Folding Bikes - Bike Friday today...oh the joy and the agony...

i got my BF yesterday and took it out for a test run on my daily commute today...

let me say this...i love the bike...it's cool looking and performs very well...however mine is already in the LBS and is out of commission

it's been a tough day for my BF...first off, i thought i attached everything correctly but noticed how the fork and handlebars would drift into misalignment every few minutes...after about 3 phone calls with the BF tech, we figured out that I had put the bars on with the fork backwards...first problem solved..

later in the afternoon my bike came to a deadstop...pedals wouldn't turn...i look down and see that the teeth of the large chainring are biting into the cage of my front derailleur...i don't know too much about maintainence so i didn't want to monkey around with it...luckily, i broke down about a block away from a bike shop in downtown long beach...they fixed in a few minutes and i was on my way...

about 2 hours later i went to take it out on some hills i ride and somehow i managed to break the chain at the top of the light house in Long Beach...had to walk it about a mile to the bus stop and take it home...then dig up some change for an hour bus ride to the nearest decent shop in seal beach

i couldn't figure out why the chain was locking up, when i noticed a broken link...

when i got to the bike shop in seal beach (King's Bicycle), the guy took it in and was going to just replace the chain...however they said the rear derailleur was misaligned in a way he didn't see very often...he said it didn't look like it was from a fall and the rear drop out was ok, and concluded it was just a lemon derailleur...he went above and beyond and spoke to the tech at BF and had them overnight a new shimano 105 derailleur and chain...to their credit, BF was on the ball and said they would ship the DR and chain right away (hopefully it will come in tommorrow so i can have an operational bike...it's my only form of transportation these days)

so as i write this, my lovely new world tourist is in a bike shop in seal beach not even 24 hours hold waiting for a derailleur transplant that is hopefully flying from eugene, OR as we speak...otherwise i'll be taking the bus the whole weekend which really sucks here in los angeles....

bummer....i really do like the bike but we've had a very inauspicious start...hopefully when i get it back all the kinks will be worked out....

no disrespect to bike friday, as their techs have been helpful and accommodating...also i give Kings Bicycles in Seal Beach an AAA+++++...so if you're in the area, do your business there...i've gone to about 4 bike shops in LB and Kings is the only one I will ever go back to for any important work...

What a heartbreak! For what it's worth, I've had my new NWT for 3 weeks and I've never had a bike perform better in my life. Hang in there, I know that Bike Friday will quickly make it right.

UPDATE:
well...all the breakdowns happened on friday...the parts were sent overnight from eugene to seal beach...king's installed the new DR and chain and now it's smooth as butter...hopefully all the kinks have been worked out now :)

When I got my Bike Friday in September, the front derailleur wasn't aligned properly and the high and low stops on the rear derailleur were not properly set. Also, the brakes were not set with the right toe and squealed loadly. Also, the tires I had BF put on the bike, were defective and vibrated above 18 mph.

Since I corrected all these problems, I have been very pleased with my Pocket Crusoe. It rides as comfortably as my Lemond Zurich and handles well. It weighs about the same as my Lemond Zurich. I could happily keep my Crusoe as my only bike with no regrets.

My impression is that in my case, and perhaps yours, that whoever built up our bikes failed to do a good job. There is no way they could have test ridden my bike and not notice the build problems with it. Yes, BF's customer service is outstanding, but you shouldn't have to call them just to get your new BF rideable.

In general, BF is an amazing bike overall despite the build issues I had with it, so I'd still highly recommend it!

Hmm. I thought all the after-market tune-ups were because I bought *used* BF bikes. If my bikes were new, I'd be a little ticked.

I remember having to make general drive train tweaking adjustments to my used Nomad when it first arrived, so when I ordered a used tandem, I basically overhauled it before I rode it: greasing, drive train, brakes, truing. I'm proud to say it purrs like a kitten, and is so quiet and smooth in operation. In fact, it's because I tried to get my Nomad so perfectly adjusted that I ended up learning how to breakdown and reassemble the whole bike part by part (except for disassembling the folding mechanism of the frame), which was a great learning experience. But again, I wasn't afraid to do this because it was used; I know you guys have a different dilemma since your bikes are new.

my new ride :)

and just one more....

Is your rear reflector facing forward?

I am somewhat confused by what I was reading. You mean to say that you probably spent 1k or more on a bike (even a good one as Bike Friday), and tried to tune it up yourself? If your mechanical ability is rather limited, why try to do these checks yourself? Why try to cut corners when you already made the commitment and the actual purchase? It would appear to me that if you went to that wonderful bike shop in the first place after your bike arrived, you would not wasted so much time and energy attempting to do repairs or adjustments that is better done in a full service bike shop. Remember that most new bikes need to be tuned when they arrived and about 30 days later for a series of little problems or at least one major problem. It does not reflect on you or your purchase of a fine bike. It is simply the reality of owning a finely balanced mechanical device.

rear reflector is forward...turned it around so i could adjust the seat...

ff - this is my first new bike ever and i assumed that it would be more adjusted than it was...i didn't really do any adjustments myself except for the assembly which I had to do to get it out of the apt. the handlebar problem was due to a bit of confusion with the pictures in the manual...the tech said that it was a common mistake...

when the front derailleur locked up, i did bring it to the a bike shop and they fixed it...

when the chain broke about four hours later i took a one hour bus ride to another high-end bike shop for them to fix...

so no, i didn't monkey with it anymore than i had to get it out of the apt. any all fine tuning was done by LBSs