Derek22464

It's an Amiiva Quartz, which is a French folding bike that has just come onto the market.

There are no reviews so I took a bit of a punt based on the technical specs on the website: www.amiiva.com and I am very pleased with it so far.

It came with a rear propstand (good quality) and front and rear lights ( a bit cheap) as standard, and the only extra I specified was a set of mudguards.

It's not perfect - the rear shock is set up too hard and I only seem to be able to get three of the five gears - but I'm taking it to my local shop to sort it out this week.

What I can say so far is that it is surprisingly sturdy, rattle-free (though there is some slight flex on the steering column, but I think you'll always get that with a hinge, and you only notice it when climbing steep hills), fast and the fold is quick and easy.

It's also very light (about 10.5 kilos), the carbon fork is sharp and responsive, it rides well (even with a rear shock that's not set up how I would want it) and the brakes strong and reassuring.

With the right marketing and publicity, plus a few positive reviews, I think they could be on to a winner here.

Derek

Dynocoaster 

welcome and enjoy the fold.

brommie

Looks like a nice folder, welcome to the fold!
Did I get it right? You bought the bike without even seen one in real? Takes some guts, I suppose.
I did follow Amiiva for some time, but when they refuse to answer my mails I forget about them. It was my intention to visit them during my holidays and, maybe, buy a bike.
Hope you will stay happy with your bike, please tell us about the daily practice. It's interesting to see a new bike and how it stands practice.
IMO the bike is smart looking, seems like a good start for the next year.
When taking it to the local bike shop, stay with your bike when they try to fix it. Next time you will do it yourself. If the hub is alright it won't be that much work.
Why not give Amiiva an email about the rear shock? The info might be usefull for you and the local bike shop.

Many happy miles (or km's) on your Amiiva!

chagzuki

Gosh, looks very nice.
The website states 'full suspension' when in fact none of the bikes have front suspension, which is a shame as they look like they'd come up with a good design.

Chop!

Hi Derek

Welcome to the fold, Amiiva seem a really nice bunch of guys, producing good, high quality folders in France and really trying to keep the standard of their workmanship high.
The Poupard brothers, who founded the company, seem like interesting guys, even tackling the Death Valley Marathon!
Hope you get many years of service from it & that all your rides are safe & trouble free!
Keep us up to date on your progress.

Derek22464

Thanks all for your warm welcome and positive responses.

Chagzuki - you're right, they don't do full suspension but the carbon fork is so forgiving that it definitely takes the edge off bumps. Not having front suspension means one less expensive thing to maintain or go wrong anyway.

Brommie - the rear shock just needs recalibrating to my weight - 58 kilos - but I don't have a shock pump and the shop will.

Dynocoaster and Chop! - thank you, I will post further details once it comes back on Thursday.

One query to anyone: the Amiiva has rear drum brakes. I've never had a bike that uses that technology before, is it reliable and easy to maintain? How does it work?

Thanks
Derek

p.s. I tried to upload some photos I took yesterday off my computer to add to my Thread, but I think they were too big (3.6 and 4.3 megabytes respectively). I then uploaded the photos to a separate hosting site, Photobucket, which does compress the file size (I think) but they were still too big!
Any suggestions?

brommie

Drumbrakes?
I got one on my Brompton, not at the back but at the front. Great break, no maintenance. Wish I could get one on the rear wheel.
A picture tells more than thousand words, you might take a look at https://www.flickr.com/photos/plooifiets/4298714822/
or
https://www.flickr.com/photos/plooifiets/3671516172/

Photo's? As you might have noticed I use Flickr.

Derek22464

Thanks Brommie.

Just joined Flickr and here are two pics I took yesterday:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7838168...5965/lightbox/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7838168...1820/lightbox/

Thanks for the info on the drum brake.

Derek

fietsbob

Drum front brake would need an anchor spot, 6" up the fork blade ,
may not be practical on that fork, Derek.

I have 20 years of reliable braking from my SA drum hubs .

given a tendency to wear out rear rims, dragging down hill .. first seems a reasonable combination.

Derek22464

Just wanted to say that I've had the bike serviced and a few niggling faults sorted out (brake cables wrong way round, couldn't engage all five gears, rear shock too hard) and the bike's a winner.

Used it for the first time last week in its intended purpose i.e. cycled into town, folded it up, took it into a shop to pick up something, unfolded it and cycled home.

If I'd walked, that entire sequence of events would've taken about 90 minutes. Cycling - 40 minutes, including a 10 minute wait in the shop.

Brilliant!

The bike is fast, comfortable and handles well, and it fits perfectly into my new Dahon El Bolso carry bag.

I am very happy.

Derek

chucky

One of the untold secrets of drum brakes is that you can hose clamp the reaction arm to the fork. A regular carbon road fork saves lots of money and weight compared to a disc brake compatible fork:

kamtsa

Nice looking bike!

1. Is it the only folder in the market that has major carbon components? (TSR has carbon stem spacers but this does not count).

2. Are they made is France?

Russcoles11

You can also buy clips to attach the arm to the forks, but I guess if a hose clip works....