Originally Posted by
Lalato
Just wondering if your attributes... ergonomics, compactness and ride quality... couldn't be better named as Function, Form and Ride. Anyway... just throwing that out there.
--sam
About "function" and "form", let's look at an example outside of folding bikes: bags and boxes.
Which storage device gives a higher priority to function and which gives a higher priority to form? Intuitively bags seem to have more function (boxes seem more static and "function" seems active), but I don't think it's fair to say that either has better form.
Boxes have a great form for minimizing volume and being stored on, in, and around other boxes, but bags clearly have a form that has better harmony with the form of the human body. Harmony with the human body = ergonomic (by definition).
Seems that we have the same situation with folders. Brompton has a square form analogous to a box, but Strida has a form that can better mate with the form of the human body. Yes, the Strida's fold is probably also more functional, but that function is really ergonomic function anyway (because humans generally move around being able to roll the bike is a function in pursuit of harmony with the human function). So the Strida is ergonomic in both function and form, but the Brompton clearly has something going for it....its form is compact:
Compactness vs Ergonomics