Originally Posted by TBAKEL

First about myself so you can gauge the worth of my opinion.

Starting in 1974 I was member of the US Navy Submarine service for 7 years and for most of the time I was stationed in New London Ct. Each year I was deployed to the Mediterranean for 6 months and as such decided that an automobile was not worth the investment and therefore choose a bicycle as my only form of personnel transportation.

The commute from my apartment to the sub base was 11.5 miles one way with two nice climbs. I commuted in all weather and seasons. My first year my derailleur broke twice during rides in snow and cold temps so I traded my multi speed machine in for a Richard Sachs fix gear with criterium geometry with both front and rear breaks.

For the rest of my life I have ridden fixed gears with the exceptions of a Colins Cape 5 cog time trial bike I purchased in 75 – sold in 78 and a Sarrotta I purchased in 1994, rode some for 3 months and sold to a friend. I have ridden more than and 100 centuries on my fixed gears including Solvang three times during the period when the route included the climb through the airbase. My three gear inches of choice are 56 inches, 66 inches, and 70 inches. All three Solvang rides were done on 66 inch gearing. The 56 I used for riding various islands in the Mediterranean where hill miles exceed flat miles by at least 99.9%. When riding 56 inch gearing the rear cog was free wheeling, the 66 and 70 were always non free wheeling (truly fixed).

I choose the Strida 5 because it is both fixed geared and belt drive. I have grown to hate chains in 30 years of riding. I was able to test ride the Strida 5 for 2 weeks when I rented one in ChangZhou China to ride between my hotel and work (8 km round trip). I also took the bike via high speed rail to Nanjing and HungZou. My only issue with the bike was the seat.

When I returned to the US I purchased a Strida-5 and have ridden more than 500 miles on the machine. My only changes to the machine were the seat and I added a head lamp and flashing red LED rear lamp.

I have ridden two organized 25 mile rides both of which had routes that included rail to trail dirt tracks as well as paved roads. On my own I have a rails to trails / city street route that I ride on Saturday mornings to breakfast and back that is 43 miles round trip.

I ride to work every day (3 miles one way). The bike is stored under my desk.

I really enjoy the bike, so much so, that I have not ridden any of my full sized fixed gears since I purchased the Strida-5.

Negative Points – Lets face it; 90 rpm at the peddles with 56 inch gearing is only 14 mph and change, so 50 miles is a good days ride. However at my age the slower speed means that I can’t attack whenever I see a rider ahead. My favorite addiction was driving geared riders into the dirt, but its about time for me to grow up. The set up and riding position is not the exact same as a standard geometry frame so I highly recommend test riding one like I did to ensure you can adapt.

Neutral Points - The bike will change your style of riding, the Strida-5 will climb okay while in the seat but the belt will slip when the grade gets steep. So I get off and walk. I have the belt tension set very low so that I feel very little drag when turning the cranks by hand, this low friction setup saves energy over the miles so I don’t mind getting off and walking up the last section of a steep hill when the belt slips.

Positive Points – Disc brakes; after 30 years of caliper brakes I really like this disc brake concept, I did not know caliper brakes were so bad and my full size fixed gear bikes are equipped with the top of line brakes with supposedly the best aftermarket pads. This bike is very quick handling, a lot like my Kilo bike for the velodrome, so I find it fun to ride in crowded areas and downtown. The handle bar width and grips are very comfortable. This bike is very simple to fold and store and fits in the overhead luggage rack on the trains in China and Amtrak here in the US. The bike is not only fun to ride and is very, very, very, low maintenance.

While in China I tested 4 other different brands of folding bikes but the shifters, derailleurs, cables, and chain drive issues they each presented convinced me that the Strida was the bike for me.