Crabby_Bill

The BYB s11 is (for now) my daily commuter and I took it on a 300+ mile tour to another state. I am not a folding bike nerd guy, but I ride this thing everyday and am offering my thoughts.

Pros:
(1) Fair balance of portable and comfortable
(2) Many accessories
(3) Generally, higher quality components, assembly, and construction. Bike feels solid.
(4) (It is fun to blow by others on your sweet folding bike with the little baby caster wheels hanging off the back- haha)

Cons:
(1) Requires extra engineering to get your standard equipment to work
(2) Many moving pieces- don’t seem to always have finesse when unfolding
(3) Many moving pieces – things need to be well tuned.
(4) (someone asked me what type of bike it was. I replied, “It is a Tern.” He responded, “a Turd?” hAHA)

I dig this bike. I own several bikes and choose to ride this one most often because it is the most flexible for my lifestyle. I am carfree. This bike rides well enough, but fits in an uber, airplane, elevator, or closet. It gets many compliments too.

I modified my touring panniers to change the position of the top hooks. Lowering the hook position allowed me to use large panniers on the standard rack, without dragging the ground.

I used the “Stow Bag” from Tern to check the BYB on Southwest Airlines. It is a bit awkward to carry the Stow bag around with a weird center of gravity. There were no additional fees by the airline for checked baggage. One side of the bracket for the front fender was bent a little on route, but nothing major or critical. I expect that this bike will take a beating, just like all folding bikes.

I wish that there were a special bag for the “Stow Bag” when not in use because it is bulky. The Stow Bag has a few small holes from abrasion on the outside of the bag after travel on the airline, but not critical. I put my panniers in the stow bag with the bike for transport on the flight. The BYB, two panniers, stow bag, and a Brooks saddle came out to 41 lbs.

The gearing is comfortable, but you can’t jump up on cranks to dart across an intersection. I take my saddle with me in big cities to avoid theft because the quick releases are so obvious on the long seat post. The factory saddle is very narrow. If you add your own saddle, the bike will be a bit wider than the listed specs. Also, I installed my lock on the bottle cage rack on the top tube. When the bike is in folded position, the lock/bottle cage placement and saddle have some interference. The saddle is the outside edge of the bike when folded and may get beat up.

It is difficult to find a good place to mount my particular lights. I had to get creative to use my favorite equipment.

It is very convenient to fold up and then lock it up, but may attract more or less attention? This bike stands out, for better or worse…

I use it in trolley mode with the handle bars extended and my groceries hanging from handle bars like a cart. In trolley mode, it will not roll comfortably in a backward direction because the rear tire is contacting the ground and the cranks want to spin. It will turn and freewheel going forward. It works very well in trolley mode and I have rolled on city sidewalks for several blocks without problems.

This bike is cool, but you need to be a smart bear to use it. Some occasions things get caught up when I fold/unfold. Not a big deal, but you may have a look a of confusion on your face for 20 seconds or so in public as you find things coming together/apart. There are many micro steps and moving parts/fittings to align, like all folding bikes.

I had to replace the rear brake cable. The tag end of the brake cable was striking the heel of my shoe with each revolution of the cranks and broke from the repetitive motion.

The Kanga rack option is cool, but you can’t fold the bike with it attached. I like to use my Ortlieb pannier mounted sideways on the Kanga rack for max capacity. I added an upgraded center mount “Y” kickstand. My bike is often loaded with baskets/panniers and I like a stable platform for loading/unloading.

The factory kickstand gets hung up on the non drive side pedal. The shape of the platform allows the kickstand to catch on the inside when the cranks spin towards the kickstand. Frustrating. The kickstand/pedal interference would have made my top three cons list above, but I no longer have this problem on my bike because I changed my kickstand.

At first, I did not like that the cables extended so far out in front of the bike. Now, I like it. The cables provided a sense of the direction of the bike while moving. The front wheel is not visible, but the cables look like a front wheel and give your eyes some reference for the direction and speed of the bike. I wish the cable wrapping was higher quality because it is so visible on this bike.

My hands get dirty/oily when I remove the pedal from the crank and rack it on the frame for transport. Removing the pedals is the only time that the bike gets me dirty. The little yellow plastic tab that secures the pedal is hard to remove and may go flying into outer space when it snaps out of place during installation. I'll buy a spare.

The chain is well protected by a chain guard. If the chain guard is not perfectly properly aligned, it will rub the cranks/grind/noise as you ride.

It is a great bike, but the tolerances are slim on a few things that may require a bit of adjustment on the fly. It is a great bike for a serious user.

Love it, so far.

+Crabby_Bill