Originally Posted by sammyl

The New York Museum of Modern Art, of all places, sold them for a short time (15?) years ago, where I bought mine for around $500 (too expensive, especially when the front hub was missing a large spacer). Manufacturing skill seemed to be focused on the folding joints. Later there was a Japanese website that showed a model with a front brake, a cute wicker basket (also on front) and a brightly-colored cotton bag that doubled as a picnic blanket.

I bought a second version long after they were discontinued (ten years ago?) that had the front brake and a lever-operated 3-speed Sturmey-Archer hub, instead of the standard back-pedal activated 2-speed. The European version had a bell on the handlebars and a front (metal?) basket/briefcase hook option, and there were color choices of aluminum anodizing: blue, red, silver, others? The 12" tires had an obscure valve, something like a presta valve, but available replacement tubes had Shrader valves that were barely accessible (little room between the top of the valve and the hubs of the tiny plastic wheels). I spent years trying to find the best pump to fit between the hub and the valve, finally settling on a tiny hand pump as the sole way to get air into the tubes. (Fortunately the wheels tolerated only low pressures, in part required to cushion the ride - small wheels are not as compliant as large ones.) I was able to carry a lot of stuff, including the pump, in a small backpack hung on the handlebars, because the little wheel allowed a very long head tube. The large plastic clip that held the bike together when folded finally broke, but I replaced it with a section of PVC pipe, formed to the correct shape after heating.


Occasionally MicroBikes show up on the web and command high prices (not often used regularly by the owners/sellers).

Love the design, the compactness, and the novelty of the belt instead of a chain, but the MicroBike was only desirable for very short (perfectly walkable) hops, actually just barely ridable, but want to keep mine, for mostly whimsical reasons.