Folding Bikes - The combination of Mezzo, Birdy and Brompton?

http://www.oribikes.com

I think these were showcased last year in one of the far east cycle shows. Its a Mezzo with a hydroformed frame. You can see on the site they are still selling the original Mezzo as the C8, with the M8 and M9 having the snazzier new frame style. I'd guess they'll make their way cross to the UK in a year or two through ATB (the UK Mezzo agents).

I figured why not... I went ahead and e-mailed them to see when they would be available in the US.

--sam

And the inevitable reply...

Dear Sirs,

So far we don't have any distributor in US,and I am sorry for that.
However, if you can introduce some good folding bike distributor to us, and
we could try to contact with them soon. Thanks

ORi bikes.
www.oribikes.com

So, if anyone knows of a possible distributor... they need one. :D

--sam

Visiting Leuven, Belgium for a few weeks and stopped in at the LBS (or whatever the Dutch acronym might be...) for some lights to ride my rented trashy bike at night. For fun, I asked if they had any folding bikes in stock... The clerk gently pointed to my right. They had an Ori M9 on the floor - I completely missed it as it was folded up and quite tiny. I didn't get to give it a test ride, as he had just gotten it in and it wasn't road-ready (brakes tight, etc) but I did push it around a bit after it was unfolded. Very sturdy feeling, quite light. The frame has a satiny patina, and a distinctly dull hollow sound when tapping it - almost looks like carbon composite at first glance.

I ride a Downtube FSIX (didn't bring it on this trip) which is a virtual elephant compared to the Ori. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy with the DT at < $300 - the Ori M9 is 995 euro, with a 5% 'intro' discount offered in the shop.

If anyone is interested I might be able to get back to the shop and take a few pictures but the website is pretty informative.

Visiting Leuven, Belgium for a few weeks and stopped in at the LBS (or whatever the Dutch acronym might be...) for some lights to ride my rented trashy bike at night. For fun, I asked if they had any folding bikes in stock... The clerk gently pointed to my right. They had an Ori M9 on the floor - I completely missed it as it was folded up and quite tiny. I didn't get to give it a test ride, as he had just gotten it in and it wasn't road-ready (brakes tight, etc) but I did push it around a bit after it was unfolded. Very sturdy feeling, quite light. The frame has a satiny patina, and a distinctly dull hollow sound when tapping it - almost looks like carbon composite at first glance.

I ride a Downtube FSIX (didn't bring it on this trip) which is a virtual elephant compared to the Ori. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy with the DT at < $300 - the Ori M9 is 995 euro, with a 5% 'intro' discount offered in the shop.

If anyone is interested I might be able to get back to the shop and take a few pictures but the website is pretty informative.

oooh - contact details for the shop, please. At 995 euros, quite fancy at least thinking about buying one!

oooh - contact details for the shop, please. At 995 euros, quite fancy at least thinking about buying one!

Sure thing:

Niclaes Geert
Naamsesteenweg 76
Leuven-Heverlee 3001
+32 016 22 85 36

their website (in Dutch) is http://www.fietsengeert.be/