[Anne]

I'm new to cycling in San Francisco and am looking for a full-size, folding, middle of the road quality bike for 10-20 mile rides with hills. I've been looking at the montague dx but have no idea how to evaluate the quality of the components--I don't need high end but don't want to pay $450 for "walmart quality". Does anyone have views on the dx? Thanks!

[Industry_Hack]

What's it got?

[Industry_Hack]

Just looked it up. Kinda cheap. You're paying a lot for folding.

[Anne]

Thanks for the feedback. When you say cheap, I assume you mean the quality of the components. Can you make a guess what price range it would be in if it didn't fold?
I really want the folding because I often have a morning ride followed by work, stops at the grocery store etc. and duty as a soccer mom without a chance to return the bike to home. It would disappear off a bike rack and I need the space inside the car for kids. I've also been looking into a couple of Dahon models which don't fold quite as small and are more expensive but maybe better quality??? The Dahon Matrix seems like over-kill and I'm not sure some of the others like the Jack or Cadenza p16 could handle S.F. hills.
Any thoughts on the different folding options?
Thanks for the help!

[Skidmark]

Any chance for a bike carrier on the car with a good cable & lock?

[Industry_Hack]

What speed do you generally ride at? Smaller wheels can be more efficient under 20MPH. One of the options I would consider is Downtube.