vik 

My friend Amy needed a bike and came down to Calgary to check out my fleet. After discussing her needs and the pros/cons of each of my bikes she decided to get a Bike Friday Pocket Sport...

This is one of Bike Friday's new stock bikes. Although you only get to choose from 3 sizes and the spec/colour is fixed you are able to get a sweet Bike Friday at a very nice price. For many riders that don't need or care about specing out every little detail on their bikes this a nice option to have...

I'll be putting it together for her and helping her dial in the fit. Then we'll hit the road next week for an overnight mini-tour in the Canadian Rockies...her first bike tour ever...

I'll post photos here of the bike as I get it sorted out.

kamtsa

Vik, are you sure that this is "Pocket Sport"? The Pocket Sport in the link you sent looks like a NWT while the one in your picture looks like a Tikit. I must be missing something.

Also, do the new Tikits still come with the retrofit brace or has BF redesigned the frame to address the crack issue?

Kam

Edit: I was referring to the black bike in the original post. Apparently this is not Amy's new bike.

vik 

Getting her out of the box...



Love the red...

vik 

Mostly ready to roll....just needs racks and fenders installed.

Foldable Two

Vik,

GAD, you've already "modded" the pedals!!!

(My wife goes nuts when I start playing with the parts even before it's fully assembled.)

Lou

vik 

Yes - sorry I can see how that would be confusing. With so many bikes in my apartment it's hard not to get an unintended bike in a photo!...

Amy is not going to do any multi-modal commuting so she went with a Bike Friday travel bike...more for use as a regular bike with a significant amount of airline travel involved.

vik 

My friend Dwayne left those red BMX platforms at my place when he upgraded to some new pedals. I figured they were red! and they would provide a bigger platform for Amy's feet than the stock pedals. I'll give her the stock ones as well and she can use whichever she likes.

vik 

Amy's bike with racks and fenders....more photos here.

KoYak

Vik,

very nice! I too own a stock BF - a pocket rocket and just love it.

It looks like the sport is a rocket with 406 (vs 451) wheels and V-brakes.

I like the BF racks, and fenders. I've been putting off purchasing those but I thik you've inspired me to place an order.

TrekJapan

Good looking bike. Wow! And a triple chainring. Awesome.

John

brakemeister

you should mount the front fender in front of the fork as it is now too deep in the back and will spray up in the front .... besides it looks better
:-)

thor

brakemeister

I hate reflectors but they can save somebodies life ...... get some or get some good 3 m reflective tape ..... ( every police station is supposed to be handing some of it out , when asked )

Thor

vik 

The front fender in the photo above is mounted as design and built by Bike Friday.

I've got no issues with reflective material and use it for my night riding as well as multiple lights. However, the stock reflectors provided with bikes are not particularly useful so I don't mount 'em.

Thinking CPSA reflectors will save your life is what's dangerous. Using your judgment to determine what safety measures are appropriate for your area, riding habits and risk tolerance is what is going make you safe.

stevegor

Vik,

There should be a hole about 1/2 way down that front fender to mount it more forward, maybe the one at the end is for a reflector?

longlong14

very hot!!! i've been wanting a custom pocket rocket for a long time now, maybe i should get rid of the r20

stevegor

Don't you dare! R20s are the forerunners of most modern SWBs, they're like an old uncle you love, but think you should get rid of, without knowing how important he is.

ChiapasFixed

I dont know what you're going on about the front fender being too far back (?). thats the way the front fender goes on BF pocket bikes! It may be possible to mount it in a front hole on the fork, à la Tikit (if there is a hole drilled there) but I dont think this is the intended way...

congrats to Amy and nice work Vik! I hope you got your sales "comission" and will be applying it to yet another beautiful Bike Friday... perhaps a Rohloff Tikit?

stevegor

Sorry, my wrong...didn't mean to step on any toes.....

neilfein

Steve, send it to me; I'll evaluate the bike and help you make that decision.

brakemeister

thats a tough crowd here .....
tell you what

I can care less if you have the fender mounted all the way back and render it worthless if you go any faster than 10 miles and the spray is all over your legs

I do care about safety on the road .... however, I guess its a free country and you can use the bike without mandatory reflectors. Just dont cry wolf if you get hit from a car

all the best Thor

psykoocycle

Vik... she's HOTTTTT!!! The triples on the fridays always make me slobber...

vik 

Thor I did test fit the fender on the front of the fork:

- it doesn't hold securely as it does on the rear since there is only one hole and that doesn't allow for the second anti-rotation bolt to be mounted.
- the fender mounting bracket doesn't sit properly on the front of the fork and would need some DIY effort to work
- the rear of the fender now rubs on the tire
- the additional coverage gained is less than 1"

So I decided what the heck - let's mount it as intended by Bike Friday and see what happens. If Amy is unsatisfied with the way it works we'll do something about it. If there is a problem I suspect the solution will not be to mount the fender on the front of the fork. That DIY effort would better be spent riveting on a longer extension on the front to gain significantly more coverage.



I've had my NWT since January and note my front fender does not extend in front on the fork. This would theoretically be worse than the fender on Amy's bike. I even went to the trouble of buying some full coverage SKS 20" fenders, but you know what I haven't had a problem yet so the new fenders have not gone on. I'm sure they will provide better coverage and I think they'll look nicer, but the stock BF fenders have worked just fine. I have not come home covered in road spray yet.

As for reflectors and safety we clearly see things differently. I am not interested in getting into a debate about CPSA reflectors or bike safety. I'm not going to bug you about what safety items you use or how you ride your bike. I hope neither of us ever get hit and if that does happen I hope we have the good grace not to harangue the other person about it.

vik 

Thanks for the kind words guys... It is a sharp looking bike and I'm glad Amy will have quality bike to ride. So many people that return to cycling as adults buy crap and get turned off. It's also cool because she just increased the number of people that I know who are likely to cycle tour with me by 100% from 1 to 2!....

I revamped my GF's MTB so it's more appropriate to her use as a city bike. She's riding a lot more now...which is nice. If that continues I'd like to get her a proper bike that is purpose built and not so Frankenstein-ish.

One of the options is a Bike Friday so I'm going to get her to sit on Amy's bike since we have it to compare sizing and she'll take it for a spin. She's British and drives a Mini - so I think the small wheeled bike that folds may appeal to her. I've cunningly left my NWT in her hallway for the past week so she gets to check it out at her leisure...

We'll see. If so that will probably be my next Bike Friday purchase.

alhedges

Congratulations to Amy on her bike. I bought a NWT last year so that I could travel with my bike and tour, including a lot of bike camping, and it has been *perfect* for that. I mean *perfect*; I can't imagine that it could be any better. Here's a picture of it loaded up before a camping trip. Note that the two sleeping pad strapped to my rack belong to my companions; I carried them on my NWT because they didn't have room for them on their full sized bikes!


I've ridden my NWT through storms and lots of water and had no issues with water spray from either of my fenders. FYI.

What kind of tires do you have on your NWT Vik? The fenders that don't go in front of the fork at all are designed for pocket rockets and other bikes with 451 tires.

vik 

I'm glad you are enjoying your NWT so much. Although I haven't toured on mine yet it has become one of my favourite bikes for riding about town and I have had it fully loaded with gear in town.

Those tires are 406 Greenspeed Scorcher TRs - I love 'em...comfortable and fast...