ttakata73

I ran across this but can't find any better pictures of the questionable strength of the removeable neck stem.

https://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/4...-Bicycle-.html

It's not a good folding design, but if it's really only 7 kilos it has great potential as a weight weenie suitcase travel bike. With the cheap components on it, I bet you could easily drop a kilo by ditching the rack and swapping the seat and seatpost. Drop 2 kilos if you swap everything out and have the money to dump into it. Now a 5 kilo bike is very enticing.

I'm poor, so who wants to be the guinea pig and buy this?

Taipei Tony

I saw this thing at the Taipei Cycle Show. But the one I saw was the electric version. It was just sitting there at some distributors booth. I was very interested so I asked the guy about it but he didn't know ****. He just said some Hong Kong distributor asked them to place it there so they did. Idiots, put the bike there and know nothing about it, real smart.

It felt super-light when I picked it up. It's listed at 9kg which would be damn impressive for just a folding bike but it's 9kg for an electric bike, very very impressive. I remember thinking, wow if it's already this light as an E-bike then it would be pretty sick as a regular folding bike. I guess they finally realized the potential.

Here's the company's site, https://www.noah.hk. Interestingly the site only shows E-bikes, no sign of the non-E-version.

I would actually be very interested in getting my hands on one of these as the price seems quite reasonable. And being in Taiwan, I'm rather close to China, distance wise. The only problem is I don't know how these sites work. And I certainly don't want to get ripped off, it is China after all lol. I'm willing to be a guinea pig if someone can guide me through the purchasing process.

ttakata73

I ordered a $50 digital picture frame from Aliexpress in the past with success.
I assume Aliexpress is the enduser version of Alibaba, the distributor site that has been around for a long time.

It's kinda like Ebay but with credit cards.
You order and Aliexpress holds the money until you give positive feedback on the purchase.
So the seller gets no money until you are happy supposedly.
Well that's what I did at least.

They have a page explaining the buyer protection.
It seems legit so long as the seller has a few positive feedback ratings.
It might be legit even if they don't have reviews, but for this kind of money.....
Double your order with a credit card you trust will back you, and I say go for it.

owenfinn

I saw one of these on the street. Looks like a nice bike.

chagzuki

Interesting. A 9kg electric bike sounds amazing, I wish there was more info on the website.

fwd-bwd

Hmm, is Pacific Cycles aware of another company calling their folding bike "iF?" The MSRP is RMB 1990 (USD 312).

https://www.noah.hk/product_list_if10.php

Taipei Tony

Whoa, it's interesting that this bike is shown on the Chinese version of the site but it's not shown on the English version. And the price listed is 1990cny or only ~$312. Which is less than half the price of that Aliexpress link in the first post. $300 seems like an awfully low price for a bike like this... What the hell is going on here lol?

Also here is their Taobao website(linked from their main site): noahhk.taobao.com

Taipei Tony

Nice to see that these things are actually hitting the streets, gives it a bit of credibility. I'm actually ready and willing to buy one asap. I just need to sort out what the hell's going on and how do I go about purchasing one.

ttakata73

It makes sense that its really $312 because it has such cheap components.
The fork has stamped steel dropouts and bolt on solid axles.
It looks like a standard size headset, I'm hoping it wouldn't be too hard to swap the fork and stem to something lighter.

Great find on the Taobao.
If you end up getting one, you gotta strip it down and tell us how heavy that frame is.

ttakata73

I was really loving this bike but found this website.

d.hatena.ne.jp/sinni222/touch/20111103/1320332869

I can't read Japanese so I can't figure out if the owner was stunting or just riding normally. I wonder if the stem is magnesium to hit the claimed 7 kg but even if it was AL it would prob break, it's just too thin and a poor design.

Warning, the last 2 pics should be a reminder why some light parts on any bike should be questioned.

At the same time this frame looks robust and if you clamped a Dahon stem on it, it might be worth owning.

bhkyte

reminds me of a brikerton frame, nothing is really new i guess.