Originally Posted by Bacciagalupe
Pictures, in this case, don't tell much of the story -- except that the Tikit looks like it was made in Frankenstein's laboratory.
I prefer some simple stats, specifically folded size. A folded Tikit is barely smaller than a BF New World Tourist, actually folds bigger than some 20" bikes, and is
almost 3 times larger than a folded Brommie:
Bike Friday NWT, 20" wheels = 12" x 33" x 34" (13,464 cu in)
Bike Friday Tikit, 16" wheels = 15" x 24" x 35" (12,600 cu in)
Dahon Speed P8, 20" wheels = 13" x 25" x 32" (10,400 cu in)
Downtube NS, 20" wheels = 12" x 23" x 33" (9,108 cu in)
Downtube Mini, 16" wheels = 10" x 20" x 29" (5,800 cu in)
Brompton = 9.8" x 21" x 22" (4,527 cu in)
I'm sure the Tikit rides great. Maybe if it fits under your desk at work you could use it for regular commuting -- but if you have less than 10 miles to ride, why not get a tour-worthy NWT, a 6-speed Brommie or even a $400 Dahon instead? You would have to be swilling some major Bike Friday Kool-Aide made from Eugene, OR tap water to think of it as a viable multi-mode commuter bike.
As an NS owner, I can tell you that the fold is a *lot* bigger than 12X23X33, even with the stem turned to fold over the bike.
I was there, too, but didn't get to ride the Tikit. It has lower end components, is a bit on the heavy side but looked thoroughly eccentric (which I like). The bent rails give it the appearance of having been in a bad accident. But in a controlled way. David at bfold is a great guy, and will take care of you after you buy the bike from him, so if you are looking for one, he's your Tikit.
The only long distance commuter that folded as fast on demo that day was the Swift, which isn't in this list, but doesn't really fold; it mostly just changes from a horizontal bike to a vertical bike. It can really only be used as a car/closet bike/big suitcase travel bike. The Swift designer was there to demo it, and seemed super nice.
The Tikit looked big next to my folded Birdy (11X22X31), but sure folded faster. I can fold my Birdy in 10s if all goes well. (I was able to fold other people's Birdies faster because they had the huge and heavy chainguard on them that keeps the chain from falling off.)
The Brompton demo took a touch longer than 10s. So, there is another trade off among multi-mode commuters: speed of folding versus folded size.