been going good since the date of this publication with no major issues. While I wasn’t blown away by the Schwinn, and still prefer my Retrospec, I think this could be a really fun commuter bike for someone and is overall a pretty good bike. Update 3/24/2020 So I’ve put a couple hundred miles on this, checked it on a flight, and think I can give a little better input. I changed the seat out to one from Retrospec I found on Amazon for ten bucks (scene in second picture). I was rotating at a clinic who wouldn’t let me bring a full size bike inside, but would let me bring a folding bike I could store in a corner of the office. So I’ve got close to a month commuting on this now. The only upgrades I’ve done is to add a Retrospec seat, and attach a plastic crate with zip ties and a towel underneath to keep it from scratching the paint. Like others have said, the stock saddle is just not comfortable for most people, and if it doesn’t work for you switch it out. I might recommend looking for a harder seat rather than super soft, as really soft seats tend to be more uncomfortable on anything more than a few miles. I find a semi-hard seat seams to be the best for commuting (5-20 miles each way). Second, I bought a plastic crate from Walmart for about 7 bucks, put a black towel underneath to cushion and keep it from scratching the paint. I have five bungee cords in the middle and two zip ties keeping it from sliding back (bungees keptvin on but didn’t prevent it from sliding off). This bike has really low gearing, and outside of commuting it’s become my grocery store bicycle because it’s steel frame is very rugged and it’s gearing let’s me pull a trailer with no problems. The smaller tires are able to withstand more abuse than a larger wheel would. I tried putting panniers on, but the rear triangle is a tad to small for most panniers ( my heels kept hitting the panniers). After a couple hundred miles, I’m pleasantly surprised by the Schwinn Loop. Change out the seat, and you’ll have a pretty rugged commuter than you can fold up in under a minute for the office. Do not fly without buying a hard shell suitcase. I ignorantly tried checking it with only the case it came with. I arrived at my location with a bent derailleur. If you want to fly with this, either see if you can bring it as carry on, or buy a hardshell suitcase that will fit its dimensions. In my opinion, the case it comes with is pretty useless for anything other than storage. Overall I think it’s still 4/5, but I would easily recommend this bike for anyone looking for a reliable and economical foldable commuter bicycle. Update 9/3/2020 I’ve probably got 500-600 miles on this now, and I’m changing my review to 5 stars. This has become my errand bike. I constantly load this bike up with 20-40 pounds extra on the back and it does more than fine. Is it the best folding bike? Of course not, but at its price point you can’t beat it. In fact, I’d say it does better than any other bicycle for the same price. Also, it’s a conversation s
