Germany's Paper of Record Just Crowned Two Ahooga Bikes

When the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung tests folding bikes, the German cycling world reads the results. FAZ is one of the country's most respected newspapers, and its verdicts carry real weight. So we're more than a little proud of how their folding-bike test went for us. Ahooga didn't win one award. We won two.

The A-MAX was named Testsieger, the overall best folding bike in the test. The E-MAX took Commuter's Choice, the pick for getting to work. One platform, two honours, from one of the toughest audiences in cycling.

Here's why.

A-MAX: the best folding bike, full stop

FAZ put the field through its paces, and the A-MAX came out on top. For the second year in a row! The reason came down to the one thing most folders struggle with: stiffness.

A traditional folding bike has a hinge in the middle of the main frame, and you feel it. A little flex, a little wobble, a ride that never quite settles. The A-MAX doesn't have one. Our patented hingeless double-triangle frame is so torsionally stiff that FAZ found it rode almost like a classic bicycle. Comfortable across surfaces. Suitable for every rider size. Stable and planted, the way a proper bike should feel.

Their conclusion was about as clear as a review gets: "Ahooga has done everything right."

The deeper point is the one we care about most. FAZ judged that the A-MAX can genuinely replace a full-size everyday bike. Not a compromise you tolerate for the folding trick, but a bike you would happily ride even if it never folded. That it does fold is the bonus.

E-MAX: the commuter's choice

If the A-MAX won on engineering, the E-MAX won on daily life.

FAZ named the electric E-MAX Alfine its Commuter's Choice, and the reasons read like a commuter's wish list. Low weight, so it is easy to lift and carry. A compact folded size, so it disappears onto a train or under a desk. The same frame stiffness that makes it ride like a real bike. And the everyday practicality that turns a clever product into a daily habit.

Add comfortable wide tyres that take the sting out of cobbles and tram tracks, plus a removable battery you can charge wherever you happen to be, and you have a folder built for the commute rather than the showroom. FAZ judged it about as close to a perfect commuting e-folder as you will find. We will happily take that.

One frame, two winners

Here's what ties the two awards together: they are the same idea, expressed two ways.

The A-MAX and the E-MAX share the platform we built Ahooga around, a full-size bike that happens to fold. Analog or electric, the engineering underneath is the same, and so is the philosophy. Ride everywhere. Fit anywhere. No compromise in either direction.

Choose the A-MAX if you want the lightest, purest ride, knowing you can always upgrade it to electric later. Choose the E-MAX if you want a quiet, natural electric boost from day one. Either way, you are riding a bike that a German newspaper's testers would happily park in their own hallway.

The bottom line

Two awards, from one of the most credible names in German media, for two versions of the same belief: a city bike should ride like a full-size bike and fold like a folder, without giving up a thing.

Testsieger for the A-MAX. Commuter's Choice for the E-MAX. Belgian-engineered, German-approved.

Ready to feel it for yourself?

An award is a promise. A test ride is proof. About one in three people who throw a leg over an Ahooga end up taking one home, so the best way to understand what FAZ rated so highly is to ride it.

Book a test ride