Pale Rider
Legendary Member
It seems they are classified into two groups - real performance machines and balloon tyred town bikes.
Agreed.
Both my 20" wheel bikes have balloon tyres, so are not what you want.
You are right that compact frame small wheeled bikes are much easier to manhandle and are more nippy.
The Sven Cycles mini velo looks to be a far nicer bike than my Katu, although it still has podgy tyres.
The rear triangle is quite long - there's enough room for a bottle behind the seat tube - which rather takes the 'mini' out of it.
My compact ebike is similar.
I wonder if a 20" bike with the wheel up against the seat tube wouldn't work very well for some geometrical reason I couldn't understand.
https://www.svencycles.co.uk/the-mini-velo