I don’t know about that. At best I think Mr. Sanders might have mixed feelings. The poster has come around from his earlier negative opinions of Strida and now has high praise for it but evidently not enough to buy an actual Strida.
Ha ha ha - how very supercilious.
Only a fool would pay three times more to a mega cycle corporation to get the right branding on a product when a serviceable alternative exists.
As I understand it, Mr Saunders has sold the rights to some sharks in Taiwan who are making a mint out of overcharging for their product. If I am right - and I may not be, in which case you will correct me, Mr Saunders may receive some kind of a small license fee for the bikes that are sold. I would be most happy to send him that fee for the excellent and original ideas that have been incorporated in the Chinese copy that I am enjoying. If he sends me his email address, I will paypal him the money. (Fraudsters need not apply - I have a series of identification tests to establish genuine identity, and I already know that he does not reside in Nigeria at 501, Scam Road).
Ha ha ha - how very supercilious of you.
Only a fool would buy the cheapest copy of an original that he can find, then praise the designer of the original after doing so (talk about a back-handed compliment!), belittle those who actually bought the real product and then have the gall to say they are all supercilious fools! High five to you, dude! You’re the epitome of something - I can’t figure out what, though it doesn’t feel quite right. I expect you’ll be itching to buy the cheap IF Mode knock-off someday. After all, why would you buy the real thing when you can get by with something for less and slam others while you do it?
Why not just explain that all to Mr. Sanders and keep your change instead?
LOL you missed the point entirely. Saunders isn’t Ming and he has nothing to do with the boutique marketing policy which charges several hundred dollars for three pipes, two wheels and a plastic transmission system.
What do I care if people want to spend several hundred pounds on such rarefied pleasures. It’s up to them. Furthermore you conflate several ideas I raised and combine them into one. I never called strida buyers, ‘supercilious fools’. You did. I said your remark was supercilious, and that people who paid more for something to buy into a brand were fools, but if the cap fits, my friend, put it on by all means. As for a cheap IF Mode Knockoff - I’m afraid I haven’t the least idea what you are talking about. I suggest we confine ourselves to discussing what has actually been said and avoid speculating about the imagined desires of people we have never met. Always best to keep hold of reality I think - if we can, that is.
I think not. Your point missed all by itself when you characterized my comments as “supercilious” and people you have never met as “fool”. I don’t know how Ming Cycles and its distributors determine pricing, but your opinion is that it’s too high. Why would I care about that view on the price and just how does that make me a fool if I buy the original? That sounds rather haughty (wait a minute - isn’t that another word for supercilious?) Also, in the interest of clarity, please note the designer of the Strida is Mark Sanders. Saunders may be the name of the guy who designed the bike you ride (LOL - “Saunders” would be a fitting knock-off butchering of the “Sanders” name.) I’d hope you’d have read elsewhere in these forums of Mr. Sanders thoughts on fake Stridas and his relationship with Ming Cycles regarding the IP.
To clarify, the IF Mode is Mark Sanders’ latest innovative folding bike design. It appears elsewhere in these forums and at bikeforums.net. I believe the IP is owned by Pacific Cycles, not by Mr. Sanders’ company, MAS Design Products, Ltd. Like the Strida I suppose in 19 or 20 years the patents will expire and knock-off copies will spew forth. It is a rather pricey product right now but one only needs to wait that long if purchasing the original makes one a fool.
I hope I have satisfactorily confined myself to what has actually been said and avoided conflation of your ideas. I would hope to avoid further misunderstanding. I prefer reality, too.
Am I ‘bovered’ really?
Have a nice day.
I would imagine that the best scenario for all would be that people who cannot afford a Genuine strida get a copy and then, when others see that, many of them get a real Strida. This would of course depend on supplies for copies being limited, or maybe only sold in places like china for low waged chinese workers.
Unless you work in, or understand manufacturing, quality, shipping costs, taxation, distribution and retail costs it may appear that a manufacturer is making a 2 or 3 x markup / profit. But talk to any shop owner (who buys stuff in at approx 1/2 the price its sold for) and they will explain the reasons for this.
