jur

+1

The concept of "If we price it lower, we'll sell more" must be foreign.

To my untrained eye, the Strido frame looks much simpler to produce than a welded folder frame. Plus the fact that cheap copies are in the marketplace, demonstrates that amply.

Amuro Lee

I heard that Ming is R&D'ing a lower-priced version of Strida with lower grade of specifictions. However, at the moment, nobody knows what it is going to be.

Carlos71

Cheaper than a Strida 3?

Amuro Lee

I'm not sure actually. But I heard that it may be a lower-priced verion of Strida 5.

KitN

+2

The pricing on the Strida is outrageously prohibitive and unrealistic. They would sell far more Stridas, make more of a profit and kill the counterfeit Strida market by simply pricing their bikes more realistically.

Clearly, there's a HUGE market for "cheap" Stridas which the copycats are filling. Why can't Strida beat them at their own game AND turn a healthy profit?!? Not by ripping off the 1,000 people that buy their bikes at full (over)price but by selling 100,000 of them at a lower pricepoint!

EvilV

I'm not sure how they could sell the two types of product side by side, unless the delux version had two gears or something. Maybe they should just contract the slo factories into a deal which gave them more profit than they can be getting now, forced certain quality points to be met, and sold them to the western public at £200. This would mean abandoning the current marketing 'strategy' totally. They are killing the goose that could be laying golden eggs. A niche boutique product will never sell many, and consequently, the available profits will be limited. A mass market cheap version would make them far more money, and do a lot of people a great deal of good.

Simple Simon

This thread sounds familiar. The pros and cons, rights and wrongs of copies and original Strida were discussed: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=405194

From google products in the UK
https://www.google.co.uk/products?q=Strida&hl=en
There is a 'Strida5 Clone' on ebay for £175, a Strida3 for £249 and a Strida5 for £339

So you 'pay's your money and makes your choice' : 1/2 price (or less if you are lucky) with no guarantees, comebacks etc. or full price for the real deal.

SesameCrunch

OMG, the laughs keep on coming out of Ming!

- This strategy would result in not one, but two, overpriced bikes from Ming, and result in cannibalization of the original overpriced bike.

The problem is that the current bike does not deliver enough value for the price. So, if they build an even lower value bike, over-price it, and distribute through art museums as if it were some object d'art, that would solve the problem?

Methinks this company thinks too highly of their *****. Now I'm p!ssed that I own a geniune Strida5. I don't feel like I want to support them anymore.

Anyone want to buy a red Strida5 in really good condition?

rhm

Familiar, indeed! What it comes down to is: (a) how well can you get warranty service; and (b) after the warranty expires, can you get replacement parts? If you are in a location where Strida is fully supported, it makes sense to support Strida. For the rest of us....

Just out of curiosity, a question for our friends who have Strida clones: have you tried replacing any broken parts with original Strida parts? I wonder how the quality compares, and how interchangeable they are.

Amuro Lee

I think the PR show in media is work inside Taiwan because some Taiwan media instigate the emotion of sectionalism in their reports by using sensational wordings.

You know, the fake Stridas come from mainland China...

EvilV

I know that a guy called Ringo on Amuro Lee's strida forum, has replaced the rear wheel on his strida clone with a 'real' strida wheel. He and I bought our clones from the same source. He found that the bearings in the clone wheel had identical bearings to the strida wheel and he swapped the wheels easily enough. His only problem was that the bearing was locktited onto the shaft which gave him a little difficulty in getting it off.

Both he and I had some problems with broken spokes. He had one breakage and changed the wheel. I got some new spokes made up and replaced six of them. His wheel is now perfect. Mine has given no further trouble, but it is early days yet for my repair. The spokes in the clone I have were not well tensioned. It's a shame. Had they been tight enough, I don't think I'd have had that problem. Still - as I keep saying - the bike was £110.

