FS : Bike Friday New World Tourist

[Fredwina]

Well, since it it gathering dust, I 've decided it's time to send it on to a more loving home. And I decided to let you all have a first shot before I put on E-bay or the Yak! list
As you may know BF are custom. I'm %'10, and usually ride a 54 cm frame
Color Flag red
H-bars - but you may want to get new pair(see pics)
Sora Triple Crank
SRAM 11-32 9 speed cassette
Shimano Deore RD
Campy Mirage FD
Shimano 220 shifters
Tektro Brakes
Shimano Hubs/ Sun CR-18 rims(Scharder 36h) Schwable Marathon tires
Terry Liberator Saddle
Speaking of Liberating things - The 'puter , pump, and lights stay
Blackburn rack
I'm probably throw in the suitcase , too (Samsonite Flite)
Please PM if interested I'm thinking around $800 OBO
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/20080126-lytle%20Creek/SUNP0030.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/Fredwina_photo/20080126-lytle%20Creek/SUNP0029-1.jpg

[Running Mommy]

VERY COOL!
Too big for me, but I would love to have one!
We had a tandem BF in for a new rear D and hub overhaul last week. She was one SWEET ride!
The owners are an older couple who have toured Europe on her. I was SOO jealous!

[tulip]

Best of luck in selling it. I'm getting a different model for my trip to France and Spain in May. I'll post pics when it comes in!

[Trek420]

I need to let Duck on Wheels know about this. She is 5'10 and is a world traveler. Is it on E-bay yet?

[Blueberry]

If it were a little smaller, I'd buy it. That's an awesome deal, and they've very cool bikes (I have the lighter weight version).

Tulip - What are you getting??

[tulip]

If it were a little smaller, I'd buy it. That's an awesome deal, and they've very cool bikes (I have the lighter weight version).

Tulip - What are you getting??

PRP--:D

[Duck on Wheels]

Well, actually I'm 5'9" and shrinking, but I do still ride a pretty big bike. My main ride is a 19" Trek 7.6. So maybe that would fit me pretty well. And Trek420's been nagging at me to get a Bike Friday since she thinks I travel so much. Well, I do travel quite a bit some years, although right now I'm not getting so many flyer miles in due to a tight teaching schedule. But, yeah. At $800 that's a pretty sweet deal. Where is this bike living at the moment?

[Trek420]

And Trek420's been nagging at me to get a Bike Friday since she thinks I travel so much.

I'm not nagging tooooo much am I ;) Duck, get a Bike Friday

[Blueberry]

PRP--:D

Cool:) May you have many happy miles:D:D

[Fredwina]

Duck, it's in LA.
It's not ebay. yet. (probably this weekend)
ps. they took away the internet for us peon wage slave contractor, so it may be a while before I can respond (bitter, me?)

[Duck on Wheels]

Okeeeiii. LA. That's not too far away from the Bay Area. So shipping shouldn't be prohibitive. If it's in its suitcase, storage in my Mom's garage (Sonoma) shouldn't be a problem. I should give her a call first though to clear that, which I won't be able to do until I get home Saturday night (I'm at a 3-day meeting in Oslo now). Also, I'd have to make an electronic transfer from my bank here to my Wells Fargo account, after which I could send you a check. That can be done. There are instructions on the respective bank web sites, though I've never had to do that before. Always just topped up the WF account with my Skandinaviabank visa card when I was in the States. But I know where to look up the codes, so it should be no prob. Final trepidation: being based in Norway with next CA visit scheduled for end of June I wouldn't be able to give it a test ride. I'd just have to cross my fingers about the fit and feel. Hmmmm. At 800 I'm sorely tempted. How much would a new set of bars cost, I wonder? And everything else is in good shape, you say?

[Blueberry]

Duck-

DH put some H bars on his old commuter and ISTR they were in the $40 range (for the special, split H bars). They're awesome for in town riding especially, but they give you lots of hand positions for longer distances.

CA

Yep - just looked. They're $45 plus shipping. http://store.bikefriday.com/index.php?osCsid=befb5056e330e3f23c93563a89154e3c&osCsid=befb5056e330e3f23c93563a89154e3c&cPath=155

[KnottedYet]

Duck - if it doesn't fit you (like if it's too small, specifically) there is always the Knot Kneed. I can be your back-up second purchaser.