Also it must be remembered that the Chinese Government also subsidises some manufacturing business’ and materials they use - so prices direct from China are artificially low. Which is why using ‘proper channels’ there are import taxes for many goods from china. Of course the companies making fakes are just doing so to make money, as easily as possible (standards ? testing ? materials ? IP … pah ) and due to the fact they are subsidised, and they do not have all the overheads (development and costs above), they can obviously undercut official Stridas.
I am a real Strida owner, and i have absolutely no animosity towards Fake strida owners, on the contrary, when owners like EvilV who were previously pretty derogatory about ‘sitting a top a triangle’ 
now have the balls to admit they have changed their views - that HAS to be good for the Strida community at large. Welcome EvilV 
glad you came in from the cold and see the water IS warm 
I think the supply of fake or copies of Strida is drying up - I was trying to buy one as a spare, but I cant find many at super low prices, only similar to secondhand real Strida’s so maybe the authorities are clamping down on fake making/selling ? or maybe the fake makers are finding the real costs are higher than they first found ??
Thanks Human Amp. I am happy to be civil most of the time and to consider the views of other people. I also change my mind and admit it when I make an error as you point out.
There are all kinds of things about our systems of supply and manufacture which although long accepted are not in the interest of the consumer. Of course these are complex issues and one should not generalise too much, but one of the things I am VERY glad to see overturned by web trading is the huge mark ups of many retail businesses. I don’t know where you are located, but here in the UK there is a terrible rip-off culture in retailing. A 100% markup is not at all unusual in all kinds of traditional retail selling. In fact such a markup is unconscionable, but stupidly, people pay up. Don’t get the idea I am short of cash either - I am not and have been able to retire in my mid fifties. I didn’t build up my resources to allow that by chucking more money than needed at suppliers, and I still don’t. I am also prepared to walk into a shop and make an offer rather than pay the price asked if I think the trade conditions merit it. I once walked into a furniture shop, pulled out £2000 in cash and offered 2/3 the price. The guy looked shocked. I looked around the empty shop and said, ‘Who else is going to put £2000 into your hand today? Take it or leave it. Refuse and I’m out the door.’ He took the money and I took the furniture -LOL.
If you are still looking for a fake strida there was one on ebay.uk yesterday. I think its the same guy I dealt with but he is not selling under the same name. If it isn’t the same guy, it could be that this seller bought some of the container load, because the guy I bought from was selling them in fives and tens at one point. I think he needed to recover his outlay quickly and was asking only £100 each for five or more. This is definitely the same bike as mine.
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/saiid2000
By the way - I have broken five spokes in the back wheel of this copy strida. Add that to the other quality issues that I mentioned. I am picking up ten new spokes cut to size on Monday and will be riding another bike until then.
Hope not.
Thank you.
Oh! They have attacked genuine Stridas and their manufacturer again… 
bikeforums.net/showthread.ph … ost8345306
Oh - is it bad manners to question the pricing policy of a manufacturer?
I gather that you are referring to my post since it is the one that opens up when I follow your link.
It is odd indeed that it is seen as a matter of questionable ethics to query value for money in a product. Anyone would think that we must act like guests at the house of a generous host and behave with deference, accepting all we are given with smiles and gratitude. If a person is buying a product or even considering it, they have EVERY right to think what they like and SAY it too.
Surprisingly, there is a bizarre tendency among some fans of certain bikes to adopt a quasi-religious stance in defending them. Criticism, or the buying of a copy is regarded as a kind of blasphemy and those that express unfavourable opinions and unflattering comments become some kind of scandalous infidels.
Bicycles were invented over a hundred years ago and were in major ways fully developed by the beginning of the twentieth century. They are useful, liberating and entertaining devices, put together in a variety of forms some showing interesting new ways to express the basic idea of the 1880s. The designers of even the most radical machines such as Strida, Abike, and others stand on the shoulders of giants who first trod the path of making light, simple machines to get the most out of human effort in transport. I think that those designers would largely acknowledge that they would be nowhere had it not been for the work of now anonymous and long dead engineers and artisans who trod the path before them. This is why I see no problem at all in buying a copy of something based mostly on the work of hundreds of earlier machines - a heritage of ideas which made the new machine possible.
Do whatever floats your boat but don’t sanctify your choice above that of others and then refer to them as fools for not following your enlightened ways. Remember civility. That okay with you?
Let go your resentment. It’s bad for you.
No resentment here, just being civil mind you.