Strida 5.0: Other voices

Rats, I missed fat boy's baiku. I can only blame the busy holiday season for my oversight! Sorry.

Now to the topic at hand: The Strida 5.0 folding bicycle. James the Designer finally posts his review of the Strida 5.0 folding bicycle. I really like his viewpoint from a real product designer's point of view. Some of my thoughts on his notes:

• "Fritz mentioned in his post, that his Strida was slightly difficult to assemble. Maybe mine was packed differently, but I didn’t have that experience at all." There's a reason I'm a software programmer, rather than somebody who's permitted access to a screwdriver and other dangerous tools. Mechanically, I'm kind of a klutz. Once I figured it out, though, I concur that this bike easily folds and unfolds in seconds. If you're a klutz like me, a brick-and-mortar dealer does the assembly for you and can demo the fold/unfold, as Chicago Strida dealer Rapid Transit Cycleshop in Chicago notes in their blog.
  
  
• "Plastic chainring." I agree with James, the belt drive and chainring is not an issue for me at all. Like James, I'm very impressed with how clean the whole drive train is, even after a rain ride.
  
  
• "The Strida attracted more attention than any other bike I have ridden." I parked my Strida outside of my office door, and I am stepping out every 20 minutes or so giving a demonstration of this bike to a new set of coworkers. As I've mentioned, I work in an engineering facility and all of the engineers geek out on this bike in a major way. Children and adults that I ride by on my commute openly gawk and point at this bike. As soon as I was home last night my son wanted to ride it around the neighborhood again.
  
  
• "There were a few things that I would change about the Strida." I had the same exact idea as James for a cantilevered seat. I'm a little shorter than him at 5'9", but even on me the bike feels cramped.
  
  
• "It felt like riding a highwheeler which was kind of fun." I also had exactly the same thought! (as my knees swung up near the handlebars)
  
  
• "The plastic rear rack." I was able to hang an empty pannier on it but I haven't actually gone anywhere with a pannier mounted. A rainjacket fits just fine in the little pocket formed by the rack.

Elsewhere about the Strida 5.0:

• Gizmodo: Folding bike sheds weight.
  
  
• Velo Orange: Strida folding bikes reviews the the Strida 3.2.
  
  
• Treehugger: Strida 5: World's lightest folding bike.
  
  
• Kevin Kelly Cool Tools: Portable transit for urbanites.
  
  
• Larry in New Orleans promises a Strida 5.0 review soon over at Ride This Bike.