chrisgrrr

This just out, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNKKbjtC_7Y

SesameCrunch

Cute. Only 9,999,9999,900 more clones to crush....

I can't help but think that Ming messed up their own chances to totally dominate the market for convenient personal transportation. The Strida was soooo ripe for that. But it was overpriced significantly, positioned as some high-end, niche object and sold through art dealers and museum shops (in the US). No wonder the clones came in.

Lost opportunity for Ming and for society as well...

Carlos71

Mark Sanders said that Ming sells like 20,000 units/year and the chinese copies like 50,000.

EvilV

And some of us here have them - and like them - and didn't get ripped off.

Mine cost £110. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.


Now you know why I go by the name EvilV. That laugh was nasty - believe me.

chrisgrrr

Some of the comments on that video, were that toxic fumes and smells were detected during the destruction, from the bad paint work and poorer quality parts. Quite a PR campaign. I'm neutral though, until they start crushing fake Bromptons.

kamtsa

I wonder what is the legal justification for crashing these bikes?

Patent violation? Trademark infringement?

Kam

SesameCrunch

Bad paint and poor quality causing toxic fumes? I guess the reporters were not exactly neutral and objective. The smell was probably from the rubber tires..

LittlePixel

A terrible waste - even if they're fakes. Hate to see new spangly things destroyed - even crap things perhaps have some use somewhere?

chainstrainer

Well then a few dozen won't be missed from the vastness of the shoal. It was just a publicity stunt. Every once in a while Rolex will steamroll a pile of fake Rolexes but I don't hear cries over the waste.

I'm dismayed that Strida is not seriously marketed (in the U.S. at least) as a low-cost, efficient mode of transport but is instead sold as a boutique store bauble. That is so contrary to Mark Sanders stated intent to appeal to "blue ocean" users. Strida, the Bike, is a good example of Sanders' "human amplifier" analogy but Strida, the Plan, does nothing to promote that noble idea.

Amuro Lee

Here is the comment from Mark Sanders:

TBAKEL

My experiance with a bike shop in my area that sells Strida's is that they dont know the machine. They just want the sale, they want you out of the shop as soon as possible, and then when I brought the bike back for the "Free Tune-up" they complained that I had stripped the bolt on the seat mount, which of course I never touched.

Now Areaware has been a great supplier and a great supporter of my needs. With in one day they respond to my emails and have supplied me with many upgrades for the bike. I think the normal run of the mill bike shop in America has no clue about folders or the people who ride them a good portion of the year. Areaware is more connected to the cyclist riding their product.

TBAKEL

Amuro Lee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming

https://www.google.com/dictionary?lan...&hl=en-EN&aq=f

However, it's strange that the Chinese name of Ming Cycle is not "明" but "永祺" (Yong Qi).
"永" means "forever" or "always" and "祺" has several meanings:
https://www.google.com/dictionary?lan...%BA&hl=en&aq=f

EvilV

I was angry at the waste.

Of course the bicycle is made in a country far from England with a different language.

I was venting my negative emotion at such a crass publicity stunt.

kamtsa

Does Mark Sanders imply that they crash these bikes for our wellness and not for financial gains?

Kam

kamtsa

Kudos for saving a poor bike from total destruction.

Kam

geo8rge

Kind of amazing that bicycle news made it on TV there. Even with the publicity stunt. I think it would have been better if the Ming Tiger Force Kung Fu squad assaulted the secret knockoff bicycle factory fortress. Chinese are no fun any more.

Many stridas on Alibaba:
https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/fold...---------.html

chainstrainer

I'm sure there is no love lost between a Taiwanese company and their Chinese bloodsucking counterfeiters. That kind of animosity would play well on TV. It does almost anywhere.

EvilV

Of course it isn't 'bloodsucking to price three allu pipes, two wheels and a plastic seat at £500 plus. No of course not. How foolish of me. I should have realised that Ming have a strategy designed to increase cycling for the world's masses, save petro fuels for needed applications, and to promote health and fitness worldwide. They're such good people really.

Solsticejk

I'll preface this by noting that I ride a real Strida 5.0, paid in full, almost every day. Do I believe in the illegal copy and potentially inferior manufacture of a similar product? Fundamentally no. However, I am a realist. Such products exist simply because there is a market for them. Ming is trying to make a point, but rather than tacitly acknowledging the existence of fakes, and then proving that they have a superior product, letting the market bare what it will, Ming has decided to go "Big Brother." In my opinion, this will only backfire on them, with them seeming like corporate, monopolizing bullies who drive others out of the market with brute force. For me, knowing the bike I am relying on daily is made to the original tried and tested design specs and tolerances, and supports the original intellectual property agreements, with universal part compatibility, is enough to deal with the price discrepancy between the Strida and its imitators. Knowing full well the existing options, I have made a choice. As far as the fakes are concerned, publically destroying finished copies, who’s production has put “x” amount of pollution into the world, and perform to a degree as they could be a commodity in the first place, don't deserve to be wasted for the sake of a PR stunt. In my opinion, it won't solve anything other than to galvanize the opposition.

Amuro Lee

As a native Chinese user, I think I have to say something. The subject of the youtube channel in English is quite misleading.

The video clip is a news report from TVBS channel in Taiwan.

The story is:-

There was a TV home shopping channel in Taiwan selling fake Stridas openly in their programme. Then, Ming complained to the authorities about this.

The fake Stridas were actually impounded and destoryed by Taiwan Customs, not by Ming Cycle, I think. (Although I'm a Chinese user, we speak Cantonese in Hong Kong and people in Taiwan speak Mandarin and Minnan. However, we can still understand each other in written language.)

Dahon.Steve

What a huge waste! They could have given these bikes to homeless or some third world country that would never buy a Strida or even a fake. Incredible.

The price of the Strida has just gotton crazy. Three years ago, you could buy one for $295.00 which was reasonable and now the price has doubled. The next version of this bike will be over $1,000.00 making it just as expensive as the Brompton or Birdy and it's still only one speed. It's just over priced.

Solsticejk

Well, if this is the case, it does put a different light on it.. still think it was wrong to destroy them, but it makes more sense if customs did it and not Ming cycle.

EvilV

I'm not a great devotee of the ' Great Carbon Panic', but it is a fact that the production of even a simple bicycle design like the Strida or the imitators, creates a large amount of emissions and use of resources. The deliberate destruction of newly manufactured and serviceable machines is an absolute disgrace, when they could have been donated allowing their use well outside Ming's market.

Amuro Lee

I've just realised that the fake Stridas were impounded by Taiwan customs but destoryed by Ming at their factory.

https://strida.com/en/news/?method=detail&aid=69

https://translate.google.com/translat...sl=zh-CN&tl=en

https://translate.google.com/translat...sl=zh-CN&tl=en

https://translate.google.com/translat...sl=zh-CN&tl=en

https://translate.google.com/translat...sl=zh-CN&tl=en

Click on the image to read the pdf file

SesameCrunch

Ming Cycles would be much better served if they distributed and priced their Stridas more realistically instead of relying on these PR gimmicks. They must have a neanderthal who runs their marketing.