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Incredible score - $40 Strida Mark I aluminum belt drive folder
I am so excited I managed to snag this original Strida folding bike from between 1987 and 1992. The industrial design professor selling it said 25 people were interested, but I was only a 10 minute drive away. Shockingly nice ride (once I became accustomed to the handling) and comfortable seat. Only about 20-22 lbs. Aluminum, belt drive, single speed, drum brakes, fully functional except top joint, and only $40. All it needed for now was a rear tube replacement, but I also ordered a 3D printed top joint replacement (white ASA body with black ABS letters). Some ride pics and handling discussion up next...
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fafb031a3d.jpg Left side view. Note there is no kickstand. It's intended to be rested on the rear rack while folded. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cc63e9c5f7.jpg Another left side view. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3956d51719.jpg Crack in the top joint. I ordered a 3D printed replacement in ASA for $40. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0a9cd109fc.jpg Strida folded up. Like a stroller in shape. |
The Strida has quite nimble and responsive steering that feels twitchy until you get accustomed to it.
I also found it has four speeds - 1) walking up a steep hill, 2) climbing an incline, 3) accelerating on a flat while pedaling, and 4) coasting downhill. Sadly the belt slips when I climb a steep hill, but I just slow down or walk as necessary. Very very comfortable and I barely feel bumps which I would on my Huffy Touriste and Dahon Speed D7. I am pretty impressed. |
So far I have ridden it 27 miles around rural SW Ohio. Here are some photos from my journeys the past few days.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...21356b8693.jpg Rainy 5 mile ride. Photo at an intersection near home. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a854737cde.jpg Former railroad crossing. Historic railway station (now house) on opposite side of the tracks. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e52b53609b.jpg Pedal power meets electron power at the local substation. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...db15106e78.jpg Nice park under the bridge with kayak/canoe launch https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c649f1eef.jpg View from the kayak launch https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0d978f911a.jpg Strida at a railroad crossing https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1cbf74cb72.jpg Another, bigger local park https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...92f89c84c5.jpg Indian Creek view from Indian Creek Metropark (Reily, Ohio) https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b45504f01e.jpg My Strida and my shadow https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...65bf033a82.jpg Evening sunset with the Strida |
Must have been hyped in the Industrial Design community. The ID director at my work commutes on one of these. He calls it "Vlad the Impaler"
Nice score! |
Originally Posted by thinktubes
(Post 22320033)
Must have been hyped in the Industrial Design community. The ID director at my work commutes on one of these. He calls it "Vlad the Impaler"
Nice score! |
Originally Posted by molleraj
(Post 22320003)
The Strida has quite nimble and responsive steering that feels twitchy until you get accustomed to it.
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Originally Posted by scarlson
(Post 22320145)
I rode one once, back maybe 10 years ago in Burlington Vermont. I was selling something bike-related on Craigslist and the lady I was doing business with asked me if I wanted to see her Strida. Couldn't say no to that! I had no idea what it was, but felt pretty safe. She wheeled it out and I was relieved to see we were still talking about bicycles!! I got to take it for a spin. It really did take a while to get used to. The angles are slack, but the fork's got no rake!
I suppose it does have no rake given the angle between the rear and front tubes, and really the lack of a top tube. It feels surprisingly safe to me as well - I am also surprised it absorbs bumps so well. |
Originally Posted by molleraj
(Post 22320261)
Oh nice! What were you selling?
I suppose it does have no rake given the angle between the rear and front tubes, and really the lack of a top tube. It feels surprisingly safe to me as well - I am also surprised it absorbs bumps so well. |
Originally Posted by scarlson
(Post 22320275)
I really have no recollection! Wheels, maybe? A frame? Kids bike? Someone had abandoned a bunch of bike parts on the corner outside my apartment that year and I'd taken them in, built some bikes out of them, and slowly sold them off for extra cash. I am poor now, but I was destitute in those days. Craigslist was my golden goose. I still have/use the smattering of Park Tools and tub of Park green grease from that haul. There was some hi-zoot WTB-branded stuff in there, some of which I sold and some of which I sent to family and friends.