And Trek can't complain about it, CUZ IT FOLDS UP ALL SMALL AND CUTE-LIKE!
;) :D

[Fredwina]

duck and knot,
as far as I know the handlebars are it!
it has about 1600 miles.
Yes, I'll break it down in the suitcase
but wait, I've also got a spare tire!
Seriously, It just sitting here and I need the money(bald car tires)

[Duck on Wheels]

Arright. Let's go for this. Can't have you driving around on bald tires. That's just not safe! I'll do the bank transfer thing on Sunday, then write you a check. Meanwhile, could you find out your end what shipping will cost? Let me know and I'll add that on. PM me your address and I'll PM you my mom's or Trek's, depending on where we decide the suitcase gets parked until June. I'll call them on the weekend for a D-side.

[Trek420]

DoW, you can't easily ship to my home because I'm usually not here to receive it. PM me and we'll discuss other options. :p I'm off to walk the dogeeeee now then out so shop for kitchen lighting.

[Duck on Wheels]

DoW, you can't easily ship to my home because I'm usually not here to receive it. PM me and we'll discuss other options. :p I'm off to walk the dogeeeee now then out so shop for kitchen lighting.

Makes more sense to have it at Mom's anyway. She has an enclosed garage. And a garden gate behind which a delivery person can tuck it if she isn't home when it arrives. Also, that's where I'll be staying when I visit.

[KnottedYet]

Yay! Now if we're all in town at the same time, we'll each have a bike to ride! :D :p :D

Tour de Sonoma!

[Fredwina]

anybody want to PM me a Zip so I can get an accurate estimate?
I would expect $40-60
And you would prefer UPS, FedEx, or USPS. FedEx is probably the easiest for me to get to.
Been taking it apart for preparation of Suitcase stuffing tomorrow

[emily_in_nc]

Neat! I hope the deal works out. I have a Bike Friday Pocket Crusoe (like CA_in_NC) and love it! :)

Emily

[Blueberry]

I'm in bike withdrawal. I haven't been able to ride for a couple of weeks because of a pulled back muscle.

So.... since I can't ride, and it is still winter, we both sent our fit stems in. Our Fridays look so sad, without their stems. I know the beautiful, matching ones will be here soon, and I can't ride anyway - but it doesn't stop me from wanting it back NOW:)

[Fredwina]

it's in the suitcase, and will be headed to Sonoma next week. Now if Manny, Joe and Jack would hurry up with my car...

[Fredwina]

Well, I braved LA Freeway traffic in the rain ("There's water falling from the sky. let's stop the car in the middle of the freeway and gawk:confused:") 2 hours vs 1 in the train
it should be in Sonoma Saturday.
DOW - I skipped the Caltech lecture. I'm going to Casa Grande, AZ for a Brevet tomorrow and i'm hoping to get an early start so I can drop in at Estrella Mountain Cyclery....RM, Do you have water bottles?

[Meg McKilty]

OK, Dumb post coming:

What really is so special about this bike? I have a touring Bianchi that looks much more comfortable than this for climbing the Himalayas.

[Blueberry]

Meg-

Bike Fridays fold up - they fit in an airline checkable suitcase. You can fly with them (generally) for no excess baggage charges. They also readily fit in car trunks and the like.

They may not look comfortable, but they actually are. My DH did a century last year on his, and he looks forward to many more on it this year. He finds it more comfortable than his big wheel. Ours are configured like road bikes, with drop bars - they really are more comfortable than they look!

[Tri Girl]

I was secretly wondering the same thing as Meg. They must be comfortable, tho, as I see people riding them for long distances. I've read two online journals of people who rode cross country on their BF's. They must be doing something right. And the packing up small without removing all the major parts (handlebars, pedals, seat, wheels)- gotta love that!

