$60 A bikes on ebay?
 

Is this for real? $99 shipping though.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Foldable-Bicycle-...QQcmdZViewItem

Does not seem to be a Sinclair. Red sticker does not have proper printing on it. I believe that the Sinclair has a special pump and valve. As to whether it is better or worse than a Sinclair who knows. It is common to see knockoffs $100 or less. I have no idea why someone would choose such a complicated thing with such a small market to copy.

Folks at the abikecentral.com/forum are not fans of the knockoffs.

I just ordered one for kicks. I'll let you know.

it looks like it will break in 30 seconds ....

I'll bet it will last at least 45 seconds. Read all about it here or in the obituaries of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Had I been less tall, I'm 195 cm and weight way over the limit of 85Kg so it would break under me. Regardless of being A-bike original or false faked ones.

I want to be a law abiding citizen but if somebody offer me a Brompton for a third of the price but with quality enough to support me then I would buy it. I guess me would buy a fake Carryme if that would be the only way to get it where I live but hopefully I will be able to buy one from London this spring summer. I guess me travel there so I could test ride it first.

I would never buy the original A-bike cause it is too small for my body ride safely. But I could accept a fake one if it extremely low price and put it on my wall as an artefact of modern design. A kind of example of novelty. Like a reproduction of Mona Liza Da Vincy fame sort of.

A-bike is so incredibly small so to have it on the wall would be a great thing. It looks super cool.

As art, I can definitely see your point. Two A-bike clones and a sheet of tempered glass could make a fine looking table or desk too. I, however, plan to ride my fake until it breaks or someone on the street offers me cash for it.

OK...my fAke-bike just arrived today and the fit and finish are excellent. The apparent quality is higher than I expected and I cannot imagine the actual A-bike looks noticeably different.

Out of the box...

• the bicycle appears to be properly adjusted and well-lubricated.
• the folding action is flawless
• tires were slightly underinflated creating a great deal of rolling resistance. Although the pressure rating is 90 PSI, I went to 100 PSI and found the bike to ride nimbly and smoothly
• after comparing photos of the real A-bike and this knock-off, the only discernable difference is the lack of the proper A-bike/Sinclair markings.

To play devil's advocate, both the fakes and the real A-bike are made in China. Who's to say that the factory wouldn't allow an extra run on the assembly line to produce bikes that can be sold outside of the contract with Sinclair? Even for such a simple piece of machinery it would cost a great deal to create the tooling to produce these bikes. It's not totally unreasonable to think maybe some of these actually come off of the same assembly line...

...of course, I am just making a wild assumption.

What kind of valve do the tires take? I believe Sinclair A-Bikes tires have a special valve and pump. BTW, does anyone know why they have a special valve?

http://www.a-bike.co.uk/store/checko...kas6ngi2912801

As to the comparison between fake and real a-bikes. I bought a bike off ebay because I liked the frame (caribike). It came with a 'reproduction' of the 1950's Sachs Torpedo 3 speed hub (it even had a stamp "3 gang"). All in all the hub works really well. The cheapness manifested itself in things like the indicator chain breaking. A tooth on the gear chipped (but is still very usable). I got allot of miles off it until I went fixed gear. A-bike has a unique drive train where cheap parts could easily be substituted.

SingleSpeeDemon

Keep us posted on what breaks on such a copy version.
If it is as you suggested they could be as reliable as
the original.

But other fakes have a different plastic and have no glass fiber
so they easily breaks. Are you within the weight limit? Maybe if
one are well within the weight limit even a less strong bike will
hold together after a year of heavy usage.

I want to buy another small tired bike. Carryme with 8" wheels
but it's limit is 85kg and me weight 95 kg. Have not checked but maybe 210lb

The first thing to break are the allen cap screws that mount the rear brake band to the gearbox. The head of the screw has a a shallow socket and is just slightly oversized allowing the supplied allen wrench to round out the flats. I will cut a slot in the heads to remove them with a standard screwdriver and will replace both the front and rear with stainless screws.