To Strida or not to Strida?

Hi all

I live in Islington, London and I work in Soho and I am looking to get a bike for the daily commute to work - no way am I paying 90£ a month for a travelcard!!!

I want a folding bike A) cos I think they’re sexy and b) cos I don’t have much storage room at the office or at home.

I had been looking at the usual things like Dahons, but then I saw the Strida.

But why should I get a Strida over a Dahon? Surely a Dahon with 6 or 8 speeds and larger tyres would be better for London?

What about the Strida5, too? Should I try to get one of these from Holland instead of the UK “official” Strida 3.2?

I’ve got a 3 yr old Strida 3 and a 5 yr old brompton. Put it this way - The brompton is now retired ! … Stridas look weird (or sexy depending on your POV) … cirtainly different. This is probably the reason there seem to be fewer in UK than far eastern countries.

I love the look of the 5 and if stocked by strida UK would buy, but the 3 is great anyway and StridaUK are great on customer service (I had a problem with my free wheel and they counldn’t have been better). You’d not get This customer service if you got a 5, unless you go to Holland frequently.

havig said that there is so little to go wrong on stridas it may be worth the risk of a 5.

Yep you could get a regular fold in half eg dahon or clone, but you’d then miss out on:
Never carrying (strida is like a wheeled stick)
Taking less space on trains than any other older (strida fits in the overhead luggage space).
Good visibility in traffic due to upright riding position
Guenuine light weight ie sub 10Kg (dahons claims exclude pedals and seem to me to be very optimistic).
THE fastest fold PERIOD !
No oil on trowsers (or other people !!).

Downside- you will be asked 100’s of times about the bike !!