New Bike Friday pakiT - Mostly Good/Some Bad
 

After a 3 month wait, finally got my first Bike Friday, 2017 pakiT. Factory seemed to have gotten everything I checked off right; 8 speed der., 165 mm cranks, etc. Not too happy with the chain rubbing the rear triangle when in the smallest rear cog. Extra mount by the rear caliper seems too close to the tire. Currently running Kojaks; I'm afraid Marathons might rub - we'll see. Lots of grease applied to seatmast; making it slip. Bike rides fine otherwise. Have a Revelate Designs large Sweetroll Bag on the way. Will probably upgrade to 10 speed when chain & cassette wears out. What mods/upgrades have owners done? Last thing; my dealer(BFold of NYC) is great. Always responded to my concerns/question. Bike Friday's treatment to me has been poor; no reply to any of my queries.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...3cb49488_z.jpg2017 Bike Friday pakiT by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

Congrats. Looking forward to more updates as you ride the bike more.

Really surprised by BF's ghosting of you. I thought part of the premium price was the personalized customer service? You're lucky you have a local BF dealer--wish there was one around here. BF Pakit is one of the bikes on my mind.

Call BF and find out if you're getting dropped in the Spam folder. They're usually very good about responding to emails.

So the chain is rubbing the right "seatstay" (if you can call it that) in the smallest cog? Hmmm, wonder how we solve that one. Any chance the BB spindle is just a skootch too long and putting the chainring farther outboard than it should be?

Their service is usually great. I find it takes 3-4 days to get an answer to a non-urgent email, but I have always received a response. Definitely call and ask what's up (I'm assuming you checked your spam folders just in case).

Tim Link is their service guy... I Call them on the Phone (they pay for an 800 line)

Mods? reads like you need a little washer added on the drive side (pull the axle out by loosening the Left side)

I have Ergon GR3 grip/barends on my Tikit, and my Brompton M3L

Maybe I should have it the other way around; mostly bad/some good? :D
Before I placed my order; I was in email communication with a few folks there.
They were responding to my questions; Hannah, Andrew, Peter. After I placed
my order thru my local shop; no more replies to my emails. They came out with
titanium parts; can I have that in my model? They came out with a coupon code;
can I apply this to my order? Ignored, no response. I was this close -><- to
cancelling my order. Their only saving grace was that the local dealer; BFold
had strong customer service. If my lbs was also unresponsive; I would have
cancelled.

BFold is trying to straighten out my issues with Bike Friday. I was thinking of
the same idea @fietsbob ; spacer between casette lockring & frame. Demo bike
and most Pakits the shop sold were Alfine IGH.

I was thinking adding it, a washer as spacer, to the axle under the locknut.. if that was unclear ..

My Season Tikit has a Sram i9 IGH,... same Idea 135 axle IGH.. it's cog is not outboard as much as a cassette top cog..


I tend to call them on the Phone , maybe because I'm old and don't work in a computer centered job..

retired from ever having one like that..




...

First off there's the east coast/west coast time difference.
Second, sending an email with a photo makes things easier than describing how it looks like over the phone.

haha... you didn't call.

https://i.imgur.com/ZtRxvot.png

With the understanding that most of this is wild @ssed speculation ...

I think there are two things happening.

One, the business has been pretty busy lately. They're still in the peak sales season and besides rolling out a relatively new product, selling shares of the business to raise capital has to be time consuming.

Two, Bike Friday is still trying to figure out how to incorporate the LBS into their sales model. Up to now, I understand that their sales was predominantly through sales reps over the phone. While in theory, we all like to think that folks will be just as helpful as before, if the LBS is now part of the "sales team" it seems natural to think that the shop should be the communication point.

My own experience calling them is that if your question requires a senior person with something detailed -- I wanted to swap the seat mast and rear triangle on a medium and large tikit** -- it might take a while to make the connection to get the nitty gritty. Anyway, I suspect that David Lam will be able to handle your problems.

** It turns out that Bike Friday bikes are not quite so modular making it hard to swap frame parts. That is, there is a bit of bike-specific fitting going on during construction such that retro-fitting parts is a more involved process than one might think. (It's not as easy as LEGOs)

Too Bad there is no 3 pulley RD, anymore, to get chain wrap without so long a cage..
the bottom one is pretty close to the ground, with 16" wheels..
So on bikes like these they begin to make sense..

