tdong

After joining this forum and heard about birdy bike i want to try it out. Did try a brompton before but it wasn't for me. So far a little too comfortable for me. The seat is too soft and the handlebar feel like a lady bike hehehe. Will change those two out and new tires. Other than that the seller just tune up the bike since he has it in storage for too long. The gear shift is smooth.

Will compare this to my Dahon Mu Sl

Oh bought it for $345 Canadian good deal ?
Birdy Folding Bike - High Quality, Great Price | road | City of Toronto | Kijiji

mconlonx

Good deal -- I paid US$600 for the same model (same color!) last year, would have been first in line for a $345 Birdy.

A straighter, narrower, flat bar and lowering the height with the height adjustable steerer column should give you better ergos. Swap out the saddle and you're there.

I also added a 3x7 Sachs (now SRAM) dual drive system for more range. Not easy...

Congrats on the new Birdy! Mine has proved a revelation, a better bike than I was expecting.

tdong

Thanks mconlonx

just put my brook saddle on, adjust the front wheel. still waiting for butterfly handlebar. My tires (original lol) are still new. thinking of upgrading it to kojak but i want to use it for trail path etc. Therefore something like marathon would be better ?

mconlonx

I'm still on the original "Maxxis for Birdy" tires; once they wear out, I'll probably opt for Marathons. I'm riding mostly roads, but Marathons have been good to me on other bikes and Schwalbe is one of the few tire makers with choices for an 18" wheel.

bhkyte

Big apples fit without mudguards. However I have some clearance issues in 1st gear with chain catcher rubbing the tyre. It should be easy to alter

jur

Just for info, I ran Marathon Pluses on my Birdy. I didn't like it; it squirmed during cornering unless pumped rock hard. I got several punctures even, from glass pieces that got through at the edge of the blue layer. It was also heavy and quite expensive. In short, I got no joy out of them. Thr final straw was when the back blew a side wall. Never went back. Unfortunately I can't remember what I replaced it with, most probably a Marathon Racer.

tdong

thank jur will keep that in mind either kojak or racer. there are very limited tires choice .

thanks bhkyte big apple is not for me I like to go fast sometimes

bhkyte

I just run big apple on back at the moment. Pumped up hard its still quite quick. I had bad experience with marathon plus on a 20" they refunded the money. It came of the rim and shredded on the brake pads.

tdong

After riding this Birdy for a month. I change out the handle bar to compact butterfly. The brook seat has to move forward all the way because the seat post angle leaning all the way back which is very annoying.

I like the suspension and the design however i wouldn't take it out for anything greater than 20km. The front suspension feels weak when cornering.

Azreal911

You might want to change the spring to a stronger weight then, they do sell them for birdy's. When it's too soft or mushy, you are losing quite a bit of energy into the suspension on flat roads.

Birdy Front Spring

And Hey Tdong once it's setup right you can easily ride that beyond 20km. I rode my Tern to Niagara falls from Toronto without a problem! I know you are in Toronto cause I saw that Birdy ad on craigslist also but I wasn't allowed a N+1 policy many of these forumers follow as doctrine .

tdong

thanks Azreal. will order the front ring. i usually ride my dahon mu sl. By the way do you have a route map from toronto or mississauga to niagara falls ? i am thinking of trying it at least once but my average speed is only around 20km/h now need to improve more as i just get back to riding this summer.

i follow your link and they only sell it in store. i guess this one on ebay is the same

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-Co...item417754c8c7

Azreal911

oh dang you already have a fast folder but yeah I can't see what strength are some of those springs that you see on ebay. but they look similar to the ones these guys sell:

Stainless Coil Spring Front Rear Suspension Shock for Birdy Bike Folding Bicycle

and a interesting note at the bottom:
. These springs are not for engineering. There is no data of % recoil.
But we can tell you they are stiffer than original part and Titan color is good-looking.
You will feel more easy to riding and riding faster because the kinetic energy is not absorbed so much.


also on our forums there was talk about birdy spring you might be able to find some more info on other spring options:

https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bi...placement.html

also if you want to find a way to niagara you can try my route i just did this past weekend, i've done it twice with a single speed Tern so I wanted to try something different and did it with my mtn bike with fat franks which roll over everything nicely. It felt more fun with the folder cause I liked the challenge, a multispeed mtn bike you can easily spin up any slope.

The route shown here will mostly take you away from the busy traffic away from the highways more into country roads. Have fun!

Mountain Bike Ride Profile | to Niagara with a 35lbs bike? no problem! near Toronto | Times and Records | Strava

energyandair

We have 3 Birdys. A Red 8 speed with the fixed 25 deg stem. A Blue 21 speed with the 5 deg comfort stem and a grey Monocoque 24 speed with the 5 deg comfort stem. We also have a separate 2 part stem piece like the adjustable part of yours.

The tires we have had are Birdy original, Birdy Maxxis, Marathon Racer and Kojak. I also looked into Big Apple.

My favourite is the Kojak. It's light fast and comfortable on roads, OK on hard packed trails. Not good for soft surfaces.

Next would be the Marathon Racer. Its cheaper and better as the surface gets soft but not as light, doesn't feel as quick and, surprisingly, not as comfortable as the Kojak though its still more than good enough.

The Birdy original tires were poor. The Maxxis Birdy were better but not nearly as good as the 2 Schwalbe tires above.

I concluded that The Big Apple looked like it would be OK on the rear and on the front with the newer forks. Older front forks like our Red, our Blue and presumably your Green have a mounting point for Road style brake calipers that looks like it would interfere with wide tires.

tdong

seem like everyone recommends kojak. I just order a pair from jvbike.

tdong

finally i do have a love relationship with my birdy bike by adding the washers to make the seat angle similar to my riding position. I release the latch bolt and pull it forward so that it latch to the nut on the frame. Got my kojak tires and will change them as soon as i get new tire levers. I broke both of my plastic levers by changing out the marathon racer on my dahon mu sl. those tires are strong and tight. Also i just realize that i don't have one front pivot bolt lol.

Azreal911

make sure you get some metal but rubber coated tire levers. I almost broke my tire levers getting the kojaks on my 20" wheel! enjoy!

decanta

I'm horrified at the idea of limiting my rides on the Birdy to 20 km. I just finished my third century ride on my 12-year-old Birdy Red, which obviously I love. I did get two flats on this ride, however (unlike my first two centuries), so I'm on here reading about tire options and what the very best tire levers are for the bike. I always have a deuce of a time getting the tires on and off the wheel.

The tire that let me down so badly on Sunday was a brand new Maxxis Kevlar.

tdong

I was so uncomfortable for me because of the seat angle. I just sold it last week. Now I only use my Dahon Mu Sl and my wife Tern P24. But i got this instead

decanta

That looks like quite a nice ride. The guy at the folder store who's done some maintenance on my Birdy has asked me occasionally about the post angle also. But it works well for me anyway.