Hello all. Riese & Müller, makers of the Birdy, have a new folding machine out called the Frog, with 305 wheels instead of the 355 on the Birdy, significantly reducing the folded size. Details are here. It looks like it could be my perfect bike - almost as compact as the Brompton, but far more capable. Does anyone know any more about the machine? Anyone had a go on one? I'd love to hear from you.

I guess my ideal bike would be something like a brompton with front suspension and this isn't far off. But the folding process looks a bit cumbersome, I'm not sure it rolls easily when folded and the wheelbase looks very short.

My ideal bike has 305 wheels, so from that angle the Frog looks good.

My ideal bike has a price tag well under 1,499 Euro, though.

As a Birdy owner who just bought a Brompton I have a couple of thoughts on the Frog. For urban use IMHO the big win of the Brompton is the single big front bag. The Birdy with its main load carrying capacity split between the two back bags is less convenient. Smaller wheels make it harder to put big bags on the back, too, so not sure how the new design affects load carrying.

And the Frog is still substantially larger than a Brompton - size matters. Would love to see one of these, though.

Looks kindof like a Mezzo to me. Wish they had a picture of it folded. They've still got some work to do on the website - I used Google to translate some of the German (which hasn't been translated yet on the English version of the site) to English, and it stops in the middle of a sentence.

Cool.

I see they designed the bike with 24 spokes with 36 hole hubs. The website doesn't seem to work well while at work, but 1500 Euros is going to be a pretty steep price relative to the alternatives.

The comment regarding the Brompton front rack is on the mark, IMO.

It looks like with the rear rack one can roll the bike. Although I don't know whether it would be worth having a rear rack to simply roll the bike.

Oh ... the big issue, IMO, is what type of support will one get for the Frog in the US. The dealer network here is minimal.

Who handles Birdy sales in the USA?

https://www.rad-innovations.com/

They used to have a bike called frog a while back (5+ years ago), it looked like a "C" with the open part of the C facing south. Let me see if I can find a picture.

(35 seconds later)



The new one looks neat though.

I suspect Mezzo actually pinched ideas from Birdy in the first place. Such as the rear wheel swivel-under-to-the-side-of the frame idea. When Birdy came out with the molded frame, Mezzo soon followed with something almost identical.

I've ridden the original Frog and was amazed at how capable it was for such a small wheeled machine, the new version must be much closer to the full sized Birdy in terms of ridability. It folded very small, helped (if my memory serves me right) by details like the telescopic seat post. But, nevertheless, it had a very comfortable 'big bike' feel.

The Frog looks like a great little folder with loads of potential. If the Frog does gather a following, I wonder if R&M will consider designing future Birdy models around a 406 wheel instead of the uncommon 355.

I suspect Birdy could much more easily move to 349, same as the Tikit, Mezzo, and Brompton, and various recumbents. They'd probably not even need to change the frame.

Schwalbe actually seem to have more 355mm products than 349mm. Weird, when you figure that there are more bicycle brands with 349mm wheels than 355mm wheels.

You're right about that. People have already done the switch.

Aside from Birdy, who else uses the 355mm size tire?

Interestingly, Strida .. their wheel set upgrade uses 355 ..

Has any one tryed a back to back comparison of the fold and ride of a frog to a Brompton ,or other compact ? It looks like it may fold smaller,and ride better?

Picture folder P.16. Looks small. Nice looking bike!


https://www.en.r-m.de/fileadmin/medie...ten_2010_E.pdf

Looks very well made! Pink would suit stevegor

https://road.cc/content/image/9386-ri...ller-frog-pink

Easy to make a fitting that mounts a Brompton front bag on a Birdy.

I am actually in the place where the Birdy was born (Taiwan, Pacific-Cycles) I will take some pictures of the Frog folded right now and post them

Sorry guys, turns out im an incompetent at folding birdy bikes, here is my poor effort: (I know know that it was because I didnt bring the seat down!)

Here is the picture:

Bike Half Folded (The full size Birdy is behind, for comparison)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...d=249158723485


Bike unfolded:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...d=249158723485


any other requests let me know! I am here until Wednesday

For more pictures of the bikes they have here visit:

https://picasaweb.google.com.tw/Pacif...icCyclesMuseum

All the best!!


Juan

I want, (need ), a Frog now!

Anyone want to give me one ?..........................please......