be very patient then .. not many BMX on their Birdy , to do theStress analysis for You.

and they, if they do, may be on a German language site.

Yeah, will check that out. Thanks

decyph3r...


I find it very easy to pop a wheelie on my Birdy; however, I haven't dared to ride a wheelie for any distance.


On my daily commute in Chicago, there are 3 bridge sections on a street over the Chicago River that has very uneven pavement (where the bridge sections are suppose to line up).
When I used to have the stock 18 inch wheels with stock Birdy Matrix tires, stock Velo seat and stock suspension, I wouldn't hesitate to float over those bridge sections at full speed while siting down even!
But now, I have 20 inch wheels with thin high pressure Kojak tires, tightened up suspension and a harder road seat. So, with the new (faster and lighter) setup, when I go over those bridge sections, I'm off the seat and I kinda do a bunny hop... not a full on bunny hop, but just enough to get the front wheel off the road and then have very little weight on the rear wheel when it rolls over those sections.


All that said, I've never tried a full on, proper (both wheels off the ground) bunny hop on my Birdy though. I'm a hefty guy (6 foot tall and just over 200 pounds!) so I don't want to press my luck too far!

Standing while riding is no problem at all on my Birdy since I switched to 20 inch wheels and firmed up the suspension. In fact, I really enjoy sprinting on this bike... mashing the pedals from light to light on my morning city commutes. So much better than a cup of coffee!

Hi darukhan, thanks for these info. So you're saying you were able to fit a 20 inch wheels on your birdy? This is not the "Rhine Birdy" isn't it?

Nope... this is a 100% authentic R&M Birdy Yellow. There are a few (very few) threads here on BikeForums about putting 20 inch wheels on a Birdy.

I also noticed that you posted a similar message to the Birdy Yahoo Group. In that Yahoo Group, you'll also find information about 20 inch wheels on a Birdy if you do some searches.

(Hopefully this weekend) I will post up a thread about the mods I've done to my Birdy bike. Up-sizing to 20 inch wheels allowed me to learn a lot about my Birdy and how the new, older, and VERY old models of the Birdy differ.

Besides buying new wheels, to up-size from 18 to 20 inches, the other immediate adjustment you will need to make are brake adjustments in the front and rear. There are adapters you can buy that allow you to use regulat V brakes, however, there are some v brakes that do not require an adapter (but can be too costly to some... like me!).

I'm at work right now, so I can't get into too much detail, but I'll be sure to post up a thread this weekend detailing my Birdy modifications.

Really, all along I thought 20 inches are not possible for Birdys! Looking forward to that post! Thanks again!

I have a quick Birdy question that I'll just dump into this thread.

I was talking recently with a bike shop employee about Birdy's. This shop used to carry them, doesn't any longer. I mentioned that I was still very keen to test ride a Birdy using the sport stem, but that I'd have to make a trip to New York to do so. The person replied: "But you realize that the Birdy you'd get in America is nothing like the one that you'd get if you bought one in Germany." She was implying that there's a difference in build quality, and that the bikes are being made in different locations, at different quality levels.

Is there any truth to that? I thought they had always been made by Pacific, in the far east, and still are being made by them there. She's exclusively in the Tern/Brompton business now, by the way, so she might have a vested interest in stamping out my Birdy curiosity.

Afaik the birdie specifications alters from country to country, not the build quality of birdie parts. Ie frame forks seatpost.

You get ,say suntour parts in one counry, and shimano in another and different pricing structures therefore also.

Anyone tried using the "'Sky shock" suspension on their birdy? How's the performance? How is it compared to elastomers? Any advantage/disadvantage? I know there is an old thread for that. I just want to know if there are any others who are still using air suspension on their birdy.

(Forgive me if these videos have been posted already...) I found some videos on YouTube of Birdy bike being built at the Pacific Cycles factory:

Hello

I'd like to replace the stock R&M saddle that comes with the World Speed for something more comfortable for long trips.

If someone's done this, what would you recommend?

Thank you.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you try out various saddles at your local bike shop. Everyones' sit-bones are different and a saddle that works great for one person might be a total nightmare for another person.

However, there's an exception to this.... full leather saddles (like Brooks and Selle Anatomica) will break-in to fit the rider's sit-bones for an exact fit, which leads to an extremely comfortable saddle for long trips!

The only things I don't like about Brooks and Selle Anatomica are price and weight.

Check them out:

BROOKS: https://www.brooksengland.com/
SELLE ANATOMICA: https://www.selleanatomica.com/

Also... do you typically wear cycling pants with (gel or chamois) padded inserts?

