TBAKEL
07-04-08, 11:25 PM
At the end of each calendar year I average my per week mileage based on log entries. A few years ago my weekly average was 143 miles and change per week. Now that is way down from when I was in my 40’s because then I was velodrome racing, had a coach, a great wife (still have her) and no kids (still don’t have this overhead). Then for the last 3 years my weekly average was less than 10 miles. What happened, working overseas is what happened.
Now I work in the off the wall places building and starting up new manufacturing facilities and I got tired of trying to transport and maintain a full sized 700c fixed gear in areas where only a few roads are paved and bicycle shops were none. So I stopped transporting a bike with me and I really started to miss riding and when I finally could ride I was too out of shape to enjoy it. I needed a bike that I could ride 24/7/365 in any country.
What I wanted was a folding bike that could be flown to and from Asia, would fit in a small car (think Smart Car with two people) or in the overhead luggage rack on a train and could be ridden on both dirt and paved roads during cycling ventures up to 50 miles in a day and required no maintenance other than tightening a few fasteners now and again.
I wish I had kept a list of all the folding bikes I have ridden and the reasons why they did not fit my needs as delineated above and the Strida-5 did, but unfortunately I did not keep a list.
Fortunately I was totally uneducated in the folding bike market and fortunately I was in countries (China and Taiwan) that have thousands of folding bike riders and bike shops specializing in folding bikes and that were willing to let me rent a folding bike by the week. So without unqualified opinions from the internet or any previous bias I set out to find the folding bicycle I could live with 24/7/365.
I would take the train in to Taipei or Shanghai (depending on which country I was working in) rent the bike and bring it back on the train to live with it for a week. The train portion immediately eliminated many of the folding bikes because they had to be placed in baggage cars and could not be carried directly on to the train. Also the term folding seemed to be loosely defined for most of these bikes. Living with the bike eliminated most of all the other choices because I did not have the tools to maintain them, in fact I had no tools (other than a small hand held tire pump). The major hassle I had was with derailleurs getting bent during the train portion of the test.
Now two folders stood out. A Chinese knock off of the Pacific Carry Me and the Strida-5. The Chinese CM left the shop with me smiling, I had 7 kilometers to the train, it was raining heavily and both the shop owner and I knew the bike would suck, but what the heck, it would be fun. It sucked beyond all belief, Carry Me means just that, if you want to get there, especially in the rain (the donut sized tires slide very easily) and you have more than ten city blocks, it is faster to carry it. No way was I capable of riding the CM knockoff 50 miles on good paved roads let alone dirt.
Now for someone living in lets say Harrisburg Pa. and working in New York City with a 1 mile or less ride from your home to the train and from the train to work, the CM cannot be beat, not even by the Strida-5, but unless you are really into pain, the CM is not a 24/7/365 my only bike type of machine, this machine is highly specialized and can fold to a very small size and yet carry your computer bag while being ridden and can transition very quickly from riding to bus to riding to train to riding. I needed a bike that on weekends I could take all day rides on, the CM was not it.
The Strida-5 won out hands down from all the rest. The shop keeper helped me adjust the seat height, showed me the allen tool stored under the seat and sent me on my way. China Rail let me take it on board the train with me and it fit in the overhead luggage rack. At work it fit under my desk. The next weekend I took the Strida-5 from ChangZhou to Nanjing by train and then rode approximately 64 miles in Nanjing over Saturday and Sunday. I really liked the bike. I rented the bike for my remaining weeks and never did any maintenance even after riding it in the rain. The fenders and mud flaps (mud flaps on both front and rear fenders) kept the bike clean so all I did was wipe it dry. With the belt there was no chain grease on me or on the hotel room furniture or fixtures.
On one weekend ride I was caught in a rain storm (Chinese weather forecasting is still not the best) and winds were gusting past 30 miles per hour. I had two hours to get to the train station and I honestly could not ride the bike in the high winds and down pour. What to do? Call a taxi, fold the bike, put it in the trunk go to the train station. That one event sold me on the versatility of folding bikes and I want to make a folding bike my only bike.
