Stridas MkI

[chaves pah]

Hello, my relationship with Stridas is very long now... my late brother had one he bought in early nineties, that "lived" in the trunk of his car, until he had a serious fatal car crash, and I never heard about the bike, just assumed it had been destroyed in the crash, as the car was heavily damaged; but after all I did find it some 15 years later in my mothers attic, wrapped with the belt... and, of corse the plastic STRIDA join was broken; That's when I found it was impossible to find spares to repair it... so I started searching in the Net to see if I could find some other bike, even broken but with the parts I needed intact, but I had no chance. One or two years later, I finally found a more recent Strida that already had a different (better) upper join, still in plastic I believe it is a Strida 2 in perfect condition, so the project of rebuilding my brother's was put aside, and I started using the Mk2, although I made a steel reinforcement to the upper join as I thought that, being both semi halves still in plastic... One year later I heard someone telling me that a guy in a near city had once bought a container with 50 MK1s, some in pristine condition!... Well, I found the guy at last, and by phone he told me he still had a complete one! well, when I saw it, there was a rack missing... so I asked him if there was the possibility for him to find it where he did store the bikes, and ten minutes later he appeared with another Strida, with rack but witout a sadle... In the end he sold me the second one for half the price, so I offered the Mk2 to my wife and started using a "brand new" Mk1!...
The problem is that Lisbon, where I live, is FAAAR for being a flat place to pedal, and quite soon I found a major weakness in these old Stridas: when pedalling, the crank cassette(not stiffly fixed) moves slightly ( and constantly) from left to right, and after some three or four daily use, the Flange that keeps the rubber belt in correct position in the rear pulley, where it is fixed by a 1mm thick edge that is pened 1mm over the flange, just jumps out! no more pedalling... by the manual you just have to pen it again ,it's very easy! but after three more months, this happens again, and when you pen that thing again... the poor edge is just cut in two parts and... no more Strida; as I had three wheels, I kept using the others, until the end. The crank cassette problem was to be solved in the Mk2, the two semi halves are now crossed by two M6 bolts trough the frame tube but, why didn't they keep the MK1 metal cassette and made it now in plastic??? the wobbling(?) movement when pedalling still happens, so the Mk2 is much less used, to avoid putting it also in the shelf... I was thinking about getting some mechanic to fix me the flange to the pulley with some bolts, that would have to be M2, there is no more space ( meanwhile I decided to buy 700 wheeled Specialized) , so the Stridas headakes vanished, until five years ago when I found an almost new 18" SX Strida! Now that is a real Bicycle!
I used to go to work everyday 12km but retired two years ago and as my family life changed considerably, I no longer pedal so frequently, but this year my daughter entered a university on the other side of the river and, with the pandemic, I am his private Uber so I have plenty of time for biking, so the SX is now making it's job again! uuhh... I found last week that the rear tire was veery near the end and, when trying to buy a new and better tire, these INNOVAs seem to be a little weak, I found that buying some tires for a Strida may be very difficult en the near future!
Schwalbe did make some alternatives, as the Kojak ,that my be also as weak as the INNOVAs, and the other alternative they made with the Strida wheel specs is now deleted! I had to buy a 18x1.50 as the 18x1,35 is no more... it seems I will have to make a little stock of these 18x1.50s before they stop making it also...
Can any one help me with some info about how to repair my Mk1s and the Mk2, as well as understanding why there is this problem with tires for STRIDAS?
Thank you very much

[Blackstridaaustria]

...why didn't they keep the MK1 metal cassette and made it now in plastic???

You may have noticed that the first "cassettes" were manufactured as a directly connected part of the hub which means they could not be replaced!
So, under that angle of sight, are the newer - separable - pulleys anyway a big step forward compared to the initial version.
Likely it was not the best idea to use plastic and it seems that Ming cycle recognized that, the following version was made of metal.

Can any one help me with some info about how to repair my Mk1s and the Mk2, as well as understanding why there is this problem with tires for STRIDAS?

Sorry to say that, but nowadays it seems impossible to repair these old bkes properly - simply because most of the spare parts are not any longer in production!

The Strida tyre issue was caused mainly by selecting a gernerally rare rim size for the 18" wheels - the ETRTO size 355 mm. Less manufacturers are using that size, as fas as I know it is just the German R&M Birdy and the Japanese Iruka folding bike.

It would have been much better to use instead of 355 mm the 349er size, that is equal to the Brompton's rim size and there is far more tyre choice.

Yes, it is correct that Schwalbe discontinued the tyre size 35 - 355 several years ago, when I complained back then they said:
"Oh sorry, we didn't have the Strida bike at our screen!"


I mean there is just one way to solve the issue - switching to 349 mm rim size.



