Bought a New Folding Bike - Recommended Add-ons & Accessories?

Zilla360

It's this el-cheapo and cheerful one that I finally finished assembling last week:

Things I'm looking for:

• A decent rear rack and bag than can safely cope with carrying three or four heavy 2 litre bottles of milk and juice.
• Lights (Front and Back, Ideally with a solar charging option.)
• A Kickstand.
• A Lock.
• A Water Bottle.
• A Decent (but not too expensive) Helmet.
• Some kind of storage option that will allow me to hang it from the inside of a wooden cupboard door...

I last owned any kind of bike over twenty years ago (though I have ridden some other rentals in the interim), so go easy on me! :P

Aldo

That looks nifty as eff. What's the use case and where are you situated? Because you mention a helmet you're obviously not situated in the Netherlands.

For lights I'd go for something battery powered that you can clip on/off. Those are usually lighter (in weight) and more reliable than something that needs to charge in sunlight (which is problematic if it's been in storage for a while).

I'm not sure whether a decent rear rack is available, it might make more sense to transport stuff in a backpack instead.

I'd also grab a small handpump for thsoe tires.

honovere

There don't seem to be connection points to fix a regular rack to, so the only option is probably a seat post rack and those generally only allow up to 9 or 10 kg loads and the quick release versions are prone to shifting raound under load.

Maybe something like an axiam streamliner with the seat post connection (trekk seat collar) might work, though?
https://www.axiomgear.com/products/racks/streamliner-racks/streamliner-disc-dlx/

BlindZenDriver

Depending how longs rides you think of, then you should consider clothing. Priority here would be pants, gloves and shoes.

If you plan on long rides you really should look into clipless pedals and the shoes to go with - if you choose shoes made for mountain biking there are shoes you can walk in that will also click in on pedals. The advantage over just platform pedals is two-fold, for starters it lets you pull as well as push the pedals only more importantly your feet will be allowed to rotate slightly and that is really good for your knees and ankles.

Also a thought. I like the idea of recharging using solar, but I wonder if it is really useful in real life ie. will you be able to recharge enough that way to avoid some sort of socket. Some lights let you recharge using a USB connection, that can be handy.

Finally a though regarding having a rack to carry stuff. I find that often it is more handy to instead used a bag pack, it means the weight you carry will follow your body movements so riding wise it is better. Also if you have a bag pack you can use a drinking bladder, this is again lees dead weight on the bike and instead weight that follows your body.

djmitchella

I think there's two eyelets above the back wheel which you could mount the bottom of a rack to (or mudguards), but you'd need to get P-clips or something to fix the upper parts to the frame. The question is "would it still fold with a rack on the back?", though, because the rack would get in the way.

I don't see any eyelets for mounting a water bottle cage to -- those would usually go on the main frame, and again, not sure if it'd get in the way when folding. Assuming it's this bike then picture 8 makes it look like things would be a bit of a tight squeeze to add too much extra stuff and still leave it foldable, but it's hard to be sure from just a picture.

mts

you could just get a handlebar basket