Bike Friday Twins

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I told the group I would get back to them when I decided what to do with my new (lightly used) Bike Friday Pocket Crusoe. There were 3 things that I found wrong with it after my week trip. My hands hurt, my privates hurt, and it was too slow. I bought an adjustable stem and the hands are fine. I bought a saddle similar to the one on my road bike, and now that area is fine.

Then I needed to deal with the gearing. Since it had a double in the front (53/39) and mountain bike cassette in the rear (11/32), I thought it would behave like my road bike. But the 'gear inches' are different due to the small wheels. The BF had more low gears than I need and not a high enough gear so was too slow. I bought 2 larger chainrings (56/42) for the front, and although it is not quite as fast as my road bike, it is much improved. I realized (after the fact) that Bike Friday had solved this issue with the Capreo rear cassette and hub which has a 9 tooth sprocket, but it was too expensive for me to change all those parts. From a previous thread, you know you are into bikes when all you can think of wanting for your birthday is new chainrings.

So, now my DH need a BF so he can travel with me. Again, we kept looking at craigslist. Today, we went about 100 miles away to pick up another (lightly used) BF New World Traveler. A woman had only ridden it 100 miles and she was 6’ tall (hubby is 6’2”). There was no picture, but the specs were right. This one even had the Capreo setup and the road bike tires. We got there, and it was green and looked just like mine! Now, we don’t usually go in for the cutesy matching thing, but see the picture below. Did you ever get the feeling that your name was on something before you bought it?

[Sylvia]

Amazing that you both ended up with the same color. Somethings are just meant to be.

How is your husband enjoying the Capreo setup?

[Tri Girl]

What luck! I think it's a match made in heaven.

Interesting what you said about the gearing on your BF. I know they say it's geared appropriately for the smaller wheels, but I'm finding the *same* issue with mine (sometimes I don't have a hard enough gear, but I have plenty low enough gears). I may try to change out the front chainring and see if that helps. I'm FAR slower on my Friday than my road bike, even tho everyone else says that I shouldn't be... glad to know I'm not the only one.

[malkin]

Good for you!
Going green for Earth Day!

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I took my BF out for a real test ride of about 13 miles with some big hills and a long flat stretch to see how it would perform with the new 56/42 front chainrings. (I still have low gears because my rear cassette is 11-32.) It is so much better! The bike just seems more peppy. I was no longer pedaling air in the high gear. It still has one gear lower than my road bike, so went up hills just fine. It's about 1 - 1 1/2 gears lower in the high range than my road bike, but still acceptable. Instead of topping out in the flats at 11-13mph, I was comfortably riding 13-15mph. That was fast enough to not feel like a slug. So, now I have my bike Friday all fixed.