Folding Bikes - Mobiky Genius

Hi all,

Its been along time i want to get myself an ultra small wheel folding bike that is easy to fold and looks innovative. I have scale down my choices to Strida and Mobiky, and eventually selecting the Mobiky because i just love the way it folds and looks.

I have always been admired by the design and engineering work put into this bike, and looking at his bike certainly gave me that feeling i am owning a piece of hi tech equipment. Since i want to add in abit of speciality to distingiush this is my unique bike, so i started to search some possible upgrade items aroun the globe for a slight modification.

The bike itself...from my point of view is fairly ridgid. I read some of the old posting here saying its floppy, but i dont find such case on my bike perhaps its still new. The speed is not too slow with the internal 3 speed Shimano Nexus hub,the bike can be easily cruising at approx 20-25km/h with not much effort. I in particular love the fat tire which provide a the fucntion of suspension, and the brake disc itself can stop the bike in quite a short distance. The folding mechnism is very smart, i can fold the bike into the stand up position in 3 sec and start pushing it around like a trolley. The bike is heavy as everyone can expect, and i am quite certain that the design of the bike is heading for the solution of "FOLD + PUSH" rather than "FOLD + CARRY". I have tried Dahon and KHS as a fold bike, but this gave me the highest pleasure when riding it, i love it!

So here is the finished porduct, perhaps this can be a good chance for people who are interest to get one and have a more detail look .....

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/CSC_1163.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/CSC_1164.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1121.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1123.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1124.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1128.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1129.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1130.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1131.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1135.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1135.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1136.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1140.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/DSC_1146.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j265/jpmontoya2/Bike/P1010493.jpg

Nice pictures! Can you describe how much of what we see is your modifications and what was original? Are your pedals and cranks original?

My Mobiky came with a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub, which I like, and I believe they are all sold that way here in the USA, but I know the equipment is different in other parts of the world.

I too changed to a Brooks leather saddle. I used the shorter B17S model to better fit behind the carry handle when the bike is folded.

Did you rebuild the front wheel yourself on the Hope hub? I built my own front wheel with a Schmidt SON20S generator hub to power front and rear lights.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/2592026951_82c0fe6840_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/464962576_bbe8c7fcde.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/467519167_193ae510db.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/456379670_80db668016.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/200/464962572_5989960d9d.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/cyqlist/tl.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2483058694_975bbba296.jpg

HI There,

WHen i first purchase this bike and search for Brooks + Mobiky, your bike's pictures quickly came out from the search, and i was amazed how much work you have put into in modifying the Mobiky, i really like the overall look of your bike, a cross over between modern technology and old school classic parts!

As for my bike....Yes, i did rebuild the front wheel. I also read your flickR description, i absolutely agreed with you that the factory Joytech hub is one of the MUST GO item, its one of the worse component on the whole bike. The Shimano Nexus 3 speed system & the crank was the factory system for 2009 models.

Basically any part that i can think of a possible modification, i will go for it. Below list are some of the items that i modified:

1) Foldable MKS FD-6 Pedal
2) HOPE Pro II front 28H disc hub
3) Shimano R770 flat bar brake lever
4) Brooks B17 saddle + Saddle bag
5) Jagwire kevlar cable all round
6) Egron GP1 handle bar grip
7) Crank Brother front wheel skewer

ANd i jsut ordered 2 Brooks mud flap to be placed at the end of each fender, i really like the way u modify your own mud flap!:lol:

Thanks for the added details.

If you are going to add a mud flap to the rear fender I would strongly recommend reinforcing the fender attachment somehow. This is how I did it, and I am not too pleased with the way it looks but I think it is effective. Maybe you could come up with something that would look neater.

http://www.geocities.com/cyqlist/fbracket.jpg

The Mobiky's rear fender is a weak point. It is not long enough to work well, but if you used a much longer fender or a long mud flap it would be too close to the ground when the bike is folded. And I rate the quality of the rear fender attachment bracket even worse than the Joy Tech front hub. I have seen pictures of at least a couple of them that broke off. With the weight of a mud flap added I would expect it to break much sooner. The front fender bracket is much better because it attaches to both the front and back of the fork crown.

Nice mods - like your built-in shelves in the background too. :thumb: (fuzzy cat doesn't seem to be amused by the bike)

Nice mods - like your built-in shelves in the background too. :thumb: (fuzzy cat doesn't seem to be amused by the bike)

i like your collection of model cars in the cabinet though....

Not to thread jack the display of a beautiful bike, but...whatever happened to the Mobiky MY16?

tcs

Hello, I am also the owner of a mobiky genius. I have been using it to go to work now for a year and a couple of months. I have been riding it 8 kms per day and now that I have moved that has increased to 18 kms. In the way to work I stick it in the train and ride 5 kms. In the way back I ride all the way home 13kms right thru the middle of Madrid, Spain, using the main arterial roads. I must say I enjoy it very much. However, let me share with you some of the defects and modifications I had to make to this bike. As it has been mentioned here, the mud guards are not good enough. I realized that the first day of rain. I modified those thanks to the ideas of cyqlist. Likewise I added not a tail light but a big reflector using his idea of mounting a tail light. I did add a tail light but it was in a more conventional way, when doing that I added 1 cm of height to the folded seat tube but that to me is acceptable. Anyway the biggest issue, was the middle dual sprocket that connects the two chains, I haven't heard of anyone having problems with that in any forum, but in my bike, that part was made of aluminum and after 500kms it just had to be replaced. The problem is that being made of that material it is not strong enough, as long as the protective coating is there it is okay, the moment it gets worn out then the material can not take the pressure and the inner teeth bend out of shape. To me 500 km is just too little, so I found out some guy who owns a machine shop and asked him to make the same exact part out of steel. He did and I replaced the part. I haven't had any problems since. Anyway, in case that it might be useful to anyone (the same way that cyqlist posts were useful to me) I have posted a bunch of pictures with comments in flickr.com:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40116561@N07

enjoy!