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New Bike Fridays!!

Old 09-18-14, 11:57 PM
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Machka 
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New Bike Fridays!!

First, a quote from Rowan as posted in the Folding Bike forum ...


Originally Posted by Rowan
Machka and Rowan would like to announce the arrival of almost-identical twins in the form of an orange and purple Bike Friday Pocket Llamas.

The delivery took around seven hours, including two hours for lunch with fellow forumite Doug64. It wasn't that there were problems, but the delivery was a huge amount of fun for us.

Many thanks to "Doctor" Mike Boggs for his amazing patience and skill, especially in how to fold and unfold the bikes without dramas.

Naturally, additional toys were the order of the day, including Bike Friday jerseys, a BF cap for me, and Schwalbe Durano slicks for each of the bikes to go with the Marathons we ordered.

We also got to tour the Bike Friday delivery rooms, AKA factory. It's a remarkable hive of activity and one surprise for me is that the tubes are delivered round, but BF ovalises the big ones themselves.

And we may have started to plan next year's overseas trip with Ruthy, a part-time BF consultant who also organises trips to Japan, and in particular Hokkaido which we visited a couple of years ago. She is organising another tour next year to Hokkaido, and it might be the opportunity we need to get those Bike Fridays doing what they are meant to do.

I know that Americans are proud of anything of good quality that is produced within its borders, and I think with what we now have and what we saw today -- and especially with the customer service -- that pride is well founded.

Pictures to follow.
Pictures!!

Click photos for more ...


Taken by Doug64










14.5 km done and lots of riding to come ... and hopefully some tours this coming summer.
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Old 09-19-14, 09:39 AM
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Excellent. Have fun on the new bikes. I've enjoyed all the Bike Fridays I've owned and have 2 in the fleet at the moment [Tikit & Tandem Traveller].
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Old 09-19-14, 09:58 AM
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Fwiw, Planet Bike's 20" wheel mudguards are what I used to fit on my Bike Friday PL.. I replicated the aluminum flat bar- Poprivet
attachment scheme of theirs , Then added a hoop brace to the very rear ..

Ok you are returning to summer down under mudguards may not be required right away ..
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Old 09-19-14, 12:01 PM
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Friday 9-19, are you still in Eugene? Coffee, lunch a beer?
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Old 09-19-14, 12:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Shifty
Friday 9-19, are you still in Eugene? Coffee, lunch a beer?
Thanks! But, no, we stayed overnight in Eugene after getting the bikes, then drove straight back to Vancouver, Canada, yesterday. We had planned for some riding today before setting off for destinations east in Alberta, but wouldn't you know it... it's raining!

Machka's folks live in Vancouver, so we will be back in the Pacific North-West again and maybe we can catch up then.
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Old 09-19-14, 01:36 PM
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You Make a Customs Import declaration ? Did They Ask?
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Old 09-19-14, 02:36 PM
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No drop bars? What blasphemy is this?!?
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Old 09-19-14, 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted by fietsbob
You Make a Customs Import declaration ? Did They Ask?
They don't live in Canada. When it comes to personal property they only have to declare what they are leaving in Canada.
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Old 09-20-14, 12:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Bacciagalupe
No drop bars? What blasphemy is this?!?
I brought bullhorn bars from Australia with me, and will fit mine up first. The issue is more the real estate that the SRAM brake and shifter levers will take up. But if they fit, the bullhorns will at least emulate hoods where both of us do most of our riding anyway.
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Old 09-20-14, 12:10 AM
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Originally Posted by fietsbob
You Make a Customs Import declaration ? Did They Ask?
Yes we did, and we had to go inside and present evidence of both the paid invoice and our tickets home to Australia. So vik is right, too. We didn't have to pay any Canadian taxes because we are taking them home with us to Australia, but we had to satisfy their questions... which in the end wasn't difficult (thank goodness for notebook computers and Live Mail).
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Old 09-20-14, 06:34 AM
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I have never owned a Bike Friday, but have thought about buying one. I think most tourists buy the NWT. Why did you get the Pocket Llamas instead of the NWT models?
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Old 09-20-14, 06:54 AM
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My friends did this recently and came home with a NWT and Tikit... after ordering the derailleur geared NWT my friend opted to switch that for the dual drive which he has used to tour in Europe with his beloved... although she is a novice cyclist he said he cannot keep up with her on that little rocket she rides.

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Old 09-20-14, 08:46 AM
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.. thanks , wondered about Duty on Goods from here. Sales tax free, Oregon LBS sells a few bikes to CDN citizens ..


Ergon GR5 offers bullhorn like integrated bar ends, with broad comfortable grips, I have a set on my BiFri split straight bar.
(& a shorter GR3 set on my Brommy.

