fun first week

My one week review of the Strida 3.2 is positive. I bought it for fun and for occasional commuting. I’ve lived in apartments for years, and it’s such a pain to drag a full-sized bike in and out of the building.

I’m 6’1" (185cm) with long legs. It took me two tries to find a seat height that offered the right balance of not hyper-extending my knees, but also not banging them into the handle bars. I found a spot that gives me about 1-2 cm clearance on the handlebars. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s enough that I never bang them and never worry about it. I’m comfortable, though my knee angle is still slightly greater than it ought to be. It’s not a position in which I want to strain them, which limits overall speed. My advice for future designs would be to allow the seat to be shifted slightly further back, or to be able to extend the handlebar slightly forward.

Hills… yeah, not so good. Even slight grades slow you to a crawl. But eh, I’m in no hurry.

My next concern was with the seat (bony ass). I still feel a slight ache in my tail bone from that first day! I bought a $30 comfort/touring saddle (maker: Raleigh) as replacement and it did the trick.

With those issues out of the way I’ve been riding it around my neighbourhood for 30 to 45 min a day very comfortably, just for fun. I love the uprightness of the ride - I used to hate hunching over with half my weight on the heels of my palms. It sounds like I’ve focused on the negatives, but only to say they’re manageable. The positive side is that it’s fun, waaay faster than walking, and folds in the time it takes my building elevator to go from ground to third floor.

Way to go Cheeta !!

I’m tall too and agree with you on seat height - but I managed to prize the seat back a good 1" on its rails - the plastic mounting seems quite complient. there is something on the Strida faq’s or service site
I know exactly what you mean about the upright ride - makes the back feel great