Wednesday, May 23, 2012, I met Mr. yeoh Chee Weng for the first time. This youngish 63-years-old Bike Friday early-adopter has owned a pocket companion since July 2011, and has ridden his bike Friday 5,000 km in 10 months. He loves his touring bike and wanted to try the four select models.
Sumei Toh was the first client to test-ride all four Bike Friday select models on Tuesday, May 22, 2012.
Since I assembled them, no one had ever ridden the bikes until Sumei. So she was riding each bike for the first time. So here is the riding order and general reaction:
Features
The drivetrain is the Gates Carbon Drive CenterTrack, that offers clean, quiet and smooth shifting that takes the messiness out of commuting. It is combined with the sealed, weather-resistant NuVinci N360 Continuous Variable Transmission hub.
The cutting-edge new design from Gates Carbon Drive CenterTrack offers 20 percent more tensile strength, a slimmer profile and the most advanced debris shedding ever. CenterTrack consists of an alloy front sprocket and stainless steel rear sprocket as well as a 12-millimeter-wide belt embedded with carbon fiber cords.
Carbon Drive requires no greasy lube. That means no more grease stains on clothing and hands. Cleanliness is a huge benefit for cyclists who store their bikes indoors, in an airplane, on a sailboat or inside an RV.
Gates Carbon Drive weighs approximately 240 grams -- half the weight of a chain drive. Lighter weight means higher performance. For urban commuters, it means getting to the office faster with less effort.
Cyclists comment on how powerful Gates Carbon Drive feels underfoot. The strength derives from the carbon fiber cords embedded the belt, which resist stretching.
When it comes to cutting edge technology, the NuVinci N360 Continuous Variable Transmission gives you complete control and the ability to always find the sweet spot, that gear to match your perfect cadence.
The NuVinci N360 hub is Fallbrook Technologies' latest alternative to the limitations and complications of traditional indexed-geared systems.
It offers a simple and seamlessly smooth way of shifting throughout a wide ratio range without power transfer interruptions, or missed shifts.
"As the fixie riders will tell you, there is a special elegance and charm that you get from a simple fixed gear that a derailleur cannot match -- or any gear changer, for that matter," Bike Friday co-Founder Alan Scholz says. "But it seems that derailleurs have won out to date, as most modern 'real bikes' have them."
Derailleurs present maintenance challenges for a lot of cyclists.
"Hub gears solve some of the maintenance and mechanical challenge issues for the cyclist who is not also a top mechanic, nor wants to be one," Scholz says.
"But none of the hub gears to date have had that breakthrough that also gave them a better feel. That feeling of simplicity, elegance, and smoothness that fixed gear bikes promise but cannot deliver on the hills, down winds, and gear pulling challenges of real everyday anywhere cycling."
That's why NuVinci is a game-changer.
"The NuVinci hub is a different solution totally," Scholz says. "Not a new departure but a new way of mating a person to the bike. Doesn't look like it, but when I rode it I was struck by the feel that it was completely smooth and I couldn't tell what gear I was in. There are no gears!"
It didn't take long for Scholz to be convinced.
"Yes, my next personal Bike Friday is going to have a NuVinci combined with Gates Carbon Drive,," Scholz says.
