It turns out that there are a couple of Ori dealers fairly close to my house and I dropped round to give it a test drive. He had a C8 available so I drove it around the block.
Great ride!
I would say that the ride was similar to the Brompton M series in that it provides something of an upright 'Amsterdam' feel to it. The gears were smooth, the breaks were solid and -despite the look of it- the handling wasn't twitchy at all.
The shop owner showed me the fold a few times and when its done, its almost as small as the Brompton but not quite.
Definitely a modern commuters bike.
I imagine that this bike is already starting to erode Brompton's market-share.
Here in Taiwan its priced at:
C8 = 29000 NT or $863 USD
C9 = 34000 NT or 1100 USD
I then went across town to check out the one shop in Taichung that carries Bike Friday.
The dealer was a Merida shop and he had to haul the Tikit out from the corner where it sat. I don't know how many years old this thing was but I'm sure its not new.
Anyway, the boss pumped up the tires and let me take it for a test ride.
Again, Great Ride!!!
Substantially different than both Ori and Brompton. A much sportier feel. Very very responsive and was definitely built for speed. Gotta love that bar-end bell thingy. Cool!
The grip shifter was a little sloppy and the stock grips were terrible foam. I imagine everyone replaces the grips immediately.
The V breaks were by far the best when comparing between the Brompton and the Ori and the stock tires were super speedy and thin.
The boss folded and unfolded it a bunch of times and I was surprised at how compact it was. I guess, after reading a lot of discussions, I had expected it to be massive when folded but it wasn't that bad at all compared to the Brompton and Ori.
One of the features that intrigued me the most was that you could roll it on one of its wheels when folded. I could see this as a major major plus when traveling and -I imagine- when commuting with the thing.
If I was doing any sort of traveling to another country, the Tikit would really be my bike of choice.
For daily commuting from Subway to bus and on the road, I'm going to have to go with the Ori.
Unfortunately, the boss wanted 54000 NT = $1605 USD for the Tikit which is way too steep.
If I could have scored one for about 1000 USD, I would have bought it right there.
Definitely, an interesting day.
