werewolf

No clubs here in AZ. The only Bike Friday I've seen here is owned by the mechanic at the east side Performance shop. I spoke with him once. He didn't offer to let me try his bike, nor would I expect him to, nor did I ask. I myself would be reluctant to let a stranger try out my bike. I had a bad experience once years ago. I had just returned from a 90 mile bike ride to the park where I parked my car, an upscale area north of NY, NY. A middle aged man on a clunker bike asked me if he could try out my bike, and I said OK. He took off as fast as he could, heading straight away, standing on the pedals. I got on his junk bike and caught him and stopped him, but then I wasn't sure what to do. I figured that if I beat up on the SOB or tried to hold him for the police, he might yell for help and people in the park would jump ME, since by outward appearances he looked like a respectable middle aged citizen and I looked like a dirty young wild man, so I just took my bike back from him and tossed his down on the ground. Very strange experience. He probably had a criminal record as long as my arm.

Anyway, when I was in Calif. I took the opportunity to find the Bike Friday shop, but even in CA they are hard to find and open only limited hours. The place in Oceanside is a hole in the wall that mainly seems to deal in heavyweight electric bikes and trikes. They only had two BF's, the Tikit and the Pocket Rocket. The lady who ran the place was very friendly, but not very knowledgeable (she told me that the Pocket Rocket doesn't fold, but if you're willing to spend a half hour or so you can take it apart). She said she used to also have a Birdy in stock (that's another one I'd like to try), but she couldn't figure out how to fold it, so she sent it back to Seattle.

Before I started this thread I searched the forum for Pocket Rocket threads, but they were few and far between.