Intersting find! Seems to have been made with much love and attention to detail! The story behind it is very interesting, too, and speaks for itself: iruka******************** - iruka

I do not get the reason for the black knob on the front of the bike. Maybe it acts as a kind of spacer if you use the optional bag-hook on the bars. It does however in some way make the bike look a bit strange for my taste.

It costs ~1700€ plus tax in Japan, so it is not cheap - but seems to be very well made. At 12 kg it is not terribly light, especially for a naked bike w/o fenders, rack and lights - but it has an internal Alfine 8-speed hub that adds to the weight. Still a bit on the heavy side. The 18" tires (like the birdy) are ok, but limit the choice of tires a bit.

A very fancy design, well made, already an interesting line of accessories - it looks like somebody has realized his personal dream. Great thing and looks amazingly well thought trough. Rear frame design close to Birdy and Helix, split main tube was AFAIR seen on some prototypes of the Curl. The motivation for the bike sounds a little bit like the one of the creator of the Helix (and in the same way like the story behind the creation of the Brompton: seeing the potential behind the concept of folding bikes but being not happy with what's available on the market). Regarding the cleanness of the design it reminds me a bit of the castro bike (though the Iruka is obviously much more complex).

The fold does not convince me too much on first look: Long and flat (like a folded Tikit) but surprisingly wide and I cannot find an advantage that would result from using a mono fork (apart from looks). I guess it all depends from how it rides.

Thanks for sharing!