Bike Friday
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bike Friday is a brand of folding bicycle made by Green Gear Cycling, Inc. of Eugene, Oregon. (Cyclists often refer informally to the company itself as "Bike Friday" or the "Bike Friday company."). It is a well-known brand in travel bicycles made in the United States, largely through word of mouth.
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[edit] Hardware
The design of the Bike Friday emphasizes riding characteristics, rather than foldability. It is promoted primarily as 'the bicycle you can take with you', one that folds quickly, packs into a suitcase and 'rides like your best bike' according to Ed Pavelka, former senior editor of USA's Bicycling magazine. This third factor is probably due to the company's co-founders and designers hailing from a bicycle racing background, rather than a traditional engineering background. The company history describes how they sought to invent the first packable bicycle that still rode well over serious distances, loaded or unloaded, which would save the traveler airline excess baggage fees.
The bike fits into an optional Samsonite suitcase which can be towed behind the bike straight out of the airport, facilitating independent travel.
The smaller 20" wheels and custom building allow the Bike Friday to fit a wide range of riders, from kids to dwarves to the company's tallest customer, currently a 7'1" NBA basketball player. The range includes tandems, triples (3-rider tandems), road, mountain and touring models, a recumbent, and even a tandem that breaks apart and becomes a single bike - and all models fit in one or two towable standard airline suitcases. They have been proven capable of handling advanced routes like the Tour de France, Paris-Brest-Paris and coast to coast.
[edit] Opinions
Richard Ballantine characterizes the Bike Friday as "one of the best high performance folders around." Many well-known cyclists own a Bike Friday including famous English voice of the Tour de France Phil Liggett, 6x Race Across America champ Lon Haldeman and recently, the World's Most Traveled Man by Bicycle, Heinz Stücke, to name a few. The Folding Society's Buyer's Guide describes it as "A high performance bike that folds. The sales pitch is that it rides as well as your best bike (aiming it by implication at the existing cycling enthusiast who feels a need for a folder), and this is quite a fair description.... Folding is not as easy as some of the others, and it is rather bulky when folded." Other member reports at the Folding Society seem to concur, both that it "really is a very good high performance bicycle," but that it "isn't the most convenient or easiest folder."
Bike Fridays are relatively costly, as most models are custom made. This typically involves sizing the frame for a specific rider, and may also include selection of individual components (cassette, derailleur, shifter, etc.) For example, as of 2005, their website lists a price range of $1,350 - $3,395 for one model
They are considered to be very high-quality vehicles. For example, a comparison chart made by the founder of a rival company characterizes the Bike Friday as "(Admirably) built in Portland[sic], Oregon."
The company has a very active community of fanatical customers, whose photos are featured in a gallery on the company's content-rich website. It could be said that his fanatical following is largely responsible for the longevity of this tiny Eugene company, which still hand builds their products with local labor and employs human beings to answer the phone.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Richard Ballantine (2001), Richard's 21st-Century Bicycle Book, Overlook Press, ISBN 1-58567-112-6
- ^ The Folding Society, Buyer's Guide
- ^ Folding bike comparison chart