Now that I own a Strida-5 the real test begins. I plan on riding only the Strida-5 for the rest of 2008 and will report on what the bike is like to live with as my only bike 24/7/365.
Now I work in the off the wall places building and starting up new manufacturing facilities and I got tired of trying to transport and maintain a full sized 700c fixed gear in areas where only a few roads are paved and bicycle shops were none. So I stopped transporting a bike with me and I really started to miss riding and when I finally could ride I was too out of shape to enjoy it. I needed a bike that I could ride 24/7/365 in any country.
What I wanted was a folding bike that could be flown to and from Asia, would fit in a small car (think Smart Car with two people) or in the overhead luggage rack on a train and could be ridden on both dirt and paved roads during cycling ventures up to 50 miles in a day and required no maintenance other than tightening a few fasteners now and again.
I wish I had kept a list of all the folding bikes I have ridden and the reasons why they did not fit my needs as delineated above and the Strida-5 did, but unfortunately I did not keep a list.
Fortunately I was totally uneducated in the folding bike market and fortunately I was in countries (China and Taiwan) that have thousands of folding bike riders and bike shops specializing in folding bikes and that were willing to let me rent a folding bike by the week. So without unqualified opinions from the internet or any previous bias I set out to find the folding bicycle I could live with 24/7/365.
I would take the train in to Taipei or Shanghai (depending on which country I was working in) rent the bike and bring it back on the train to live with it for a week. The train portion immediately eliminated many of the folding bikes because they had to be placed in baggage cars and could not be carried directly on to the train. Also the term folding seemed to be loosely defined for most of these bikes. Living with the bike eliminated most of all the other choices because I did not have the tools to maintain them, in fact I had no tools (other than a small hand held tire pump). The major hassle I had was with derailleurs getting bent during the train portion of the test.
Now two folders stood out. A Chinese knock off of the Pacific Carry Me and the Strida-5. The Chinese CM left the shop with me smiling, I had 7 kilometers to the train, it was raining heavily and both the shop owner and I knew the bike would suck, but what the heck, it would be fun. It sucked beyond all belief, Carry Me means just that, if you want to get there, especially in the rain (the donut sized tires slide very easily) and you have more than ten city blocks, it is faster to carry it. No way was I capable of riding the CM knockoff 50 miles on good paved roads let alone dirt.
Now for someone living in lets say Harrisburg Pa. and working in New York City with a 1 mile or less ride from your home to the train and from the train to work, the CM cannot be beat, not even by the Strida-5, but unless you are really into pain, the CM is not a 24/7/365 my only bike type of machine, this machine is highly specialized and can fold to a very small size and yet carry your computer bag while being ridden and can transition very quickly from riding to bus to riding to train to riding. I needed a bike that on weekends I could take all day rides on, the CM was not it.
The Strida-5 won out hands down from all the rest. The shop keeper helped me adjust the seat height, showed me the allen tool stored under the seat and sent me on my way. China Rail let me take it on board the train with me and it fit in the overhead luggage rack. At work it fit under my desk. The next weekend I took the Strida-5 from ChangZhou to Nanjing by train and then rode approximately 64 miles in Nanjing over Saturday and Sunday. I really liked the bike. I rented the bike for my remaining weeks and never did any maintenance even after riding it in the rain. The fenders and mud flaps (mud flaps on both front and rear fenders) kept the bike clean so all I did was wipe it dry. With the belt there was no chain grease on me or on the hotel room furniture or fixtures.
On one weekend ride I was caught in a rain storm (Chinese weather forecasting is still not the best) and winds were gusting past 30 miles per hour. I had two hours to get to the train station and I honestly could not ride the bike in the high winds and down pour. What to do? Call a taxi, fold the bike, put it in the trunk go to the train station. That one event sold me on the versatility of folding bikes and I want to make a folding bike my only bike.
Now that I own a Strida-5 the real test begins. I plan on riding only the Strida-5 for the rest of 2008 and will report on what the bike is like to live with as my only bike 24/7/365.