Yeah, I bet the frame is pretty flexible. Really the only recollection I had was of getting on the Strida, almost falling off, and thinking "no way is this ridable" and then getting back on and wobbling down the road a ways before I got the hang of it. |
Congratulations, that's a great score!
I have a Mk III and I rode the _____ out of it for several years. I took it on the train twice every day. The weird thing about the geometry is that the higher you put the seat, the closer you are to the handlebar. When you get up to my size (I'm about six feet tall) that means when you're riding the bike your posture is pretty close to standing upright or walking. It's geared much lower than my fixie, but I don't know the gear inches. Anyone know? Anyway, as I recall top speed was like 12 or 13 mph and that's spinning like crazy. I don't think you could gear it higher because the belt would slip. To get a little extra speed out of it I put shorter crank arms on it. I don't know about the Mk I, but mine took unicycle cranks. I put some crazy short cranks on it, I think they're 5", so I could spin faster, but I think I stopped riding the bike not long after that. It's not that the experiment failed so much as the bike was worn out and I wanted something else. It's a brilliant design, a beautiful example of thinking outside the box. Is it a great bicycle? Well, it's a great folding bicycle. With folding bikes you have to decide whether you want a bike that folds up great, or a great bike that folds up. This is the former. And yes, that's definitely C&V! :thumb: |
My brother has the first version (with drum brakes) and a later version of the bike (with mechanical disk brakes).
He had problems with one of the wheel bearings on the first version and had to order a whole wheel to replace it, as they did not sell the pressed in bearing separately. The bearings on the later version seems to be holding up better. It's good enough, I guess, as a town bike to do short commutes on or grocery shopping, if you strap on a basket on to the built in rear rack. I tried riding both his Stridas and the "begging dog" - like riding position makes it quite uncomfortable after some time and distance though and the twitchy front end makes it tiresome. The belt drive surprisingly, was a bit noisy making chattering sounds that cannot be adjusted away. Must be some tolerance problems with the molded front sprocket. Not matching exactly with the teeth on the drive belt or vice versa. I tried adjusting the seat to improve the riding position, but adjustment range is just too limited to make real improvements. I'm also a bit apprehensive about all the major plastic (Delrin?) frame parts on the bike that might eventually start cracking from UV and stress. I think the Strida is more of just an engineering conversation piece than a real, practical daily rider bike. A Brompton or a Dahon, although not as cool looking, will be a much better choice. |
Originally Posted by rhm
(Post 22320442)
Congratulations, that's a great score!
I have a Mk III and I rode the _____ out of it for several years. I took it on the train twice every day. The weird thing about the geometry is that the higher you put the seat, the closer you are to the handlebar. When you get up to my size (I'm about six feet tall) that means when you're riding the bike your posture is pretty close to standing upright or walking. It's geared much lower than my fixie, but I don't know the gear inches. Anyone know? Anyway, as I recall top speed was like 12 or 13 mph and that's spinning like crazy. I don't think you could gear it higher because the belt would slip. To get a little extra speed out of it I put shorter crank arms on it. I don't know about the Mk I, but mine took unicycle cranks. I put some crazy short cranks on it, I think they're 5", so I could spin faster, but I think I stopped riding the bike not long after that. It's not that the experiment failed so much as the bike was worn out and I wanted something else. It's a brilliant design, a beautiful example of thinking outside the box. Is it a great bicycle? Well, it's a great folding bicycle. With folding bikes you have to decide whether you want a bike that folds up great, or a great bike that folds up. This is the former. And yes, that's definitely C&V! :thumb: |
Originally Posted by Chombi1
(Post 22320602)
My brother has the first version (with drum brakes) and a later version of the bike (with mechanical disk brakes).
