n+1 #Strida Mk 3.2, multi-modal bargain or waste of money? Episode 5 east meets west #cycling

In which our hero recieves conflicting advice about the shortage of spare parts or the abundance of same

So where were we. Oh yes, I'd nearly died and had resolved to be more careful. The feeler guages arrived and armed with some loctite I set about my snubber. Jolly good. DAK! banished to tolerable levels in minutes flat. As I always say to my wife "It's so easy when you've got the right tools"

I decided to send an email reuesting information on availability and prices for spare parts to a short list of dealers and distributors.  The responses I got back are confusing and contradictory. In Holland they say no more plastic wheels ( potentially career ending injury for the plastic wheeled Strida with its built in rear sproket - if that wears or you otherwise damage the wheel you need a new rear wheel. If you can't get a new rear wheel your Strida is useless) but wire ones are availalbe for £100 + P+P), in Hong Kong they say not sure about wire wheels but they are about £60 (ex VAT & P+P) if they can get them but they have plastic ones in stock for £25. So i'm gonna get me one of them there wheels from Hong Kong along with a new front disc which is nearly 50% cheaper than in the UK.

When the handlebars come I'm gong to move the saddle up a bit more and that, as they say, will be that tinkering wise for now. Except.... Except well Mark Saunders has told me the most rigid bottom bracker assembly they ever made for the MK1, 2 or 3 was the alloy one fitter to the Mk 1. and I found someone breaking a Mk 1 for spares on eBay, and got the BB assembly for a song.  In lousy nick paintwork wise but nothing some hammerite won't cover up it seems.

So you own a Strida then. How's that going for you they ask.  Well it has come into it's own several times over the weekend/evenings when an errand has had to be run which normally would have seen me drive or faff about getting a 'proper' bike out of the shed. And has been great for getting into town on at lunchtime. So thus far I'm pleased with it. I drew the line on a 20 mile round trip on Thursday night last week and tool my fast tourer aka le velo noir to do that on; not really the Strida's niche. That niche, and having a clear idea of it in your head is critical to succesful ownership I think.  It is never going to replace a full size bike, or be my only bicycle in a way that, in the past, a Brompton has been. But for short journeys, where I don't want to lock and leave a bike, where I'm riding for utility not pleasure, it fills what is, for me a tricky gap.  Would I ever buy a new one? No I don't think so; the design is a tiny bit flawed in my eyes; belt slippage and the methods used to control and tame it are a bit of a fudge, and my physical dimensions are right out there at the edge of the specification envelope. I know in the far est they now make a smaller model. For me they need to make a bigger one!

A final word for now.  A strida also gives one a huge sense of moral superiority over other folder owners, when riding on a train it can get all up-close-and-personal without covering me in greasy marks and, more improtantly on exiting the train I roll it out along the platform whilst the Bromptonisti lug their shin biting lumps along with sholders trying to burst from their sockets. (Hint; fit some in line skate wheels to the rack chaps and roll it on those)

Very gratifying.

 

 

Posted via email from greg collins' posterous