FS : Bike Friday New World Tourist

[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.