I am 5'6", no over-extension for the arms. Very comfortable and feels like a full big bike. The birdy is ideal for 5' upwards and besides the birdy stem is height adjustable.

I don't know much about bikes but lowering the stem height will make it move closer to me?

I get thirsty when I ride (mouth breather ). How does one mount a water bottle to a birdy monocoque without making the fold more difficult of more bulky yet keeping the bottle conveniently at hand?

Your angle of riding position will change. The birdy has a selection of 10 degree and 25 degree stems. The 25 degree will of course give you a longer distance between the saddle and the handlebar. Go to the bike store and have a test ride if you can.

I can't, it's across the country. No one hear me has a MK3 which is what I want

There was someone who posted about their Birdies, his and his wife's, and how short she is opposite to him. To improve the reach for his wife's Birdy, he installed a stem backwards, ie pointing backwards, bringing the handlebars closer. So that tells me there is a point where "one size fits most" won't work. Just not sure what that point is; however, simple solutions exist.

Owner said the degree of the stem is 21 degrees. Are the stems adjustable or does the bike just use a different stem?

Did he ever say how tall his wife was?

I think so; a search on this forum may turn up that thread. He doesn't post here any more for years. I can't think of helpful search terms except birdy.

It was this same thread, see post 242. Name of JulianEdgar.

what is your opinion of Colorplus Birdies? birdy x COLORPLUS rainbow red limited edition | COLORPLUS, colorful your life!
A stock Birdy -> $2000, the same Birdy as "Colorplus" -> $5000
I do not think they make so many improvements to justify that price

Way over the top, yet people pay. Only money I guess....

Maybe someone can help to explain or give some insights about the front and rear suspensions of the Birdy made by Colorplus and Multi-S in comparison to the original stock front and rear suspensions of the Birdy. What are the advantages of these custom-made suspensions over the stock ones?

in overall peformance, it is better in a Birdy to have 20" wheels with light tires or the standard 18" wheels with more thick "baloon" tires?

I think a good after market suspension would be one lockable to be useful on and off road.

Compression and rebound control are more important to me. Honestly I would never use the lockout feature.

Thanks
Yan

Compression & rebound are important to me too, but lockout feature isn't a great complication to producer that will help a lot pedaling in long trip on flat streets. I'm I wrong?

I'm sure you are right for your needs. However I feel differently. Aluminum is a stiff metal, when you shorten the frame and use smaller triangles it gets stiffer, and the small wheels are super stiff making everything worse.

I'm 6' 200ish lbs and I prefer suspension all the time.

Thanks
Yan

I agree with Yan - I want suspension, all the time. The design of the Birdy suspension is good, there's minimal bob when riding along even with fairly high effort. Ride quality is similar to my wife's Moulton TSR.

The only scenario where I could see lockout being useful is if you like to stand and hammer a lot - any suspension bike will bob in that scenario because your whole body weight is bouncing up and down. I guess standing vs. sitting is a matter of personal preference, but if you look at professional racers they tend to sit most of the time (except for sprints) so standing is clearly not needed for performance.

I raced MTB's and I was taught to never stand. Once you stand your rear wheel is likely to loose traction and spin freely in the trails.

Thanks
Yan

That is the standard road bike theory on suspension, which is 1990s. Well designed suspension that takes into account power induced
suspension compression where the suspension pivot is close to the upper chain line do not need to be locked out. The Birdy and Downtube FS9 address this by moving the pivot up toward the chainline, the Brompton, Moulton do not.

The benefit of suspension on small wheels is to cut down on the harshness of small stiff frames and wheels. Putting a lockout on defeats the whole purpose, may as well go rigid.

Yeah you guys have convinced me with great arguments. So I come back to foldingdroid question: are custom made suspensions better than the original ones? Which are to be preferred?

P.S.: next week I would like to deal with a vendor for a test BD3 speed at €1.770 than I'll start the tuning time concerning weight and other stuffs like maybe a Gates carbon drive (I know this would mean to change the great Ultegra).

I doubt it's possible to retro fit a belt drive system to the Birdy as I'm sure it needs an auxiliary tensioner to cope with the requirements of the folding process.

Tensioner is not a big problem, cause exist on the nexus birdy and could be adapted.

About 10 years ago the was a Birdy Green available in Europe that had belt drive but it was discontinued fairly quickly- might be worth investigating why before you commit to any expenditures.