[Blueberry]

Paris Brest Paris on a Friday: http://www.mile43.com/peterson/pbpstory.html

[Fredwina]

I was secretly wondering the same thing as Meg. They must be comfortable, tho, as I see people riding them for long distances. I've read two online journals of people who rode cross country on their BF's. They must be doing something right. And the packing up small without removing all the major parts (handlebars, pedals, seat, wheels)- gotta love that!
Not quite!
Yes they do fit in suitcase.
But they usually custom 2 piece handlebars, and you do have take the pedals off(unless your chainring has more then 60 tooth, the you have take the chainring off). They do make folding pedals.
But, it does ride like a real bike and you don't have to worry about extra airline charges, or space on the train(which is why i bought it in the first place), plus the suitcase converts into a trailer for training

[Blueberry]

I think the biggest thing are the oversized baggage charges you get to avoid. You take off pedals and front wheel, split the handlebars, take out the seatpost, take off the stem, and fold it up. Probably about 4-5 bolts + pedals, and the pedals. It really doesn't take long (except the first time) - probably 15 minutes for me now.

CA

[tulip]

This thread has morphed in to a Bike Friday thread, which is neat. I love morphed threads.

CA in NC--my Friday comes in just a few more weeks, then I have to ride it with the fit stem, send it in, and get the real stem. I'm very excited about the bike, and about the trip to Europe later in the spring. Having the Bike Friday will simplify the trip in so many ways, from the airplane to the train to staying in B&Bs and hotels.

I also travel alot for work, by car and by train. It will be great to bring the bike with me (I have a small car--VW Rabbit--and no roof rack) on business trips and ride after work. Some of my clients are cyclists and it's very cool to discuss business and make deals while on a bike ride. Sure beats a cubicle!

This bike will by my most expensive, so I have high hopes that it will be up there with my Luna in comfort. Can I count it as a business expense if I do work while on the bike (and I have done that before!)?

[Thorn]

Continuing the thread hijack....I read a negative review on the Bike Friday that said after reconstituting it, that the derailleur always needed to be readjusted. In y'all's experience, any truth to that? My guess is not, but I've been trying to find opinions, both positive and negative.

Background...I just bought a custom bike. The fit is wonderful and very much non-standard. I take 1-3 bike vacations a year so I figure I have 3 options...take my beautiful new custom in a big box, paying upwards of $250/trip and risk TSA and baggage handler damage, continue renting bikes that can never fit for upwards of $250/trip, or, seriously contemplate a Bike Friday. I have to admin the latter idea is intriguing. This thread has me thinking it should be a plan and I should start saving the pennies.

Any negatives?

[tulip]

Continuing the thread hijack....I read a negative review on the Bike Friday that said after reconstituting it, that the derailleur always needed to be readjusted. In y'all's experience, any truth to that? My guess is not, but I've been trying to find opinions, both positive and negative.

Background...I just bought a custom bike. The fit is wonderful and very much non-standard. I take 1-3 bike vacations a year so I figure I have 3 options...take my beautiful new custom in a big box, paying upwards of $250/trip and risk TSA and baggage handler damage, continue renting bikes that can never fit for upwards of $250/trip, or, seriously contemplate a Bike Friday. I have to admin the latter idea is intriguing. This thread has me thinking it should be a plan and I should start saving the pennies.

Any negatives?

Thorn, I'll give you a full report once i have the bike and post-vacation. I, too, have a beautiful custom bike. I would love to bring it on vacation, but it's so cumbersome, not to mention the extra airline charges. Plus, this vacation I am flying into Paris and out of Barcelona, so it's kinda hard to be lugging a big bike box with me. You can always find cardboard boxes, but I don't want to put my nice custom bike in a cardboard box for the airlines to abuse. I want the flexibility to be more mobile on my bike vacations.

Stay tuned..should be start a new thread in the first category or keep it here?

[Triskeliongirl]

I owned a bike friday and rode it as my only bike for several years until it was stolen. I toured with it as well, riding it from Chiapis to Guatemala. I had a pocket rocket pro. While I enjoyed the bike tremendously, and the portability, I did have issues with poor shifting and frequent adjustments. I had a mechanic tell me its a problem on the smaller framed bikes with sti shifters, there is just not a lot of room between the rear hub and bottom bracket, and the lack of a top tube comprises stiffness. So, one solution is to use bar end shifters. With that being said, the ride was very comfortable, could easily ride 100 miles and my body felt no differently.