SesameCrunch

I know that the bottom bracket is swappable. Also, the elbow socket where the two main tubes connect into each other.

trueno92

omg this site is slow today.

anyways, one word:

IDIOTS.

ming you bunch of fools. Mr. Sanders specifically mentioned that he didn't care for fakes, he just wanted to see more of the world on 2 wheels or at least even considering the idea of self-propelled transport as an alternative to other fuel-eating substitutes.

when these bikes could have been donated to one of possibly hundreds of charities, or possibly used to repair other stridas, or even further, just been donated to a city-wide cycle-rental project, they decide to pull a stunt like this to leave the mandarin speaking world to shudder in fear, "omg ming cycle will destroy you and your fake bike"

If Mr. Ming was SMART, or in chinese, "smat" they would have said "hey, we don't really like these fakes, they aren't really tested as well, or regulated to be as safe as the real bikes, but we decided that we could put them to use as an urban project to get more ppl on 2 wheels. We welded the folding joints so the bikes do not fold anymore, but this should only enhance their durability and ruggedness in city use.
Hopefully when more ppl see the appeal and practicality of the "triangle bike, strida" they will not be so hesitant to try a bike with small wheels, and enjoy the ability to fold the cycle and take it with you. We hope thru this Ming-cycle sponsored enviornmentally-friendly project, they will want to own a Strida bicycle of their own."

friggin idiots, instead, they just contributed to one of chinas many more landfills. ironically, isn't that what the strida was invented to AVOID?

i just put that marketing ploy together, off the top of my head and didn't hit the backspace key, ONCE. this is just typical chinese big-brother-will-get-you-brute-force-little-logic mentality that keeps china supressed as a 3rd world country, no matter how u slice it.


yes, im chinese, and i've been to china, and yes, its very much still 3rd-world.

trueno92

on another note, my fake strida is still doing very well, however the snubber bearing had moved from riding the bike in snow and getting snow packed between the belt. the strida handles well in up to 3 cm of snow, however. it moves effortlessly.

also, from training on my trackbike and riding my roadbike more, i can pedal the little strida quite fast at 120rpm.. surprisingly, it holds up ok, but won't be winning any races with its pitiful gearing.

however, im quite sure the gearing is as such because the bike would be a tad dangerous should it have the ability to go faster. 0-rake mono fork makes for quite a twitchy ride + short wheel base = nerves of steel.

my fake wheels are actually the same as a genuine strida, spoke count/pattern and aluminum materials. with 100psi tires and crappy roads, its been holding up fine.

Ming cycle, you want to hire me. I'm not asking, I'm telling. If you have a position for international PR person, consider it filled.

brakemeister

C.mon guys get real.. they destroyed 20 bikes ? used a big truck and a horrible huge caterpillar to go after 20 bikes.... the gas alone for those two behemoths is outweighing any enviromental benefits of a bunch of bikes.... and again.. how many did they destroy ? Maybe 12 minutes of chinese production ? If they keep detroying bikes on such lousy ways, it will take them longer than the chinese can built new ones....

Not that I in any way agree to built cheap clones , but there are othewr ways to get rid of them.... some mentioned above ... I just hate if something perfectly ( well not quite) alright gets detsroyed.... same as I try to finish my plate ......

thor

Amuro Lee

According to the news report, there were 34 fake Stridas destroyed by Ming.

https://translate.google.com/translat...sl=zh-CN&tl=en

Amuro Lee

The destroyed bikes will be sold to recycle companies as scrape metals.
https://74.125.153.132/translate_c?hl...QobRYdWuCKefiA

Some reports mention that the lead level of the frames, handlebars and paints of the destoryed fake Stridas is exceeded the safty standard.

Amuro Lee

According to one of the reports, the lead level of the handlebars on fake Stridas (over 3000ppm) is 18 times more than the handlebars on genuine Stridas (160ppm).

The lead level of the paints on genuine Stridas is under 300ppm but the lead level of the paints on fake Stridas is more than 5000ppm!

Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning

EvilV

Thanks - I'll try to remember not to suck the handlebars, or to lick the paintwork.

The wiki article you reference points out that the typical urban soil contains 200ppm of lead while your quoted levels for the fake strida paint is said to be 5000 ppm. Which do you think is the likely most dangerous to health, urban dust or the comparatively well bound up lead in the 5000 ppm paint on a fake strida? Bike paint is not loose or flaking in a typical situation and the way bikes are used and stored does not provide much likelihood that the users will ingest its paint work.

Many auto paint colours in cars contain as much as 20% of lead. People refinishing these by sanding may find that they are 'eating' more of it than they think. House paint when I was a kid contained about 50% of lead. In America the standards allowed for lead in bare urban soil are up to 1200ppm if it is not a children's play area.

