buy a folding bicycle

But my mom thinks bikes are “dangerous” and made me return it.

I’m still very interested. I just learned how to ride a bike yesterday (my friends taught me). One day I hope to buy a Downtube Mini, but it’s a little on the expensive side.

At the very least I want a Kent Superlite (that’s what I originally bought.)

i’ve had my tikit for a week now, and love it. as i’d hoped, it lowers the bar for getting the bike out and putting it away, and i’m biking a lot more. it feels great. hope you find one you love, too!

more photos and comments on my homesite

so i walked in to mt. airy bikes yesterday (40 miles from home) with my “paid in full” receipt, and they said, “oh, didn’t anyone call to tell you? we realized when we went to the warehouse that we don’t have a bike for you after all. we’ll have to order one from oregon. you’ll have to come back in a week. oh, and the rack and bonnet will cost more than we told you. oh, and we’re going to tack on around $65 for shipping.”

the staff were pleasant and apologetic (the boss was out of town), and i guess these sorts of hassles are inevitable in the face of busy bike shop anarchy. they were good enough to loan me a tikit to use in the meantime, so i can get practice at folding and unfolding it before mine arrives.

this is technically done, though i don’t have a bike to show for it. i went down to college park bikes yesterday and test rode two sizes of tikits. the medium size fit me and was good riding. not quite a full-sized bike experience, but less wobbly than you might think, and better on hills than i’d hoped. unfortunately, the only medium they had in stock is one they took to the national bike summit, where it received rather too energetic attention, leading to a couple of broken latches. i paid for the bike there, and am picking up a new one from their sister store in mt. airy tomorrow.

college park bicycles says they have all three sizes of tikits in stock. i’m going to go down early next week and try one.

i’m growing excited about the bike friday tikit. the videos are amazing. one of my reasons for preferring walking over biking is the hassle of finding a place to lock the bike. the tikit looks like something i could really take into places with me. i’m going to contact college park bicycles and see if they have some now for test rides.

i took my regular bike on the light rail yesterday, and it worked out well enough to rekindle my interest in a folding bike. to fit my full-sized bike, i had to fold up one of the handicapped benches, effectively taking up five seats between myself and the bike. that was fine during the non-peak hours i was traveling, with plenty of empty seats, but there are many times my bike and i wouldn’t be able to board. i can see times when a folder would make my life easier.

a folding bike has been on my mind for some time, and i’d like to give
it a try for plugging gaps in the baltimore mass transit system.

i’m tempted by bike friday for its ease of folding and the fact that it
can be rolled while folded, instead of having to be picked up and
carried.

I now have a Dahon Jack

It’s been getting me to and from work in 30-40 minutes, depending on traffic, 6 miles. That’s going up to 7 miles tomorrow, but much of that will be along a cyclepath along the river, which should be cool.

I want the folding bike by Giant and ride it more than I drive.