So. Here we are. I've been riding the Strida for a while now. Every day when I've been working in the office it has come with me on the train. I've only not used it on London work trips becuase I haven't sorted the brakes out. We've pedalled ourselves up the hill to the office nealry every day and passed at my colleagues walking so that I'm sat at my desk drinking soffee and 'working' by the time they get in. The ride back down to catch the 17:46, well I reckon I could go faster but the drag from my silly grin, even in the pouring rain, slows me down. Weeeeeeeeeee! Riding it evenings and weekends on the flat provokes similar child-like emotions. You can't go fast. But you can have fun.
Tomorrow I have to go and commit myself to a monthy season ticket to cement the relationship. Or not. So read on....
I took a long hard look at my choices. I can't afford a new Brompton or similar. 2nd hand they are not a lot cheaper either. Cheap folders, with one exception are awful. No, seriously they are truly tragic and when you are 6' 2" and weigh as much as I do dangerously tragic too. Bendy seat posts, flexy bars and brakes that are purely decorative.
The only exception is the Compass Marine. As far as I can see it is an old Dahon clone. Singlespeed. Well made, good components, beloved of sailors. "Oh err missus!" But it folds badly, has to be held that way with bungies, and when folded is, well, frankly, huge, and ungainly and, to be honest, unattractive.
The Strida? I hardly ever have to carry it. My local station has these big steel gutters on the stairs so you can wheel a Strida up and down them with ease. Can't do that with a 20" wheel bike or an 'ordinary bicycle'. It unfolds in seconds flat, and if I unfold the bars and pedals whilst the train is pulling into the station, I'm off and cycling within 5 seconds of reaching the roadside. The look on the faces of passers by is amazing. They see you coming out of the station wheeling something that, to be honest, most looks like some sort of children's buggy, then kapow, it turns into a bike. and I'm off and away.
I've adapted to the twitchy handling and the unusual riding position. The ONLY downside is the amount of attention the darned thing draws. I'm sure this is down to the plastic wheels and the huge plastic frisbee sized 'chainwheel'. People stare at it goggle eyed. If you are a shrinking violet it isn't a bike for you. I wonder if the wirewheeled and more conventionally 'chainwheeled' Mk 4's and Mk 5's attract so much attention? People, total strangers, and we are talking about England for pities sake, start conversations with you! "Is it a bicycle?" is a common opening gambit, with "What is it?" coming a close second. The learned grizzled ones shuffle across, and mutter "How many inches?". It is a great bike for meeting new people on. Actually there is another, albeit small, downside. The rear mudguard is too short and you get a wet arse in the rain. A homemade bodge will sort that shortly.
I seem to have found some drivetrain spares I can buy and put away until needed. Moulding the rear 'cog' as part of the back wheel strikes me as a short sighted option, and I think an opportunity may have been missed in not having identical front and rear wheels. I got a bargain pair of tall rider folding handlebars for it from Vanmoof the current Europen distributors and have found a shop in London, Velorution, with a few NoS bits in, including my much needed brake shoes, which I'll get next week. No point putting the new bars, levers and cables on until I have the new brake shoes. It may even get upgraded to Mk 3.25 status with a plastic front wheel and a wire rear (pending me finding someone somehwere with a wire front wheel for sale simply so I can put higher pressure tyres on both ends). That's the troble with buying a unique and extra-ordinary bike no longer in production; spares become a worry, and no one will let me trade it in against a Mk 5. You have to take a long view.
Strida Mk 3.2, multi-modal bargain or eBay waste of dosh? Very much the former in my view. I love it. I love it to bits. Best cheap secondhand bike I've ever bought. I'm so looking forward to turning up at our next local cycle forum on it. The other members pull my leg that I never cycle to these meetings, they are held only 500m from my door and getting a bike out of the shed and locking it up at the venue takes longer than walking does. I'll show 'em. I'm even toying with the idea of riding London to Brighton on it for charity. God forbid, and I never thought I'd say this, but when cyclescheme comes around again next year I might go and have a demo ride on one of the Mk 5's. One of the sporty MAS Specials could be splendid fun on a Friday Night Ride to the Coast in aid of Martlets Hospice.
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Thanks for taking an interest. Keep it clean legal decent honest and truthful and who knows I may even post it.