So money has been burning a hole in my pocket for a Sport Duo, but it just keeps getting delayed, and I can’t seem to find info on the reasons for the delay! Furthermore, it seems the product is available in East Asia.
Same goes for the 18" wheelset.
There doesn’t seem to be much communication from above on the availability of the product. =( Would any forum members be able to shed some light on this? I want to buy the darn thing, particularly from my local shop (Warm Planet in SF).
It’s frustrating being ready to buy something that seems to exist, but nobody seems to be able to sell on this continent. =/ Anyone got some news that would cheer me up?
I hear you. I ended up buying my 5.0 on-line because it took way too long for a U.S. distributor to appear. Same with the accessories I acquired afterward, which I ended up getting sent in a jiffy from Hong Kong, for crying out loud. Everything Strida arrives last in the U. S. it seems. I hope you score a Duo soon and I’d love to hear about it (I’m down the coast from SF on the Monterey Peninsula - let me know if you visit here!)
Definitely! I wonder how many bay area Strida users there are.
I am tempted to try to order the 2-speed Strida from an Asian vendor – this is how frustrated I am. Considering the extremely (dare I say excessively) high U.S. list price of this item I don’t understand why they want to make it difficult to take my $1200.
I have been in contact with the factory concerning the 2 speed drive for the Strida. What they are telling me is that they are having problems getting the drives made in Taiwan to work flawlessly on the Strida’s. They are now testing the 2 speed drives made in Switzerland to see if that will solve the problems they have been having. This is what has been pushing the release date back on the Sport Duo model and the MAS edition. We have been told it will be at least another 90 days till the release date.
The factory has been having trouble getting the tires for the 18" wheels. We have been told that the 18" wheel sets should be available soon but I have not been given an exact date. Once they become available we will be ordering them with our next shipment.
I wish I could be of more help but this is the information I have at this time. We should at least have the 18” by the spring but it is looking like it will be a little longer on the 2 speed.
Thank you for responding. ^^ That helps clear things up.
Ahhh… =( Guess maybe you can’t get the Schlumpf model anywhere? I must’ve misunderstood the Chinese sites I was looking at. ^^; The 18" wheelsets are definitely floating around out there though… I hope those can come to the U.S. soon. ^^
Are the 18" wheels not compatible with the 18" tires typically used on other 18" foldies? I wouldn’t mind just getting the wheels and buying the tires separately.
I guess I can see why Ming would be reluctant to use real Schlumpfs – they’re expensive – $525 retail? ._.; Hopefully they get a good enough deal on them in bulk to keep the $1200 price target. =/
I support they could always ditch the rear monofork and go with a hub gear. It wouldn’t fold as neatly but still tighter than with two full forks. Maybe someone could sweet talk Shimano into making a Nexus with a hollow core. =)
The 18" wheels will use the same tire sizes as other folders. The ones that are coming on the 18" Strida wheels will be Schwalbe Kojack’s 32 -355. In order to keep there price down Ming orders in fairly large quantities and it takes awhile to get their orders filled. Ming is holding the wheels till they get the tires and they would like us to sell them as complete sets.
Hi guys, first post on this forum for me. I live in downtown San Francisco, and did indeed get my Strida 5 from Warm Planet over on 4th and Townsend. I work near there (at the restaurant Tres Agaves) and use the Strida to commute the brief 2 miles from my apartment, as well as using the bike pretty much every day for general transport. I moved here from New Jersey, and originally I was going to take my Strida 5 back with me and leave it at my parent’s house so I could use it when I am back there, freeing me up to buy the Sport Duo for use here in SF. However, as you have noted, the Sport Duo is vaporware on American shores. I have asked the folks at Warm Planet, and they don’t seem to have any information. For the time being, I’ll get by with my Strida 5. Honestly, $1200 (plus some serious tax if I buy from the store) is a bit rich for my blood at the moment. Also, I can’t help but feel like the 2 speeds on offer in the Sport Duo are too extreme and don’t offer the excellent compromise gear that the 5 is in (58 inches or so?). If I remember correctly, the Duo has only 49 and 72, the low of which could feel too low for general, mild grades, and the high might be too high for anything but downslopes (which you are already coasting down anyway). I guess only a test ride can tell…
Not sure if anyone cares or even rides one of these triangles anymore besides me but I wrote to schlumpf and they told me to wait till september!? hmmmmm. Hopefuly it’ll be cheaper than the 6 bills since they are mass producing this for Ming cycles. so yeah if you can’t get a duo you can at least upgrade it soon!
here’s the response:
we will have a Strida version available soon (see photos attached).
Price not known yet.
Please come back to our website by September. Thanks.
The Sport Duo has been instock and only out of stock for a short period of time. As I am new to the company, I can only speak for inventory over the last three months, but the company, Areaware Transport is very responsive, and the people are absolutely stellar in service.
A new “Three Speed” will be coming out next year!
Call us directly and we will send you to our nearest dealer!
I’m guess with a entirely different bottom bracket it won’t be an upgrade but a major change. I guess we will have to wait till mid march then to see if this is worth it or if it’ll make the bike really heavy. By then cycling season will start up here for me with the snow almost melted by then, that’s when I shine up my strida and get going to work. Don’t like driving to work daily but then it’s freezing and transit isn’t the best here.
