Is it fake?

Hi - this is the link to mentioned bike yesterday. It looks fake, the disc brakes are different and it doesn’t have Strida logo’s anywhere except movable things eg seat. I’m a newie so really have no idea except gut instinct which admittedly could be wrong. Thank you for your help
gumtree.com/p/for-sale/speci … tem-full-1

londonmp

Supposably that’s a fake…

  • Shape of cranks and spider
  • Gap between front hub and magnet (?)
  • Unusual shape and fit of mudguards
  • Weird angle between rear brake hose and caliper mount
  • Brake rotors mounted against running direction
  • No Strida label/warning sticker, as you mentioned already
  • Poor picture quality (bad enough to hide details)

Moreover that, I think the function of the shown seat mounting might be questionable in practice:

  • It must be ensured that the clamps (or the seat molding as a whole) cannot rotate around the axis of the seat tube:
    originally one of the seat pin’s functions.
    In other words, the saddle shall not be able to move sideways…
    Looking at the pictures it seems that the seat pin is still here (looks even like there are two seat pins ??),
    however without function related to the clamps.
    The questions is how the rotation prevention could be realized with two independent clamps?

And for the second question I really hope for help from a wise engineer

I guess variation of the distances of the clamps to each other will cause strongly different shock absorber characteristics?

If I’m right there should be at least one, maybe two, “brigdes” or connections between upper and lower clamp.

Thank you - it was dark when i went to see it. You mentioned cranks and spider - whats a spider? Please forgive my ignorance as stated am a newie!!

Surely there is nothing to forgive…
…maybe I’ve choosed an unusual expression, you know we are not talking in my mother’s tongue :blush:

Actually I’ve meant the four or five “arms” of the (usual right) crank, which are connecting the crank and the belt/chain wheel.

On a normal bike, nothing prevents the saddle to turn: you align it visually and you clamp it. On a Strida the situation is a little bit different: if not correctly locked, I guess the saddle would probably turn first and then drop.
Is it more dangerous than a standard bike with a badly locked saddle pin? Probably.
Does it justify to have a special pin preventing the saddle rotation? Maybe not.

You lucky guy, it appears that I am working in the R&D department of the #1 automotive shock absorber supplier :smiley:
So to answer your question, yes you are right, the distance between the clamps will modify the ratio between the vertical movement of the seat and the stroke of the shock absorber: if the clamps are like shown, the ratio will be about 1:1, but if the clamps are very close to each other, then the ratio will be >1 and the damping as well as the spring rate will be softer.
If done according to well defined guidelines it could be an advantage, but in this case, I guess it would be preferable to have a fixed distance between the clamps achieved with bridges and eventually combine it with an adjustable shock absorber.

Thank you very much dear Bietrume :smiley: