Quote Originally Posted by shootingstar View Post
I understand in certain areas of Europe, folding bikes might be more popular simply because the homes tend to be smaller (for storage space/lack of garage) and the older multistoried residential buildings don't have elevators to transport a bike up and down.
That could be a good reason, but the real reason is much simpeler than that. In countries like Belgium and Holland lots of bikes get stolen. Especially when they are parked in a public place like the railwaystation. People are fed up by that. So that's why they invest in a folding bike so they don't have to comprimise on safety. Otherwise they use a really rundown bike to go to the station, but that's not even an guarantee that your bike doesn't get stolen.