Did that already at my efneo Strida:


...and btw, there are odd things possible by switching rims:

[chaves pah]

Hi, Blackstridaaustria, thank you very much your quick answer! well, I took some pictures of my Strida 2(?) to confirm I am correct but still did not discover the path to post it, so in meanwhile I found that one of the two Mk1s is model nº13991 while the other lost it's identifying sticker, although it may surely have the same "age"; the other I name STRIDA 2 has a metal sticker strip showing nº 000806; it is metalic silver with a grey plastic cranck "cassette", beltwheel (pulley) and upper join halves with black SRIDA logo; whells are also grey, and i found that, as Mk1, the handle barT is also made of steel tube; for the first time the British Flag gave way to a strida.com logo... already made in china?
With the broken bike cassette I tried to replicate the more complex function system used with the Plastic Mk2 cassette, but (may be because I do not have enough precision tools) altough it seems to be firmly fixed to the tube frame, when I pedal as I would when climbing, i can clearly see the cassette moving some 10 or 15 mm from each side of the verical position,so the rear pulley flange is doomed, if I do not get a solution... So, I have been sketching (CAD) two similar solutions, for two very different cassettes (bottom bracket castings, easier calling it cassettes, isn't it?): a rectangular welded aluminium (minimum 6mm thick) "fin", crossing vertically the tubular frame and entering as much as possible inside the cassette from where a male rod gets out enough to get the nut that allows correcting the belt tension; the two horizontal bolts that cross the plastic cassette to fix it after correct belt tension, will have to be replicated in the older metal cast cassettes; In the plastic cassettes the "bee nest" reinforcements have to be "filled" to accommodate the new fin, while in the hallow metal ones some transversal reinforcements, two or three will have to be done to help strength... what do you think about it? these parts could be eventually laser cut, in all a way to put these vintage Stridas out there... if possible, I could send you my Stridas images and the CAD drawings (they are almost done), that you could post or insert in my reply post...

[chaves pah]

Well... this is the only image I uploaded successfully here... I have some more in flickr, in an album called STRIDA chaves pah; I can not find it's IMG CODES!... can you help me, Blackstridaaustria?

[Blackstridaaustria]

Sure, if I can...don't hesitate to contact me

[chaves pah]

Hi again! well, I decided to put my MkIs and silver MkII(?)s in the shelf, as that penned rims in the back cranks(?) could only stand for 3 or 4 months daily use until loosening and allowing the kevlar belt to jump out... so I decided to buy a recent SX (18" wheels) one, during Covid days, and in my "Uber days" I made quite a bunch of Kms by the sea!... The problem is that I kept it in the drawer for more than a year and, when I decided to take it for a drive some weeks ago... the sea breeze did give rust a little hand, specially the wheels spokes!... so, as having to buy new wheels (shipper than re-spoking it), I had the idea (probably by seeing your funny hippy Strida images) to change my 18" rusty wheels by new 16" ones with these donut tires, I suppose they might be those Cult Vans (Black) (Wire) (16"/305 ISO) (2.3") Tires... Do they fit the Strida 16" rims, or do I have to use a different rim? if so, witch rim would it have to be, to accept the Strida hub and spokes? did you have to "dish" the rim? I already measured, once (I do have the idea that I already discussed this issue with you...) the 18"wheel total diameter and compared it with the total 16" total dia (with fat tires) and it is barely the same... do I just change the wheels, or the axle has to be also changed? IMO they should be the same (why make another axle?...)
It's that street pavements and trotoirs(?) here in Portugal are not made for 6 bar tires, I feel these fat tires will give a smoother ride...
PS: The Strida above is my wife's, it was a gift of mine, as I usually ride A 700mm Globe/Specialized BUT, to join her in her "tours" (can you believe she likes to ride A STRIDA AND she is really afraid to drive our daughter's 26" (woman frame) Globe!? Well, I decided to buy another Strida for me, a 2nd hand one but almost new!! (frame M12A003841, this is a SX? or a 5.0, or is it the same?), so, now if the wheels changing problem is not a problem, I just might apply the same recipe in the new one...
Thank you very much...

[Blackstridaaustria]

Hello,
nice to read you again
Good idea not to ride the ancient ones…and yes, sea breeze can be a problem…

Do they fit the Strida 16" rims, or do I have to use a different rim?

There is no way to fit Maxxis Hookworms, Hutchinson, Cult Vans onto original 16“ Strida rims!
16“ rims are just close to 22 mm wide, that means from 26, 27 mm upwards it will work.

if so, witch rim would it have to be, to accept the Strida hub and spokes?

