Folding Bikes - Citizen Miami suitable for leisure riding?

Hello all, I recently purchased a Citizen 20" Miami and would like to know if this is a good (and cheap) bike for casual riding 2-3 days during the week. I have been looking at Dahon and Brompton, but their prices just didn't cut it since I am not going to use the bike for daily commute, just a few hours 2-3 times a week.

I live in NYC and mostly bike by the Hudson River, Central Park, and across the bridges. Would this bike be capable of doing these places? Thanks!:)

My Citizen Tokyo is fine for a casual ride, and I HAVE used it to commute. It's pretty slow, though - bet your Miami is faster if just because it has 20" wheels as opposed to my 16" wheels. Being cheap might be an advantage in NYC - not as attractive to thieves. While I have a lock, I don't use it much - the bike goes where I go. Hope you enjoy your Miami as much as I do my Tokyo.

I have a Citizen Tokyo. I live in NYC. I commute to work and I also ride for recreation and just for the heck of it because it's fun. I ride my bike everywhere, for everything in all sorts of weather. I've ridden it in snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, ice, high winds, you name it. The Citizen is a little tank of a bike and solid as a rock.

Your Miami is more than capable of the tasks you mentioned. It is NOT a fast bike but it is a very reliable one. It's solid and will hold up to daily abuse so it will definitely hold up to your 2-3 day a week rides. The Citizen bikes are geared very low so you shouldn't have problems on all but the most steep of hills. I ride across the East River bridges daily. I have no problem and I go across in the highest gears!

You have a month to decide to send the bike back if you don't like it so I suggest you get out there and ride, baby, ride! Ride to all the places you plan on riding and fir whatever reason, you can send it back and get your money back sans shipping, or course.

Enjoy your new Citizen. It's a great little bike for the price. :)

Thanks all, glad that other Citizen owners are complimenting this bike as well.
From the sound of it, it seems that the bike will meet my demand!
I am expected to receive my bike on Monday or Tuesday, so I'm excited!

KitN, by any chance, have you rode your bike on all three major East River bridges (Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn). If so, which one would you prefer? I know that from Brooklyn to Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge has as steadier incline, while going from Manhattan to Brooklyn, Manhattan Bridge would be the ideal choice.

And just curious, how fast can you travel on these bikes? I have actually tested a 20" Dahon and it seems pretty fast, especially on a city street, not that you can go fast anyway!

I've ridden across the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges. I prefer the Manhattan bridge and for several reason:

1. Separate bike path. The peds have their own paths on the south side. Bikes have their own segregated path on the north side. Though there are some clueless or simply hard-headed peds crossing on the north side, it's normally just a minor annoyance.

2. Less bike and pedestrian traffic in general. Compared to the nightmare that is the Brooklyn Bridge and the mess that's the Williamsburg since they closed the north path for the bikes, the Manhattan is the way to go.

3. The Manhattan is a straight shot. No crazy obstacles. No insane inclines. It's shorter than the Williamsburg (which seems to go on forever). The Brooklyn has a more abrupt climb and more curves.

4. The Manhattan drops you off right onto bike lanes on both the Bklyn and Mhhtn sides. The other bridges leave you fending for yourself in some really heavily trafficed and dangerous intersections (Delancy street!! Centre/Chambers street!!).

As far as speed is concerned, it's mostly up to you. If you're in poor shape even the fastest geared bike will go slow... So it's relative. But assuming that you're in good shape, with the 48t chainring + 14-28t cluster on 20" wheels you should get about 13-15 MPH easy. Top speed, spinning like an animal on flat land, you can probably get around 18-20, maybe more, maybe less. Mind you, this is based on my dealings with another heavy 20" bike with the same gearing specs so obviously YMMV.

