Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Am I crazy?

...for wanting one of these? The talk in the "Post Your Bike" thread about folders and seeing a guy riding one made me curious...

http://a-bike.co.uk/

wheels too small

This is much better. Especially the fixed variety.

http://www.bikefriday.com/images/WhatDoYouDo/WEB%20PR%20Rob%20English%20in%20Italy4.jpg

Did you notice that there was not one photo of a person actually riding the razor...I mean...ABike in the whole website?

good point. i saw a guy on similar thing once... the word jackass comes all to quick to mind.

good point. i saw a guy on similar thing once... the word jackass comes all to quick to mind.

Quite literally too, as that thing is naught but an ass jack....

serious - unless you ride totally smooth surfaces that thing is gonna bite you hard

do those wheels even have enough angular momentum to prevent you from falling over?

do those wheels even have enough angular momentum to prevent you from falling over?

The wheels appear to have double sealed bearings. If so, then yes.

Scientifically, the Flintstone shuffle helps matters significantly.

ha haha!

after posting this, i read a review (that was linked on their site nonetheless!) about how sh!tty the thing was on news.bbc.co.uk...

clive sinclair stays ****ing up

too small wheels.

A strida has a somewhat similar shape and looks like it might just work. I hate all the other folders.

whatever. I'd ride the ***** outta that thing.

whatever. I'd ride the ***** outta that thing.

For $400, you had better ride it to the toilet, and trackstand whilst taking one too.

whatever. I'd ride the ***** outta that thing.
You would if you could. I don't think it's really ridable. Too small wheels is not an aesthetic issue... if you hit a midsized pothole, you go ass over teakettle. Any minor road imperfection will smack you twice as hard. It just doesn't roll over stuff like a 700c does but hits it head-on.
Also, did anyone check where the cranks are? Almost over the rear wheel, waaaay too far back in relation to the centre of the bike. Probably you sit way too far back on the bike, which is dreadful for handling and stability, and the cranks are still too far back under your ass.
Not too fond of the idea of a two-chain double gear system, either.
Aslo, the pedals barely clear the ground... you think cornering or riding beside a bump in the road/curb or indeed hopping a curb would be fun?

Strida with belt drive is where it's at.

My dad picked up a strida2 on ebay & those things are way fun. This a-bike doesn't seem very functional.

Get a raleigh twenty and be done with it.

I test rode this "ABike" contraption, and it's actually rideable. Not for any real distance, but maybe a few blocks, on a sidewalk. It might be good if you have to walk a couple blocks to a train, and then a couple blocks after the train, on the other end of your commute.

At $400, it's overpriced by about $300. (When I say "overpriced", I'm talking in terms of what the market for a micro-folding bike can bear, not about build quality/materials/design; all of those factors seemed fine. At $400, I'd expect a properly-performing machine, no gimmicks....)

Oh, and if you pull up on the bars of the Abike even slightly, you'll flip/wheelie backwards and fall instantly, as about 90% of your weight is on the back wheel, even though it does not feel like it at first.

Part of the reason it's so expensive is that is has a kind of "double gearing". Essentially, there's a chainring driving a chain, which goes to a "mid-gear" and then the force is multiplied again through another length of chain, which leads back to the rear wheel. They don't show it well on the site, but there's a lot of pretty technical stuff going on inside that housing that leads from the crank to the rear wheel. Lots of little sprockets and chains, gears meshing directly with adjacent gears to "step-up" the gear ratio....etc....

Also, I own a Strida (www.strida.com) which I also consider to be a gimmick-on-wheels. They are super-flexy, uncomfortable and they don't really even fold up that small. Stridas look pretty cool, but they seem like they were designed by a smart designer that never actually rides a bike. It's kind of cool to have one, it's usually in the trunk of my car, but rarely actually gets used for anything practical.

do those wheels even have enough angular momentum to prevent you from falling over?

men much smarter than myself argue that rotational inertia actually plays a very small role in keeping a bicycle upright

check it (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/gyro.html)

(not meant to correct you or be argumentative, i just like to geek out on this stuff)

I test rode this "ABike" contraption, and it's actually rideable. Not for any real distance, but maybe a few blocks, on a sidewalk. It might be good if you have to walk a couple blocks to a train, and then a couple blocks after the train, on the other end of your commute.
... which begs the question, for those distances, why not just walk? I mean, really.

I think anything under 16" wheels and you are going to suffer.

Also, I own a Strida (www.strida.com) which I also consider to be a gimmick-on-wheels. They are super-flexy, uncomfortable and they don't really even fold up that small.

There goes that idea... Thx for the info

Yeah, as for gyroscopic force, it's negligible on a good pair of bike wheels anyway.. try spinning your wheels quickly while you're off the bike then trying to tip it over: quite easy. It's the fact that the front wheel encounters the least resistance when inline with the rear (ergo straight), so it won't want to turn much.. it takes force to.