bhkyte

It looks to be well marketed,but not hitting any nich well. ie its much bigger than a brompie folded,but looks like it rides no better than a 20" Dahon at the best. Not a budget bike either at around £500.
Am I missing something, or it it just well represented on the web?

snafu21

It appears to have been designed by a mad person:

Diode100

They fall into the same catagory as the DeBlasi, when you see them "folded" you have to wonder why they bothered in the first place.

bhkyte

Diblasi bikes are very good commuter bikes, very under rated. Fastest folding time. Easist to fold/unfold on the market.
The older bikes look large folded but are a slim package and can stand on their end in a small footprint than a Brompton. Its a prefectly good commuter bike. Yes,its heavier and overpriced new, it only rides OK ,but folds better than anything. The newer 20" models are more compact than the rest of the competion IMO. Their trike is the fastest and easist solution I know. Making life easier for disabled persons ect. A diblasi is the only folder I have owned that all the family found simple enough to fold/unfold.

No, the Diblasi has a niche,does the big fish?

EastBiker

+1

bhkyte

A couple of pictures to show my point. And a newer R22 20" Diblasi

Any big fish owners out there to comment on the bike merits?

bhkyte

Yeah, they are not light, that's not their strong point. quality is not great either.

Any big fish or Diblasi reviews?

thatsut

LOL! as a designer (architecture) this could be any of us

snafu21

It does look er, odd like that. But I am the only person in the known universe who thinks an unfolded Brompton looks like it's been in a railroad accident. My Dutch chum agrees. She refuses to buy 'such an ugly bike' . Naturally my opinion is hugely valid because I've neither ridden a Brompton, nor a Big Fish. :-)

EastBiker

Very nice pics, can we see some of the DiBlasi folded?

bhkyte

I therefore formally withdraw my nomination for you to be the "folding bike party leader", and therefore proto prime minister....... Unless there is some money in it for me.

PS. Can I keep my OBE?

Chop!

Hmmm, I have some, limited experience in these matters...............

I own a DiBlasi.................

Folding Motorbike! Bought in Saint Tropez in the 80s, I was arrested for smuggling it through London Gatwick Airport (pre EU, I had paid tax in France & used it for 7 months)
According to the Customs officials I was the 1st person in history to try to smuggle a motor vehicle through an airport!

The stainless steel version of the bicycle is ideal for use on your yacht BTW!

The trike version is ingenius & folds quickly to a fraction of it's normal size.

So DiBlasi gets my vote.

Big Fish :-

We took one to Spezi, and although everyone tried it, no-one liked to ride it, the components are too cheap & heavy.

Sue from Velovision rode it the 6 miles from our Bus to the show on the 1st day, she found it very hard going over the mixed road & forest tracks.

There were no takers for it on the Sunday and it was left in the Bus.

Pics to follow.......

snafu21

"There were no takers for it on the Sunday and it was left in the Bus."


That's because it was designed by a Mad Person.

Res ipsa loquiter

bhkyte

Yeah,yeah.

You need to get used to the difference between its "concertina" fold, rather than standard fold.

Newer Diblasi bikes also have folding forks.
Its just as compact as most comparable folders in practical use. ie it is lower folded than anything else 16" ttbomk. Therefore it fits under coffee tables best, it fits very well in to trains,goes better between seats than a Brompton, mezzo, it fits in small cars better in my experience than a standard folding bike.

bhkyte

Good to get a review from real experience!

jur

Nail in the bigfish coffin. The only thing it had going for it was the cutie riding a bigfish in the last Smithfield Nocturne.

Chop!

Most people that rode it compared it to a cruiser bike in the way it rode. That is not a bad thing if you like that style of riding (I do sometimes) With some lighter components and, more importantly, decent wheels & tyres, it could be a much nicer bike. So I don't want people to bury it on my say-so! LOL!

bhkyte

Thanks,a niche developing?

brommie

There is a review of Bigfish in Velo Vision issue 37.

RobertLogie

Hi all
First of all I should 'front-up' that I work for Bigfish so please be nice to me.

I'd like to thank you for all your comments - it's genuinely helpful hearing you talking about our niche. Your input does really help us, and helps us improve the next generations of the bike.

On the point of the pic with the 'mad person' and the bike - If I could draw your attention to it in this video, https://bit.ly/5YQ1bj (and not the village-of-the-damned photo that was chosen for the website) it shows how the wheeling of the folded bike really works. Quite a unique benefit this is.

When folded it's also a lot nicer to store and carry than some of the other more traditional folds, as it's actually very narrow and sits on four little feet.

I think what you write, Chop!, is fair about being more of a cruiser. We're not there (yet, with this model) to compete with the serious long-distance, speeding commuters, but for weekenders, 3-4mile commutes, leisure riding and style-conscious, we're finding a good niche.

We're also finding that the styling and colouring of the Bigfish is appealing to the increasing amounts of female cyclists, which can only be good I'm sure you'll agree! The pink one in particular is a real hit.

Would love to see them if you do have any pics from SPEZI?

Finally, are any of you going to be at the Smithfield Nocturne Folding Bike Race next month? If so, hope to see you there!

Chop!

Hi Robert

Thanks for your input, I've attached 2 pics from Spezi but you can also see a video & piccies & report from Velovision.

I would like to try a Big Fish which has been treated to some nice lighter wheels, quality high pressure tyres and some tidy gears.

As I said in my second post, I considered the first post constructive criticism and wanted to make it clear that I did not want people to write it off on my say-so.

Good luck with it's development.

Did you read the comments on that daft Big Fish survey?