Review: Is the Raleigh Stowaway better value than a Brompton folding bike?

Shop around for folding bikes, and you'll notice there's a massive variation in prices. It's perfectly possible, if not entirely sensible, to buy one from a site like Temu and pay less than £200. And there's even a reasonable chance it won't immediately fall to pieces.

Or, if you have deep enough pockets, you might look at a Brompton, which will set you back at least £1,000, but it'll ooze quality and acquire plenty of admiring glances from those in the know.

This then, the Raleigh Stowaway, is something of a Goldilocks bike. It's not too expensive, not exactly cheap, but it's aimed at that middle ground. Supposedly it strikes the perfect balance between price and quality.

But does it? I've been riding one for most of the summer, to commute through my local town, to hit a few traffic-free trails and even to tackle a few hills.

It has the usual folding bike limitations - the wheels are small, there aren't many gears, it's surprisingly heavy, and it's hard to carry any luggage on.

However, I also have a Brompton in my little fleet, so it's been interesting to compare a £550 Raleigh Stowaway with a £1,600 Brompton. Is there £1,000 worth of difference, I wondered to myself as I unpacked the first Raleigh bike I'd pulled out of a box since my Raleigh Mustang Christmas present back in the late 1980s.

On the face of it, certainly not. Bromptons are built exquisitely, there's no two ways about it, but the Raleigh felt every bit as nicely screwed together. It's even a similar shape.

While the Brompton has a steel frame, the Raleigh has an aluminium frame, and they both have powerful V-brakes.

The Brompton has hub-based gears, while the Raleigh uses a more complex derailleur system, but it's all Shimano on the Raleigh, so it works very well.

The Raleigh has a more comfortable saddle and, quite importantly, bigger wheels. The Brompton's are 16", while the Raleigh sits on 20" wheels. This makes a big difference to stability, and the Raleigh is far less twitchy over bumps.

So it sounds like the Stowaway is the better bet, doesn't it? Especially with the £1,000 price gap taken into account. But it's not that simple.

The Brompton, despite its steel frame, is lighter. Only by about 2.5kg, but it does make a difference, especially when you've got to carry it around folded up.

And folding them up is a different matter, too. Don't let anyone tell you that folding a Brompton is easy. I've done it plenty of times and I still manage to make a pig's ear of it. I'm aware it can be done in less than five seconds, but I'm not convinced the guy who did that - who incidentally works for Brompton - is a paid up member of the human race.

In fairness, it couldn't be made much simpler. There are three key things to remember before you slam the seatpost down to lock the whole thing together, but getting all three things to combine into one beautiful action is like threading needles while you're fighting off a sneezing fit.

Once folded, the Brompton is something of a masterpiece. My version, the C-line, weighs 12KG which is a bit of a lump to carry around, but perfectly doable. There are even wheels on the rack so you can skate it around like a little trolley.

There's nothing like that with the Raleigh. The Stowaway lacks one of the Brompton's folding points, at the rear, so it's actually a slightly simpler job, but even then, it takes some practice.

And when it's folded, because of the bigger wheels, and the lack of a third break point, it's quite a bit bigger than the Brompton. And it's noticeably heavier, obviously.

But here's the thing... It still doesn't strike me as being £1,000 less of a bike. Honestly, the Raleigh is the one I'd rather ride. Its seven gears become a bit limiting when you're pounding the Peak District's hilly country lanes, but on a flat trail or around town they're ideal.

The riding position is better, the saddle is nicer, and those bigger wheels make such a difference.

The Brompton, then, starts to feel like more of a luxury item against the Raleigh Stowaway. If you need your bike to be absolutely tiny once it's folded there really isn't anything better out there.

And if all you're doing is riding a few miles from your train to your office across flat city streets, it does the job very well.

But I've been blown away by how well the Raleigh Stowaway compares. The more stable ride is paid for with a larger and heavier folded frame, but that won't matter to everyone.

It won't matter to me, because it lives in a shed. And it won't matter to people who keep it in a cupboard under their stairs either.

Yes, when all's said and done, the Brompton is the nicer machine. But is it £1,000 nicer? Not at all. The Raleigh Stowaway is terrific value for money.