It doesn’t work that way, first you need rim and hub – and then you calculate the matching spoke length. Most likely, the original spokes will not any longer fit.
And it would need to be a wide 305er rim with 36 holes – and accordingly 18“ hubs.
(I could not recommend trying to use 16“ hubs – they have only 24 spokes.)

did you have to "dish" the rim?

Yes -and that is the reson for me to say: „Not recommended!“ in sight of durability.
The rear wheel is „dished“ about 5 mm to the left, there will be more load at the axle, etc. – this doesn’t matter for a show-bike but it does for daily use.

do I just change the wheels, or the axle has to be also changed?

The axles are untouched, but there are additional spacers for magnet and counterpart installed and also longer wheel bolts.

If you are heavy and used to ride like a berserk I would recommend such wheels indeed (just a version with 2,0“ wide tyres and not 2,3“).
But if you are an average rider you might try a less expensive (and complicated) alternative:
Try to find standard metal spoked 16“ wheels (not the plastic version!) and mount Schwalbe Big Apple in size 50-305 on it.
It is weird that these do fit while several other tyre brands (which are less wide!) do not.
Anyway, with Big Apple you get the same comfort as with Cult Vans (perhaps even better because the Apple’s are a bit softer).

Plz let me know if there are more questions

Cheers,

Chris

[chaves pah]

Hi, well, let me see if I understood your informations and sugestions: all Stridas series use the same axle; I will have to use the 18" Strida hub with a 305 36H rim ( what will be the spokes correct lengh then?...) and the Schwalbe Big Apple 16" 50-305; is 50 the tire width? if so, the outer diameter will get near the 18" standard wheels I have in my Stridas, right? next week I will try to find the 305 36H rims here (without much expectations); however, it seems to be as difficult to find it in the net!... or I never find the correct sites... wish me some luck...

[Blackstridaaustria]

Hi, well, let me see if I understood your informations and sugestions:

Hi, partially.

all Stridas series use the same axle;

All single speed Strida use the same axles, from 5,0 upwards until today.
MK1, MK2, etc, early models have other axles.

I will have to use the 18" Strida hub with a 305 36H rim

It will be nowadays difficult to source both.
Unfortunately I can’t help you directly because I ran out of rear hubs right now.

( what will be the spokes correct lengh then?...)

That can’t be said before you specify (or much better measure*) your particular rims!
*More exactly – the ERD, effective rim diameter, it can be quite different from to rim to rim.

and the Schwalbe Big Apple 16" 50-305; is 50 the tire width?

Yes, width in mm – according to ETRTO definition.

if so, the outer diameter will get near the 18" standard wheels I have in my Stridas, right?

No problem to check that as we know the circumferences of our tyres; we have approximately 1265 mm for a 50-305 tyre and for the 35-355 tyres we will land at about 1350 mm. Divided by Pi, we get 403 mm and 430 mm; the diameter of 18“ tyres will be 27 mm larger than that of this 16“ Big Apples – about 6,7%.

And I meant actually that the better alternative are – Big Apple’s in combination with 16“ Strida standard wheels, like this:
https://marsal.zenfolio.com/strida/hf4bf2013#hf4bf2013

next week I will try to find the 305 36H rims here (without much expectations); however, it seems to be as difficult to find it in the net!...

Agree totally, I’ve tried already and couldn’t find anything useful.
I think there will be more chance to find a 16“ standard wheel set, did you search at local 2nd hand platforms already?

or I never find the correct sites... wish me some luck...

Sometimes you have to ask around…I do, fingers crossed…do the same please…

[chaves pah]

Hum...

[Blackstridaaustria]

https://www.strida.nl/en/?s=wheels&post_type=product&type_aws=true&lang=en

[chaves pah]

Hi, stridaaustria, still searching for the famous 305 rims... I am waiting for the answer from a guy that a friend of mine contacted that, in principle, deal (accept) with custom bike rims, to see if he can get or order these 305x36H rims... I hope that he can get me the rims I need... but I started using the "new" black SX, and found a NASTY GAP in the BALL that enters the steering socket... is the ball just untightned? how can I fix this situation?...

[Blackstridaaustria]

... but I started using the "new" black SX, and found a NASTY GAP in the BALL that enters the steering socket... is the ball just untightned? how can I fix this situation?...

Please send me images via Email!

[chaves pah]

Witch mail, please? if this is the place to put the images, I don't find the path...anyway, there is some damage on the seat part frame, on the edge near the ball, that appears to have some little dents... (from a hammer ?) on the other hand, when I check this ball connection, I can see clearly the ball moving inside its place (home?)... how is it fixed in its place, does it have a thread on the oposite side? is it pressed inside a kind of plug(?)?

[Blackstridaaustria]

Well...just use the address below or above

Just tried to reply to your hotmail account but for some kind of reason I can't send to hotmail at this time.