Folding Bikes - Strida 5.0

I got a new Strida 5.0. It's a ton of fun and I will use it for my short commute. I have two issues I'd like to get some insight on.

#1. I'm an experienced cyclist, but I've never had a folding bike before. It's really flexy. Pardon my ignorance, but I'm assuming that's normal. It does make little flexing pops though.

#2 If I mash on the pedals to climb this hill on the way to work, the belt drive will skip a tooth or two. Do I need to adjust something?

I'm pondering the need to adjust my riding style when on the Strida and try to ride smoother.

Thanks very much.

I believe the flexing you're referring to is at the bottom bracket? There is indeed flex there at the welded bracket that holds the BB.

And yes, the kevlar belt will skip when you're mashing on the pedals. There is an adjustment to tighten the belt at the bottom of the eccentric BB. Be careful not to tighten it too much, though.

The Strida is a fun bike. Enjoy it!

wow, been a long time since i've been into the folders, but I returned to run some errands on my strida knock-off after exclusively riding my fixed gear track bike, and i gotta say, the strida AIN"T HALF BAD!

i did find it a little flexy tho, and i think its normal and it also absorbs a bit of road shock thru the frame. my rear tire was prob around 80psi, when usually its 110psi, so that made for some difference, other than that the drive train is super smooth. a couple things tho

1. the bottom bracket is a snail cam that can tighten the belt.. the belt tho, will skip under a significant amount of torque. I find the strida tho good for developing smooth pedal rotation, so you don't have to mash when ur cranks are just passing top-dead-center, else, it will skip
2. there is a bearing on the rear cog that should be making touch-contact on the belt. i say touch, since it shouldn't be squishing against the belt, but just smooth almost touching contact. the belt does have some high points in its thickness, so just make sure its not squishing the belt cuz at theh high point, that could worsen.

be careful not to put too much weight over the front bars. i can pedal out-of-saddle, but too much weight on the bars could cause the stem/neck to twist right off of the front tube!

2 best things for strida are 1. high tire pressure, 2. brooks champion flyer saddle.

Thanks for your replies. My Strida doesn't have an adjustable bearing behind the cog. They won't be able to touch as far as I can tell. I am experimenting with belt tension to see if that helps. Also, after a bit of experimenting, I noticed that the pops I sometimes here come from the belt as the torque increases. I'm thinking that's just what it does.

The high pressure in the tires worked very well.

Thanks again. :thumb:

did you purchase a strida 5?

there should be a rear snubber that contacts behind the rear cog against the belt.

if you are using the strida3 with plastic wheels, be careful with high tire pressures. as it can litterally blow the tire clean off the rim.

I have the Strida 5.0. There is a snubber just beneith the rear brake caliper, but it doesn't appear to be adjustable. Right now the snubber bearing sits about 1/8 of an inch off the belt. I'll have another look at it tonight.

thanks

ah, good you found the bearing.

now, all u have to do is unscrew it and rotate the bearing around so its lightly making contact with the belt, then tighten it down.

be sure not to crush the belt so that you maintain as little as friction as possible, not affecting efficiency.

it works surprisingly well that riding in the rain was a complete non-issue.

Ideally, the snubber is not supposed to make constant contact with the belt... it is there just to prevent the belt from rising up over the cog teeth... to adjust, you would rotate the belt looking for a 'high spot'(s), then adjust the snubber to barely make contact... then the majority of the time, the belt will not be touching the snubber at all.. if there is no high spot on inspection, then 1/8" clearance is okay, 1/16" would be better..