Thanks. I don't wear cycling pants. I'll check out those models from Brooks and Sella Anatomica.

I'm not sure if the Skyshock suspension is available anymore?

There are other aftermarket suspension systems for the Birdy that are currently available (and maybe more than these that I'm unaware of):

Colorplus (O-DOT Design)...









Multi-S...

Went by the retailer where I bought the World Sport, and they can replace the original setup with a 3 speed Dual Drive, so I'll end up with a 3x8 configuration, for €300/$400. I wish I had the skills to do this myself, but it's still cheaper than getting either a Touring, or jump ship and go for a fast Dahon/Tern.

Speaking of witch, I'm having a problem changing gears, where gearing down from 8 (1st smallest cog) to 7, or from 7 to 6 doesn't work and I have to shift down one more gear to actually change gears: Could this indexing problem be due to the Shimano RD-2300 derailleur, the Shimano Tourney shifter, the (brand new) cable between the two parts, or maybe all of the above?

If that derailleur is very cheap, I might's well upgrade... in which case what would you recommend that would be compatible with the SRAM Dual Drive?

Thank you.

Bang for the buck, I like SRAM X-7 with the X-7 paddle shifter... the X-9 der is slightly more money but has ball bearing jockey wheels instead of bushings... there is a branded "Dual Drive" der which looks to me to be an X-7.. remember to get a long cage to be able to take up the chain slack when folding the rear wheel under...

Thanks for the tip. It looks like the X-7 has 9 speeds, while the World Sport has 8. Will it fit?

You can run a 9 speed cassette on the Dual Drive hub, then it would work with a 9 spd X-7 shifter ,,. the 8spd X-7 shifter might have to come from someone's NOS parts bin ... if you wanted to keep the 8 spd cassette, you could also get the SRAM Attack 8 spd shifter but have to use a Shimano rear der (like an XT) as the cable pull is not the same as the SRAM X-7 rear der ... there are lots of different choices out there that will work, I just happen to like the SRAM 1:1 cable pull stuff..

A cassette doesn't cost much, so I don't mind getting a new one. Besides, the one I have, although not much used, is already showing signs of "ripping" ("sliding"? "slipping", ie. missing some teeth and moving forward more than the right amount) when riding on the smallest cog. Either I'm riding it too hard or it's just cheap stuff.

I wouldn't mind getting 27 speeds instead of 24, but since the World Sport comes with an 8-speed derailleur, I didn't know it was possible to upgrade it to 9 speeds instead.

BTW, what do you mean with "I just happen to like the SRAM 1:1 cable pull stuff"?

I'll report all that information to the mec. Thank you.

Has anyone here actually tried that aftermarket suspension stuff? Looking at pix of the Birdy, I was way skeptical of the elastomer setup, especially the elastomer and spring job up front. Reality of riding it has disabused me of the need for aftermarket suspension candy like pictured above, but not the want for such.

Is it better? Much better, like some kind of revelation or epiphany about how much more awesome it is with this stuff? Or more on the "meh" end of things -- ride's a bit better, but it sure looks swell.

I end up folding mine quite a bit, haven't figured out how to really keep the spring and swinging part of the fork off the ground yet, would hate to scrape beautifully machined alloy across concrete...

Thanks for these! A very helpful info... Anyone knows who source these in the UK?

They ended up installing a SRAM DD3-24. It's working great so far, although the thingie that connects the HG cable to the gears looks pretty fragile:


A 150km trip on Sunday will put this solution to the test.

That's odd? The SRAM Dual Drive 3 does not use a click box? Or is this a custom setup Dual Drive hub that uses a chain pull instead of a click box?

By the way Winfried... I’m sure you will love the Dual Drive hub! I certainly love my SRAM DD2 3x8! It really does prepare the Birdy for all situations.

If you still are not satisfied with your gear range or top speed, you can easily (and affordably) replace the front chain ring with a larger ring (more teeth) and/or extend your gear range with a different cassette.

Does anyone have any information on a product line specifically made for Birdy called "RSpeed"?

I noticed a bunch of Ebay auctions (all from the same seller) for Birdy specific components from the company RSpeed. Some of it looks typical (seat post, kick stand, crank arms)... but there are some parts that seem to be a nice upgrade.

For example, this CNC'ed chainring below looks really nice with built in bash guards on both side! Although it's too pricey in my opinion for just a chainring.

Also, there's an RSpeed suspension kit for Birdy. I'm tempted to buy this, but I have no idea what the spring rates are, so it might be WORSE performance than what my (stock) Birdy suspension offers.

Anyone know anything about "RSpeed" stuff? Is it any good?

(click pics for larger views)

Anyone knows what this is?