I think Bike Friday hasn't sorted out the whole dealer network thing. I ordered my Haul-a-Day directly from them, because had I gone to a dealer I would have paid exactly the same, but without all the custom options/color choice/nameplate/etc.

So why go to a dealer at that point?

Their customer service for me was tremendous, but I think if you go to a dealer/LBS, they want that LBS to handle the customer service end of things. If you started directly with them, but then went to an LBS, I think you may have crossed the streams on their service channels and maybe got stuck in the lurch.

Incidentally, what is your impression of sturdiness of this bike? It looks like the rear "triangle" and the steerer are secured to the frame via a loose interference fit secured by a little spring-loaded rounded peg/button.

In my experience, those little button/pegs are fiddly, and not really secure.

Seems pretty sturdy to me. This is my first BF; but as you know a lot of people use BF's for loaded touring. Yes, this is a new model. But the flip up rear and detachable mast have been used on other models for years. The release for the rear triangle is not as polished as let's say Brompton's. Going from parked position(open/folded) to riding position(closed); sometimes the button doesn't catch. But as soon as you sit; it clicks. It's only function is to hold the rear up when lifting the bike anyway; so it's not a big deal for me. A bit of flexing on the handlebar mast; maybe to be expected on most folding bikes. I think the flex is due to the mast being long; not due to BF's quick release design. There is a button to line up the handle bars straight. But you still need to tighten the qr manually.

It's running much better after a few tweaks from BFold. Spacer added to prevent chain rub when in smallest sprocket. Quick release seatpost clamp swapped for fixed clamp. Pin guide on mast moved to accommodate bag. Thanks David!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4495/...a5707016_z.jpgBike Friday pakiT from BFold by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

I'm shocked they didn't get back to you. I called them once with a question, and they periodically continue to follow up with me.

I am in the middle of a customer service question myself. I ordered a bike. Email back and forth was OK. But, needed a phone call or two to get things done. The guy at BF said things had been busy.


Then I had to cancel the order. They hadn't even started the construction process yet so there was no problem. The same person at BF said that my refund would be processed. After a couple weeks the refund had not hit my bank. BF comment was that it would be processed in a couple more weeks. My reply was that they charged my account within hours of me placing the order. No reason to delay the refund.


I had hoped to place the order again when my situation changed. But, now I'm not so sure.

I assume you have the seatpost scored or marked in some manner to help with setting the saddle height after each time you fold it down?

I pull out the seatmast till I see the maximum extension mark/lines. Push it down till the mark disappears.
I swapped the seatpost quick release for a fixed collar. Set it at my desired height and tightened the bolt.

Now every time I pull up the seat; I use the max extension line as my guide. Just one quick release to fiddle instead of two.

because they fold down , you don't have the same reset the saddle height issues of telescoping seat posts. (it's true on my Tikit and Pocket Llama)

the height is fixed.. not QR telescoping, like Brompton ..

(they have an accessory sleeve, around the hidden end of the seat post,
that the flare in the bottom of the seat post hits when you pull it up, against the frame bushing)

I've not needed it, on my B , i Just know when it's right, and adjust it if it's not, the QR lever makes that easy. ;)

[Or the Dahon/Tern stuff..]




....

By fold it down, I meant the bike. It looks like the seatpost of the PakiT just drops down/telescopes into the frame, which would require resetting the height every time.

Reads like you don't know, So, If it matters do more research, like calling them on the Phone, perhaps?

As a JIT manufacturer you have options on their Specification Menu, with your order , and Deposit $..

They can make the post hinged or removable, its a choice..




...

Please don't reply anymore. The videos also show them clearly dropping the telescoping seatpost into the frame to fold. I was asking Interceptor how he goes about setting his seat height each time, either a mark or if there was some other way, and he answered.

I'm really not sure what your issue is.

Own any Of Bike Friday's Bikes? or are you an expert looking at a picture..

I like bfold too. Bought two Birdy from them. David is great and very helpful.