A review of Strida on treehugger.com

treehugger.com/files/2008/09 … g-bike.php

Lloyd Alter answer Brennan thus:

Comment from Weakling:

When I first told Strida owners about how I felt riding it their reaction surprised me.

I was naive when I thought they would be happy about somebody saying it like it is.

The way they rejected my story felt like they wanted me to lie about how it felt.
Or that there was something very wrong with me.

Brennan to me confirm that persons who dare to tell it like it is are very few.

Lloyd Alter are unusual in that instead of denying how it feels he turn it upside down and fully admit it but make it into a feature. That is clever. Creative reinterpretations as I see it.

Does this mean me hate the Strida and look down on it. No it means that I love the concept and see Sanders as a unique person who dared to create something entirely new and to not give up on his project despite all ridicule in the beginning.

But it is unfortunate that the concept don’t allow the bike to behave as normal bikes do.
To lie about that fact seems contraproductive as I see it.

I don’t support what Lloyd Alter does. I would see it as a challenge. People love challenges. Doing Snowboard or any other sport that are a challenge are what people love to master.

Strida is an unusual bike but if you don’t give up on it you most likely will love it and defend it but why lie about how it behaves, be proud that you are able to master it and see that as a true sign of your ability to learn and not give up on things easily.

If I master it? No not still but maybe next year this time. It is snow here now and I don’t want the sand and mud get into the mechanism. I take it out coming summer to do more practice.

But I maybe sell it and buy an A-bike instead. Why? Cause my food store say it is a bike and although folded is not allowed to be taken into the Store. Sad.

It is too big and heavy to have on my old back. But the A-bike weight some 3 kg less and are half as high and has even smaller wheels and are easily??? carried in a backpack or even rugsac even by me. 6kg is ok even for a Weakling. Unfortunately the A-bike easily break under my too heavy body. And loosing weight don’t seem to be my thing.

I don’t think people lied about how Strida behaves.
I used to tell your story to those who had never ridden a Strida before but were insterested in trying a Strida. After the test rides, they thought I had exaggerated the difficulty on getting used to the handling of a Strida. Maybe it was just because they didn’t feel any difficulty at all.

But I did read reviews from when the first Strida got published and only one was critical and that one I saw 2007 or 2008 so during some 10 years or more every other review never mentioned that it is different.

Your approach could be helpful in that they get surprised that it was much more easy than what it appears like when I describe it. Where they 194 centimeter and 100kg weight too? Maybe such makes it behave differently.

I have tested many kinds of bikes and apart from Unicycles Strida was the most unusal steering of them all.
Some say it is due to Strida having small wheels and short wheel base. All my folders has smaller wheels 12" and shorter wheelbase 600 mm than a Strida has and they all feel normal to ride.

so it is something in the geometry of STrida that makes it different.

That reviewers during some ten years failed to describe this makes me reluctant to trust reviewers.

I think that people think every kind of bike is different and has its own characteristics. So when they ride a bike first time, they have already expected “twitchiness” and difficulty.
Because most of the people got used to the handling of a Strida in just a few seconds or minutes, they even didn’t notice the difference. That’s why they didn’t mention this on their reviews.

Strida seems to draw extremes of opinion, a consequence of its extreme design, I suppose. Some detest it while others rave about the handling, looks, fold size, components, etc. Strida is not a perfect bike - nothing is. It doesn’t try to be everything to everyone but if the design is as faulty as some detractors’ reviews make it out to be, why then is it still in production over 20 years after its introduction and why would anyone bother to tweak improvements to it through several generations of models? Could it be that more people like it than not? The detractors’ opinions are simply drawn from their own experience and are not universal truths. They can move on (please!) while we enjoy the ride.

Well said ! belt strainer

Then I am an extreme supporter of Strida that dare to see the universal truth about it and still love it.

Weakling

I like Strida’s upright riding position, small footprint, and responsive handling. This means every ride is fun. I often deliberately slalom around obstacles … just for the fun of it !! , doing this on a regular bike feels more sluggish, and much less fun.

I have two bikes with " upright riding position, small footprint, and responsive handling. " but none of these has the problem of keeping balance on them that my Strida 3.0 has.

So it is possible to build bikes that are as good as Strida in having upright riding position, small footprint, and responsive handling and still to not have the problem with keeping balance.

Suppose we all are on different levels of being good at keeping balance. some are good at it and some need to practice and some despite doing practice would feel insecure on a Uni cycle.

Your luckily to be among the majority who easily master it within seconds or within minutes.

For some it takes more than a few minutes to get used to it.

Why should we hide that fact just because the majority have none to little problem.

Some of you say that all bikes behave like that when one first try them.

that is not my experience at all and I have used bikes for at least 60 years.

They are all individual for sure but very few of them are problematic to get used to.

Those who love Recumbent bikes don’t hide that them takes time to learn for most people.
They still feel love for their bikes and support that as many as possible try them out but they don’t hide facts about their handling.

Strida is worth that we tell it like it is. We still love the bike if we tell the truth about it.

Comments from a Hong Kong Strida user: :wink:

His views don’t seems to be far from my views. We both support Sanders’ innovative mind and love him and his bike and brian fung also seems to agree that the bike behave different in steering.

What I was disappointed about was those many reviews that didn’t tell that fact.

Another comment from the Hong Kong Strida user: