Took time out from a lunch break yesterday to test ride the A-bike in
Acton.
Comments, It's no Brompton (and I have done 200km rides on mine). Its
fold is not wholly intuititive but could be done in 10-15sec. It's
flexy, but perhaps not much more than my original Airframe. It has
snatchy band brakes.
It looks well designed and well finished. Ride is twitchy but OK. I'd
probably not consider a journey over a mile or two, so Paddington to
South Kensington perhaps, although apparently the boss rode his 8miles
last week.
As for those wheels, well they are small, pneumatic 90psi (changing
punctures could be a pain as no QR), but riding around the concrete,
potholed car park, I found them to be not as bad as I thought they
would be. In fact even on modest surfaces one tended to forget about
them.
Position; seatpost too short and I am an average 5 10", reach
acceptable. Reach increases with height (unlike Strida)
Gearing, OK, but I ride a fixed and can spin, otherwise you won't be
going fast.
The weight - intoxicatingly light, A "proper" 6 kilo folder would be an
absolute dream. Dahon are getting there, a fixed wheel titanium Bike
Friday might approach that.
Folded size: very small, easily portable.
Would I buy one? At £200 no. At £100 possibly, at £65 yes (for
novelty really, occasional use)
In fact if any of you have read "It's in the Bag" by Tony Hadland,
there is a piece on Sinclair's "X-bike", a stick folder that had many
of the same features (gearing wheels etc). I think this would have been
a better proposition, perhaps rigity at the swivel hinge was too big a
problem and steering mechanism uneconomic. The A-bike is a cross
between the X-bike and something I believe was called the citybike (10"
plastic wheels), opened out into a sqare frame, moderately successful,
better ride, no longer available.
regards,
daren
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