Interesting Strida discussion over on Bikeforums

bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=425524

Elkhound says in that thread:

I hope everybody see how different he does his criticism to my mild criticism that was recieved so strong emotional reactions. He is almost mocking?

Strida as Elkhound sees it. “something that a circus clown might ride.”

while me loved if from first sight of it and then when I actually had a chance to ride it got very surprised that almost none was honest enough to warn how differently it behaved to normal bikes.

That doesn’t mean me don’t love it as a concept but I wished people could describe things as they are instead of hiding vital facts about how a bike behaves.

Sure such is very subjective but it could be tested in a lab I guess.
It is not something me have made up. It is a true property of the Strida.

Mark Sanders was asked to help out making a workable compromise in design when they made the version 3.2 so it could be as normal as possible within the constraints of the design. To hide that fact is what I find worthy of criticism.

One don’t need to behave like Elkhound. I think he do it for the teasing fun of making Strida lovers angry on him.

That is not what I had in mind. I thought of all those who lives too far away to be able to test it before they buy it. It is fair to tell them what to expect when it arrives at their door.

But I do love the concept and I admire Mark Sanders for being able to come up with concepts and to make them into real bikes. Not many have that ability.

Compare how Yangmusa in that thread writes.

“The Strida has to be the worst handling folder (or bike, for that matter) I’ve ever tried.”

Such is subjective but the total lack of such honest reports from 1996 when I got active on internet and up to when I first tried to ride it and thought me was unique in having problem with riding it.

One could love a bike and still be honest about how it actually behave? No? Even the SmartBike who really looks like a clown bike behaves better than a Strida and the SmartBike cost ten times less in England than a Strida. But the folding of the Strida is so much better.

To many the pros are so many that they can accept the cons but to hide the cons and put the blame on the one being honest is not fair.

It is a wonderful bike but it has both good sides and bad sides to it.
One have to weight them as one prefer them.

It’s seems that the people who have negative experiences riding the Strida are all tall folks at the upper limit of what the Strida can accommodate. Yangmusa stated he was 6’3" tall. I think Weakling is of similar height. Given their physically tall statures, are their experiences all that surprising?

Regarding the referenced bikeforums thread, the third page starting at post #58 starts to get interesting. A couple of tinkerers have put up their schematic designs on how they might take the Strida concept to the next level. Whether the suggestions are improvements or not is part of the discussion there. It would be interesting to hear from Mr. Sanders on some of these ideas.

Someone in Hong Kong even said that… :confused:
discuss.com.hk/viewthread.ph … ra=&page=2

But Mark Sanders himself is maybe as tall as I am or maybe even taller?
Or was he 193 and me is maybe 194 some 30 years ago. But he is lighter
in weight than me. some 10 to 15 kg or more. He is more slender as I get it from photos and video clips.

He set the saddle higher than they allowed me to do in the shop.

I think it could have to do with speed of reaction in nerves.
Suppose we took Mark and me to play same computer came.
I’m sure of me would be much slower in response than he is.

My gut feeling is that Strida needs someone with fast reactions
to compensate for the fast quirkiness it handles itself.

To make a rolling stick which was his goal he did succeed, unfortunately
for me the design demands fast nerves and me have slow nerves.

Such is very individual. Like in Sport, some have fast muscle fibers
and make good Sprinters while others have slower and maybe would be good Marathon runners.

I love the bike but too bad me is not good at doing fast reactions.

But I would have preferred people could have been honest about how differently it behaves. Would have saved me some 2007 - 1996= 10 years plus of longing for to be able to ride one and buy one.

Big surprise when it didn’t behave as advertised.

I think he is very wrong. I have used a belt driven bike since many years and it show no sign of giving up and Strida sure sustain a guy like Mark Sanders so that writer has prejeudices.

womenish, that is sexistic to say. Belt drive is super manly :slight_smile:

LittlePixel, has a good eye for alternative ways to make a folding stick.

The K-bike is like that too but that one is a take apart bike and not a folder.

Strida is half of both, you do take one thing half apart, the lower boom. :slight_smile:

LittlePixel doing the telescopic thing was clever.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=6824694&postcount=64