Folding Bikes - Any experience with those Puma/Biomega bikes?

I see these occasionally pop up on ebay or the local Craigslists.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/bik/294966644.html

The downtube on them seems to have been replaced with a tensioned cable, which doubles as a locking device. If the cable is cut, the bike's "back" is broken.... the idea is that to minimize the theft desirability.

Anyone ridden on these? Know someone who has? Any issues with quality/sturdiness?

They crop up in here every few months. Basically, they're heavy, very little advantage to the fold.

The owner must have a reason to ditch it after 3 rides, that can't be a good sign....

I happen to know the designers of those bikes are a big R20 fans.
Shame they didn't just get licensing from Raleigh and make a neue '06 Twenty in xtra lite Pumatanium :)

I have put together an article on this bike on www.bikesthatfold.com

The main advantage or innovation is the locking devise which is build as part of the frame

They have changed their bikes in 2007 in 2 ways:

#1 All models will be 8sp.
#2 Price will jump to $1445 from the current $750.

I thought they were joking with this information at the Taipei show.....it was no joke.

Yan

Yikes; even at $700 they seemed to be a stretch.

I've seen a bunch of them recently on Craigslist in different cities, all priced at or near $700. I wonder if they're dumping the previous models before teh 2007 ones come out, or if the first batch of owners are just coming up on the "several months later, I'm not as happy as I thought I'd be" date from when they purchased the things.