Last edited by fietsbob; 09-20-14 at 08:51 AM.
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Old 09-20-14, 08:49 AM
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
I have never owned a Bike Friday, but have thought about buying one. I think most tourists buy the NWT. Why did you get the Pocket Llamas instead of the NWT models?
I can't remember the exact parameters, but the Pocket Llama is designed as much for off-road use as it is for on-road, so the BB is slightly higher; we seem to be exploring more and more on gravel roads when we are away, and we wanted the versatility. Plus it has the disc brakes, and I like those. The PL comes with wide tyres, obviously, but we took away from Bike Friday with us a pair each of Schwalbe Duranos which will fit the rims.
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Old 09-20-14, 09:16 AM
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New Bike Fridays!!

Congrats! But to be honest you two guys look to be more like the identical twins, especially in the first photo with those huge cheshire cat grins all over ya mugs!
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Old 09-20-14, 09:29 AM
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I do not know what you are doing for rear racks, but I think the RackTime FoldIt is one you might consider.

Originally Posted by Rowan
I can't remember the exact parameters, but the Pocket Llama is designed as much for off-road use as it is for on-road, so the BB is slightly higher; we seem to be exploring more and more on gravel roads when we are away, and we wanted the versatility. Plus it has the disc brakes, and I like those. The PL comes with wide tyres, obviously, but we took away from Bike Friday with us a pair each of Schwalbe Duranos which will fit the rims.
Thanks. That answers my question.

Originally Posted by Sixty Fiver
My friends did this recently and came home with a NWT and Tikit... after ordering the derailleur geared NWT my friend opted to switch that for the dual drive which he has used to tour in Europe with his beloved... although she is a novice cyclist he said he cannot keep up with her on that little rocket she rides.

I did an adventure cycling trip a couple years ago, of the 16 people there, three had Bike Fridays. One of those three had a Sachs 3 speed hub and was complaiining that they no longer made them. He said he wanted to find one to put on his wife's BF so she would have higher gearing. She was spinning out on flats with tailwinds and downhills. I told him that they were still made, now called Dual Drive from Sram and that I had put one of them on my Airnimal foldup bike because the Airnimal did not allow a front derailleur setup. If you decide that you need higher gearing on the Pocket Llama, the Dual Drive is not cheap, not lightweight, but it is a vialbe way to gear it up. If I bought a Bike Friday, I would get one with the Dual Drive for the higher gearing.
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Old 09-20-14, 10:03 AM
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Machka and Rowan would like to announce the arrival of almost-identical twins in the form of an orange and purple Bike Friday Pocket Llamas

Many thanks to "Doctor" Mike Boggs for his amazing patience and skill, especially in how to fold and unfold the bikes without dramas.

Sorry, couldn't resist.


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Old 09-20-14, 06:40 PM
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The stock 2 by 9 gives a nice touring /all around range between 23 and 90 gear inches with an 11-34 cassette and the dual drive offers 23 to 97 gear inches with a 42 tooth chainwheel... this is nearly the same gearing I have on my bikeE recumbent (Sachs 7 dual drive on a 20 inch wheel) while my folding touring bike has the same 2 by 9 derailleur set up with the 11-34.
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Old 09-21-14, 07:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
I have never owned a Bike Friday, but have thought about buying one. I think most tourists buy the NWT. Why did you get the Pocket Llamas instead of the NWT models?
Tire size maxes out at 1.75 with NWT. I got a NWT with a LLama front fork as well as a Llama. 2.0 Schwalbe big Apple is an excellent touring tire for a heavy load and rolls faster than the 1.5-1.75 block tread Kendas the bike came with. I appreciated the Big Apple riding through gravel covered lots and fast descents where loose rock was on the road.
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Old 09-22-14, 01:10 AM
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We're travelling rather than specifically cycletouring but ... some photos from our ride today ...

Click photos for more ...




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Old 09-22-14, 10:21 AM
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FWIW, I like the way the Front Pannier racks Bike Friday made , in 3 parts to pack flat , when carrying some weight in them ,
steadies the relatively short trail steering response.. {on my P Llama).

you did get the packable racks when you got the bikes?
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Old 09-22-14, 03:52 PM
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One of the odd things about 20" wheels is that if the front fender doesn't extend forward of the crown or the front rack doesn't have a cover I discovered the front wheel could still throw water up and I ended up riding into little fountain shooting up 4'
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Old 09-22-14, 04:44 PM
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YMMV. Planet Bike Recumbent Mudguards seem fine on my BiFri ..

they sell as an each.. F/Rear , so you can always use 2 rears & cut to suit,

I just use the front length (in front) .. been thru a couple really wet winters , heading into the 3rd its fine
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Old 09-22-14, 04:56 PM
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Visited the Bike Friday folks several decades ago.
A couple miles up the road in Eugene is Co-Motion which also makes some great tandems.
Did some test riding for BF on a tandem that converted to a single bike years ago . . .
Seems Eugene is a magnet for good bikes!
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Old 09-22-14, 09:30 PM
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Originally Posted by zonatandem
Seems Eugene is a magnet for good bikes!
And good bicycle paths, lanes, etc.
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