Shaunbee

I bought a folding bike, not out of necessity or need although from where I come from, the folding bike is indeed an asset. I bought them initially for a most ridiculous reason - I was curious. Having laid off from riding for about 15 years, I strolled into a folding bike shop out of curiosity. The super friendly and knowledgeable stuff attended to my questions and even offered several models to test ride. I was sold. Coming from land-scarce Singapore and nearly 80% of the population lives in highrise apartments, it seemed a logical choice. Yes, I folded them a couple of times until I realized that my spare room could easily accomodate both foldies, unfolded. And then there were three, all unfolded.
The novelty of riding a foldie has made many a friend during my rides and only now do I realized that there's actually a foldie community here in SG. Like some of you out there, I too, wanted to be different. Perhaps I get a kick being out of the ordinary. Being different usually means having a hard time being accepted especially when herd instinct is so prevalent here. However, when I get up to speed with the "big boys" and some times overtaking them, I get nods of approval and this is very satisfying.
On my last trip to Japan, I was no longer a novelty as the foldie population there is huge. Usually I would be stopped by a stranger and we would exchange notes with my atrocious command of the Japanese language but the bond of being two-wheelers soon overcomes that.
Still on the issue of being different, there has been a proliferation of recumbents and tadpole trike here. I had the chance to ride a tadpole trike and is now itching to get one but as I mentioned, the apartment is just too small to accomodate a non-folding trike.
Dare to be different and be happy with it, is what I always say.