I have since replaced the stolen bike with a terry titanium isis as my go fast bike and a terry steel isis that I retrofitted with s/s couplers. My favorite of the 3 is the titanium isis, because it is the lightest and fastest. My second favorite is the steel isis, because it performs flawlessly, but it is heavier. My least favorite is the friday since it was also heavy and had performance issues.

Taking everything I now know, I'd try to get as light a full size bike as I could, ideally built with s/s couplers. The only downside to the s/s coupling, is that while it packs into an airline legal suitcase, it requires more technical expertise to reassemble/tune and doesn't quick fold to go on a bus or train, so it depends on your travel needs. I have friends very happy with their Ritchey Break a ways, anohter option, but they have longish top tubes so they don't work for a lot of shorter women.

[tulip]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Triskeliongirl. I'm getting a Pocket Rocket Pro with bar-end shifters. My thinking is that they are alot easier to repair than STIs, which is an important consideration for touring. It's nice to hear that yours was comfortable. So sorry to hear that it was stolen.

I considered getting a bike with S/S couplings. I couldn't add them to my Luna because the tubes are not round. Timing is an issue for me, too. I don't have six months or a year to wait for a custom-made S/S bike (and I need a shorter top tube). I don't know how light your Terrys are, but the PRP is about 17 lbs, which is pretty light, although not titanium light.

[Triskeliongirl]

I have a hard time believing that your PRP will only weigh 17 lbs unless they have shifted to lighter tubing since mine was built (2003). Perhaps if its a petite model and full durace....... I guess it also depends what it has on it when its weighed. But mine (ultegra w capreo hub) was closer to 21 lb with saddle, pedals, etc. Please report back to us on that point. I hope they have shifted to the new lighter weight steels, that suggestion has certainly been voiced before.

FYI, my terry titanium isis is ~19 lb and my terry steel isis is ~23 lb, again with saddle and pedals and water bottle cages, ready to ride.

I am not trying to diss bike friday, its just the bikes aren't cheap, so if I were to do it all over from the beginning, with lots of time, I would go custom w S/S couplers (like Deb W did). The cost could end up comparable and I do believe that a full size bike performs better. But indeed bike fridays are wonderful adventure bikes. Even the foldablity can greatly faciliate a trip with multiple modes of transportation, and they are easier to assemble and pack than an s/s coupled bike.

[Duck on Wheels]

Just got an IM from Trek. The BF has arrived in Sonoma. Of course, I'm here in Norway, the check is probably still in Norway in a mail sack headed for the airport, and the BF's case has a code lock to which we don't have the code. Fair enough. Tell you what, when the check arrives and clears the bank, can you PM me the code?

[tulip]

For those of you who are interested, I posted a picture of my new bike in the Bikes category. Pocket Rocket Pro, very nice to ride. :)

[Triskeliongirl]

I saw the pic. Very pretty! Out of curiousity, what does she weigh? You can weigh her by difference, first weigh yourself alone, then holding the bike, and compute the difference.

[tulip]

will do, and I'll report back in the Bikes section

[Triskeliongirl]

Thanks, just let us know if she is a 'petite' (lighter tubing for lighter folks) and what you weighed her with (saddle, pedals, water bottle cages, etc.).

[Trek420]

This weekend I was up at my Moms, the bike is still there and nobody's opened the case. So I wrote down the 4 digit combo and planned to open it and check the bike for my sister, Duck.

Only problem is the case is a 3 digit combo. I tried the first 3 digits, last 3, similar combos. Mom has a dial up connection so I could not spend a lot of time on TE.

Txt messages flew to KnottedYet and Duck on Wheels "try to find out what the combo is, this is not it".

Meanwhile we decided, "how many can it be? why hire a locksmith, let's just go through the possibilities"

So 001 (jiggle, push, try to open) 001 (nudge nudge) 003 (listen for a click) ..... 654 (wiggle, try the latch) 655 ..... cell rings.

"Try 999, 123, 524 or 000"

I started at 001 and .... it was 000. :rolleyes:

Guess I should keep my day job and forget the safe cracking job.

BTW the bike looks beautiful.