Amuro Lee

Yes, this is true on the genuine Strida, too.
The brakes are not reversed actualy. Since the origin of Strida is in the UK, the brake setting is supposed to be used for left-hand traffic.
Hong Kong is also a place with left-hand traffic so I don't need to reverse the brake cables of my Strida.
In left-hand traffic, the slowing down signal is given by the right arm of the rider when he/she is riding on the left-hand side of the road. While he/she is giving out the signal by his/her right arm, he/she has to use his/her left hand to contral the rear brake of the bicycle, too.
https://www.td.gov.hk/road_safety/cyc...nals/index.htm

However, in the case of a motorcycle, the right hand brake lever operates the front brake wherever in countries with left-hand traffic or right-hand traffic.

It is because the throttle of a motorcycle is operated by the right handgrip so the clutch has to be operated by the left hand lever on a machine with manual transmission. However, scooters with CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) in all countries also follow this way by using the right hand brake lever to operate the front brake and the left hand brake lever to operate the rear brake.

trueno92

yup, those 3 points make or break the bike.

I am trying to sort out whether the problems I have are really a problem of the cheap quality components or whether these are really design/engineering problems. -- or just user error on my part.
I think its fair to say that the plastic used as a head pivot point isn't the best way to go. why not have chosen extruded aluminum or a spherical bearing joint? my joint broke, but only after i had twisted the front half of the bike over. a piece of it came off and will not be reattached, however, I used sumo glue to some success in sealing over the pivots weaker flanges and its been working so far. just pack a bit of grease or vasaline behind the pivot to lube the joint, and the bike will be fine.

from what i remember of my bike, there are 3 holes and 2 pins.. moving the pins around take the weight of the saddle mount, and they are threaded into the aluminum. i totally agree that loose threads into aluminum isn't the best idea. the metal is too soft. but i believe you should have 2 pins. the more pins holding the mount, the better, but at least 2 one at the top and one at bottom help prevent any twisting around the rear tube.

i am still riding my bike quite regularly.. prob weekly in this crappy weather.. and at a 170lbs it still rides well.. only the rear brake is still stock, and it leans out of alignment regularly, just to be adjusted with the twist screws, but its an annoyance... but the bike runs smoooooth, and its freewheel is still pretty good.. the wheels on my set are as decent as the real deal. same spoke count, and same aluminum rims. as long as the wheels are true, and the spokes are tensioned properly, the tiny wheels should hold up quite strongly to the streets.

EvilV

The rear brake on mine needs occasional adjustment too, but it's no big deal to lightly tighten the loose adjustment screws and then back them off one and a half turns. It only takes a few seconds to do that and braking is fine.

My rear wheel is going to need more attention after my spoke replacement. I think I may have it slightly out of round as I can hear a rythmic throbbing as my speed gets up say on a smooth downhill. It can only be a flat spot that I've pulled into the wheel - a wheel builder I am not. Ringo on the Strida forum broke one spoke on his which is the same make as mine and then decided to buy a new strida wheel. This cost him very little - about £40 delivered. Job done. Being tenaciously stupid, I'm going to persevere with my attempts to set up the original wheel with six new spokes. The spokes are in - I just need to work out how much to tighten each of them to make the wheel run smooth and strong.

EvilV

Interesting - I had no idea that was the reason why the brakes were arranged as they are. Fascinating. I remember as a youngster back in the 1960s when my younger brother bought a brand new Raleigh racing style bike. He was so proud of it and it had pretty powerful centre pull brakes on the drop handlebars. I had a horrible ancient wreck of a bike at the time and the brakes were reversed from the correct arrangement. Pete - my brother succumbed to my pleading for a ride on it. He had only had it a quarter of an hour since the man delivered it and he let me have a go. I hammered off down the road and then at the corner grabbed the brakes hard and squeezed as I was used to doing on my old wreck. What a surprise - it was the front brake I grabbed and the properly set up and powerful centre pull brake stopped the bike so fast, that it disapeared through my legs and as I hit the ground on my front - laid out full length in the road, I saw the bike bouncing along in a cartwheeling fashion, and bouncing hard on its brand new rear wheel. It was buckled badly within minutes of being delivered - I still don't think he has forgiven me and still mentions how it broke his heart when we meet up.

regfman

Can someone explain the purpose of the three washers and the threaded sleeve that go on the bolt that holds the magnet to the rear hub? Also what is the purpose of the little black set screw that threads into the magnet? I don't see that changing the set screw position changes anything.

BruceMetras

my guess is that setting the set screw flush would give you the most positive magnetic closure as the plates would then be firmly together.. backing the set screw out would move the magnetic plates away from each other and give you less magnetic contact... the other items in the picture are probably there to ensure you don't bind up the wheel bearing by over-tightening.. but that's just another guess..

regfman

Yes. Now that I just checked and figured out that the parts that I have shown are not magnetic, and that the magnet is obviously on the other wheel, I can understand the purpose of the little set screw. Yes, setting its height from flush determines how much contact the two plates have. (SesameCrunch mentioned something about that when he gave me some tips about the bike). Plus I looked more carefully at the sleeve around the bolt. It is not threaded.

Amuro Lee

Fake Stridas impounded and destroyed on TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNKKbjtC_7Y