He had problems with one of the wheel bearings on the first version and had to order a whole wheel to replace it, as they did not sell the pressed in bearing separately. The bearings on the later version seems to be holding up better. It's good enough, I guess, as a town bike to do short commutes on or grocery shopping, if you strap on a basket on to the built in rear rack. I tried riding both his Stridas and the "begging dog" - like riding position makes it quite uncomfortable after some time and distance though and the twitchy front end makes it tiresome. The belt drive surprisingly, was a bit noisy making chattering sounds that cannot be adjusted away. Must be some tolerance problems with the molded front sprocket. Not matching exactly with the teeth on the drive belt or vice versa. I tried adjusting the seat to improve the riding position, but adjustment range is just too limited to make real improvements. I'm also a bit apprehensive about all the major plastic (Delrin?) frame parts on the bike that might eventually start cracking from UV and stress. I think the Strida is more of just an engineering conversation piece than a real, practical daily rider bike. A Brompton or a Dahon, although not as cool looking, will be a much better choice. I thought it was just a cool idea, as you stated, and my Dahon Speed D7 is way more practical with its derailleur and larger rack, but this Strida is so dang comfortable. It's definitely going to be good for short rides (10-20 mi) on lightly rolling/even terrain. |
Current factory production fits a 100T chainwheel (the late Sheldon Brown might insist this is in fact a beltwheel :thumb: ) and a 30T rear cog.
On the current versions with 16" (ISO305mm) tires, it's about 49 gear inches. On the current versions with 18" (ISO355mm) tires, it's about 55 gear inches. Stridas have been fitted with Schlumpf Speed Drives and Efneo three-speed cranks. There's a factory model, the Evo, with a Sturmey-Archer three-speed bottom bracket gearset. |
Riding Korea's beautiful Four Rivers route - 600km - on a Strida:
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Originally Posted by tcs
(Post 22321562)
I've pretty much given up tourism, flying, and that kind of thing; but if I were to spend a week in a new and fascinating place like, say, Athens or London or ... well, pretty much any big old city, I think a Strida would be a great thing to bring along. Anyplace you can walk, you can ride a Strida and probably not piss off the other pedestrians. You can ride it as slow as walking, or up to about three times walking speed, which saves a lot of time, all without giving up anything in terms of public transit. It's amazing how fast you can dismount and fold a Strida; I used to ride mine to the 7th Ave door of Penn Station in NYC, dismount at the curb, and start walking. Without stopping, or even slowing down, I would fold the bike as I walked across the sidewalk to the escalator or stairs; by the time I got to the stairs, the bike was fully folded. This took about five seconds. Getting on the train, I'd roll the bike in front of me until I found a seat, sling the bike up onto the overhead rack and secure it with my helmet and sit down before anyone behind me realized I had a bike with me. |
That’s weird enough for me to like
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Cool bike! I really like the way they look. But they also look like they would have an effective TT length of less than 10" when I put the saddle at my preferred height. :(
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Why???
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Originally Posted by rhm
(Post 22320442)
With folding bikes you have to decide whether you want a bike that folds up great, or a great bike that folds up.
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I rode a Strida briefly some time ago. Steering was quick (compared to a 406 Bike Friday) — the short handlebars are a factor in addition to the geometry. As has been noted, this one-size-fits-all bike doesnt work well if youre tall since its inverted triangular frame reduces reach as the seat is raised. I ride a large frame and it seemed quite crowded for me.
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...if I were to spend a week in a new and fascinating place like, say, Athens or London or ... well, pretty much any big old city, I think a Strida would be a great thing to bring along. Anyplace you can walk, you can ride a Strida and probably not piss off the other pedestrians. You can ride it as slow as walking, or up to about three times walking speed, which saves a lot of time, all without giving up anything in terms of public transit. ...managed to get it on a plane as a "personal mobility device." Strida offers carry bags. I'm told they can fly as 'golf clubs'. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5e5f6a1c61.png These odd little bikes certainly have their fans. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fb1ff201ff.jpg IIRC 2022 will mark 35 years of production. |
A friend of mine in Boston spotted one outside his office recently - a much newer model. Must have been used to get to and from the T. Anyway, my biking friends were pretty impressed with the price of mine. Hopefully I will get the 3D printed bracket soon.
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Six months later, I finally got the top joint 3D printed. It works and looks great. I also replaced the cracked foam grips with new ones that have contours to fit the fingers. I made a YouTube video about the repair here:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...66f4fbd3ad.png Unfolded against a pole https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fa2a2ad2f0.png Folded up. Nice black and white theme throughout. |
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