While I would agree that lead in paint ought to be reduced and not encouraged, your post is a 'scare' like many that you produce for the fake stridas. According to some, all us fake strida riders ought to expect death at any moment. Funny thing is, we are riding them, enjoying them and having a lot of pretty healthy fun. You have made several posts sometimes quoting other people which suggest dire risk to the riders of strda fakes. Do you have shares in Ming, or do you work for them perhaps? I think we should be told. I don't think you are very objective in your remarks about Ming's competitors. Furthermore, I have seen no justification whatsoever for the remarks you have published suggesting that the riders of fake stridas are subject to risk because they have been badly made or are as your posts have said 'un-tested'. Where are the articles about riders of fake stridas being killed or injured by them collapsing? Anyone would think from your reports that genuine stridas have had no faults or breakages. This is in fact far from true as we all know who have troubled to take a look on the Internet. I would suggest that there are probably more fake stridas in the world now that genuine ones, so if you are right about how dangerous they are, you ought to be able to show some actual incidents of failures that led to people coming to harm. I doubt you will be able to show any such thing though, and even if you could, I couldn't care less. Only an idiot gets on a bike without checking it out and anyway, AS ALWAYS - MUCH THE MOST DANGEROUS THING ABOUT CYCLING ON ANY BIKE IS THAT SOME OTHER VEHICLE WILL BE DRIVEN BY AN IDIOT WHO WILL RIDE OVER YOU AND CRUSH YOU TO DEATH.

kamtsa

I searched that page for 'strida' and 'bike' and found nothing. What report do you refer to?

Kam

Amuro Lee

Please refer to page 4 of this pdf file:
https://www.strida.com/upload/Image/2009_FAKE.pdf

Amuro Lee

I'm a user of genuine Strida 3 and one of the moderators of the forums on stridaforum.com, abikecentral.com and foldingforum.com. I'm also a member of Hong Kong Strida Club.

However, I don't affiliate with the manufacturers, distributors or dealers of any bicycle. I don't have any share of Ming Cycle nor work for them. I'm just an ordinary folding bike user and lover like most of you.

EvilV

Nothing here about lead levels - just Ming propaganda.

Even so - lead painted articles outside children's toys are not a hazard to the user as long as he doesn't sand them down and then eat his lunch in the paint dust. I have no intention of sanding my strida copy, and since I have already spent plenty of time soldering electronic circuits with lead, casting lead bullets for antique firearms, and handling modern lead bullets in my shooting sports, I ain't too bothered about the lead content of my bicycle paint. In any case, lead is added to paint to make the finish and colour retention more durable, so it isn't going to flake off in the near future.

You should take a look at some of these details to see how lead pollution gets into the environment. This article discusses how the refurbishment of a bridge in Brooklyn NY left lead levels in dust around area of more than NINE times the level you quoted for the Strda paint - "The samples, tested by Dr. John F. Rosen, a professor of pediatrics at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and a member of the panel, found concentrations of lead ranging from 17,856 parts per million in a basketball court to 46,092 parts per million in a playground."

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/27/ny...layground.html

Apart from the vast amounts of tetra ethyl lead that was added to our petroleum for most of the twentieth century and blown willy nilly into our streets and homes out of car exhaust pipes, since during the same period, buildings, bridges and girders were also coated in heavily leaded paints - often as much as 20% of the paint content, and this was released into dust when they were sandblasted or otherwise stripped to be re-coated very large quantities of lead are already around the environment. Riding a fake strida is the least of your lead problems.

kamtsa

That page is from the Strida site so we should take it with a grain of salt. They have significant financial interests in this subject.

The portion that I could read implies that the infringement was of trademarks, not patents. I am not a lawyer but my understanding is that in this case they can easily avoid legal challenges by not using a name similar to Strida and disclosing the fact that this is a clone.

BTW, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strida a core Strida patent was expired in 2008.

Kam

chainstrainer

Yes, the expired patent on the general design has been noted before in other posts here. Your Wiki-link notes that several patents relating to the current model, the one being copied, are still in effect and owned by Ming Cycles. This doesn't seem to matter, though, as folks have seemed to cast Ming Cycles as the villain. Go figure.