Designed by Jon Whyte, ex Formula 1 guru who went on to design a range of full-suspension bikes for Marin, the Mezzo is a stylish, light and practical folding bike with a 16" wheel.

One of its main and much-vaunted characteristics, like the Birdy, is a hinge-free main frame, which eliminates any possibility of flex when riding. It has several other very atractive features: It folds fast and uses self-locking catches, it uses standard transmission and brake components, and its light and stiff aluminium frame has integrated mudguards and rack. The whole lot is anodised rather than painted, creating a hard, highly durable and attractive finish with a stunning selection of colours, including charcoal, sand, green, blue, red and black.

Mezzo offers 3 models, a 4 speed hub gear, a 9 speed and a 10 speed derailleur gear.

The folded bike is compact with respect to most other folders, although not quite as compact as the Brompton. Given that this bike does not fold the main frame, however, this is no surprise.

Ride quality is good, if a little strange at first owing to the 'tiller' effect of the extra long handlebar stem.

We like its looks and its extremely interesting design innovations above all.

Mezzo D9

£725.00

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The Mezzo D9 model uses the same frame as the I4 and is characterised by the use of Shimano's 9 speed Tiagra derailleur system, coupled with a SRAM shifter. The result is a very light and responsive ride, with a good spread of useable gears which are accessible very slickly. This bike even starts to feel pretty sporty, certainly compared with the more sedate feel of the I4. However, for real sports performance, you need to cough up another £200 for the D10.

The D9 is good for short to medium commutes and leisure rides on the open road.