When you get the bike on Monday or Tuesday, the first thing you'll want to do is tune it. If you can't do it yourself, take it to your LBS and let them do it. Pay close attention to the derailleur, brakes and bolts to make sure they are all properly adjusted. Then get on your new bike and ride it to all the places you plan on riding it to. See how you feel about it. Again, you have 30 days to return it so use those 30 days wisely. :)

Thanks KitN for the informative info. The only thing I don't like about the Brooklyn Bridge is that there are too many tourists, especially this time around when summer is approaching! I do like the view of lower Manhattan though. I also agree that the Manhattan Bridge is the easiest to cross with barely any people, with maybe a few people here and there like you mentioned. Most likely I will ride around the Hudson and Central Park. :)

Yeah, the Brooklyn bridge is a nightmare of tourists and other clueless, dangerous peds wandering aimlessly into bike lanes not even looking or caring to look. They're everywhere like dirty, filthy cockroaches, lol. So I avoid the Brooklyn bridge entirely except really late at night or really early in the morning when most of the crackhead tourists are still asleep. ;)

Out of curiosity, where do you live in in NYC?
Also, have you ever take the bike into the subway?

I live in ur internetz! And I eat all urz cheezburgerz! :lol:

Yes, just early Sunday morning, about 12:50 AM, I was forced to take my bike onto the subway. The left pedal's barrings jammed and I was unable to ride it home. I folded my bike down. The subway was seriously delayed, packed and stinky, as usual. :rolleyes:

It took me easily 4x longer to get home by subway than it does if I had just ridden my bike. :mad:

I've now only taken my bike on the subway 3 times: twice for an emergency and once because I had to go really far, really early in the morning and was half asleep. I avoid taking the subway at all costs...

I'm waiting on my replacement pedals to arrive tomorrow or Thursday. If the pedals don't come by Thursday morning I'm going to have to lug my bike through the NYC subway system, on three trains, to get to an aquaintance to give me a set of folding pedals and for him to look over my bike to make sure it's in shape for a tour coming up this Sunday. (He's also going to try to upgrade the gearing to speed my Tokyo up.)

I'm not looking forward to taking the subway again. With or without my bike it's torture for me. Ugh. :notamused:

I've taken my Tokyo on the Metro (Washington, DC's subway) with no trouble at all. Metro is much newer and therefore cleaner than NYC's subway. I go to the ends of cars, where there is often space for my bike near the door to the next car. One of the newest type cars has no seats next to the entry doors - great place for the bike. I would think that NYC's seating parallel to the track would be more conducive to large objects like a folded bike than our forward and backward facing seats - at least in non-rush periods. But gee, packed at 12:50 AM Sunday? Maybe there is no such thing as non-rush in New York.

Hi JCFlack,

/start rant

The subway in NYC is sketchy. The weekends and late nights are the WORST time to be taking the subway because there's always track work and the trains are really, REALLY thinly spaced out to the point where the platform is packed with people and you can barely fit on the train. I boarded at the front of the train. I waited nearly 40 minutes for the train!! 40 minutes just for the train to come. Ugh... It took me nearly 2 HOURS to get home on a stinky, packed train due to constant weekend "track work" and a "signal problem". I could have ridden home in 25 minutes. :rolleyes:

So, yes, NYC subways and I don't mix. There was a time when the trains were actually better. In recent years I've seen a huge decline in timeliness, constant over-crowding (even during off-peak!!) and cleanliness. The NYC subways is going to Hell in a stinky, bum-ridden, rat-infested handbasket. And they're hiking the fares for the subway in a few weeks! And what do we get for more $$$ per ride?? More hobos? More delays? More over-crowding?!? No thanks. I'll ride my bike unless there's an emergancy that forces me to hop on that express train to Hell. :rolleyes:

/end rant

Haha, that is quite true.
The MTA does not give its passengers any special offers to justify an increase.
When you took your bike entering the subway, did you just roll the bike over through the turnstiles or ask those subway agent to open the door? Even though those agents just sit on their bums all day.:rolleyes:

Haha, that is quite true.
The MTA does not give its passengers any special offers to justify an increase.
When you took your bike entering the subway, did you just roll the bike over through the turnstiles or ask those subway agent to open the door? Even though those agents just sit on their bums all day.:rolleyes:

Speaking of the MTA, Citizen Bike recently released the MTA Metrobike. Basically, it's a Gotham with rack, fenders, and covered in reflective MTA stickers. Looks pretty wild!

http://www.citizenbike.com/mta_metrobike_by_citizen_bike.asp

Edward Wong III
Qile Duo 5 Speed 20" Folder