Bike Friday customer reviews

Hello. I am writing from Vietnam where I am traveling with my New World Tourist. I just want you to know how happy I am with this bicycle. It has done absolutely everything I've asked it to do, from riding off road in Cambodia through a cornfield in the dark, to riding a paved road of spectacular vistas of the rice fields in the Mekong Delta.

Two nights ago I took it for a "rua xe." That's Vietnamese for a motorcycle wash. My NWT was positively pimped! There is nothing to say about this bike but all the best things and I will post some of it's portraits to the community when I have a little more time.

It came yesterday.  I spent the afternoon putting it together for the first
time.  The instructions were good.  I made a few wrong turns along the way
but finally figured it out.  I was impressed with the care you took in
packing it up, by how well everything fit together, that brakes and shifting
were in perfect adjustment out of the box, tires inflated ready to go.  The
purple paint job is spectacular!  It rides superbly (solo).  So far, I am
one very satisfied customer.  Now all I have to do is learn how to ride the
thing w a stoker!  That's going to be Jim Black's assignment.

Thank you for helping me create this beautiful machine.  I hope you got to
see it in it's final form.  Perhaps I'll get by there sometime with it; I'd
love to take you for a ride.

Rod Harwood

Yes, that Carley Simon song, Anticipation, a 1971 hit, is how I was feeling about my Tikit since I ordered it in February, then decided to upgrade it while it was being built.  At last, we settled on the final components, then off it was shipped on April 22nd. ANTICIPATION since then and even since February.  As the days dragged on , I kept looking at the FedEx website to track the shipment.  Finally it arrived in Connecticut this morning, so I was Anticipating it every few minutes I’d look out the window for the FedEx guy.  Nobody came.  I kept looking at my iPhone to see if there was more detail in the tracking.  At one point it said Package Delivered.  I said to myself they must do the paperwork in advance because I didn’t hear the FedEx guy/gal.  I opened the front door.  There it was.  

Ohboyohboyohboy.  I’m 67 years old but I was like a little kid.  I knew I better open it, read the instructions, go slow, because so many times I’ve messed up brand new stuff in my haste.  I opened up the suitcase and there it was in all its glory.  I looked at the manual, then spotted the DVD.  I figured I’ll look at the DVD and see if it gives me enough info to get started.

I’d play little sections of it making sure that I was doing stuff right all along.  I’d rewind a little, look it over a little.  Within an hour I was out riding.  And folding and unfolding my
Tikit.

What a work of art, really.  Within five minutes of my getting on it someone remarked, nice bike!!!!.  But the real fun was folding and bringing it into stores.  Yeah, there’s nothing like that feeling.  No locks no chains, no nothing, just me and my bike and all the conversation that follows. 

I’d like to thank the entire Bike Friday staff for making this a very sweeeeet day.  I look forward to many many rides, tossing it into the back of our SUV from time to time, without all the hassle of the taking off the front tire of my roadie.

It seems to have a lot of range in the gearing, more so than the one I traded in, New World Tourister.

Thanks to all, very much.

God’s peace to all,

Deacon Mike Oles

After having ridden my Pocket Rocket Pro (27-speed with Ultegra components) for 3 months and more than 1500 miles around Boulder, Colorado, I would purchase the bicycle again with no reservations whatsoever. The bicycle has been just great and an absolute pleasure to ride. It also travels very well.

I am 52 and bought the Pocket Rocket Pro for exercise and century rides on extended business trips. It feels very similar to my regular high-end road bike. It might (?) be a whisker slower, but if it is, it’s not slower by much. It is comfortable, handles well and is very stable at speeds up to 40+ mph, brakes well, and is fast. It has a nice lively ride. The welding looks very good, and the paint job is superb. I have no qualms about using it as an alternative to my regular road bike now that I am home either, something I did not expect.

My Pocket Rocket Pro performed superbly on rides that covered a mix of terrains (mountains and flatland) and a healthy range of distances. My first significant ride was a century ride that involved 4300’ of climbing about two weeks after I received the bike. The bicycle did fine, in spite of some difficulty with my saddle (see below). My cycling thereafter typically consisted of daily 10-20 mile rides, with weekend rides of ~40-miles with as much as 4,000’ of climbing. I pushed the bike and myself pretty hard on these rides and loved the way it responded. The Pocket Rocket Pro is definitely a beautiful high-end road.

In addition to the quality of the ride, the speed and ease of assembly and disassembly (packing) is very important to me. If either of these steps were to take too long, I wouldn’t have time left to ride a bike on a typical business trip. The assembly and disassembly procedures are both straightforward, and the directions in the manual bike are very good too - this is critical. The felt packing bags and split plastic tubes that came with the bicycle for protecting it in the travel case are really nice, do their job well, and materially aid in quickly and securely packing the bike; they also reflect attention to key details on the part of Bike Friday. The second time I re-packed the bike it took about an hour, and the next time it will take 30 minutes or less (a few annotations I made in the manual the first time I packed up the bike really helped). The assembly time after three assemblies is comparable to the disassembly time: ~20 minutes for assembly and another 10 minutes to double check, pump tires, etc. In contrast, the travelling bike a sibling bought from another company did not come with a manual or DVD; it took us several hours to repack his bike even though we had photographs of his bike from when we unpacked it. The Pocket Rocket Pro is a clear winner in terms of the speed and ease of assembly and disassembly.

The travel case has worked well too. First, it has protected the bike well, even when opened up by TSA. Second, it is roomy and can take a regular floor pump if the base plate can be removed. The bike and case alone only weigh about 30 pounds by themselves. The bike, the case, the tools for the bike, a rear rack, water bottles and their cages, two frame pumps, and the floor pump together weighed in at 50.0 pounds. The floor pump and the rear rack are the main reasons it has taken me more than 30 minutes to disassemble and pack the bike so far – without them I would be under 30 minutes.

My service experience with Bike Friday has been very good-to-excellent. I ask a lot of questions, and Sandy in customer service fielded my questions patiently and knowledgeably. The fit of the bike is spot on. I ordered the bike about a month before leaving on my trip to Boulder, and it arrived on schedule to fit a narrow time window before the century ride; I greatly appreciated that. I had ordered a straight stem riser and a standard stem to have the option of adjusting the stem, but my Pocket Rocket Pro came with the custom ultralight stem. This could have been a significant problem, but wasn’t: the custom stem was sized just right, I like it, and I’m glad I have it.

I’ve also been pleased with other matters associated with my Pocket Rocket Pro. The online service guide is excellent. The bike’s tool kit is nice. The DVD that came with the bike is good too, even though I find the manual to be quite adequate.

The bicycle does have some idiosyncrasies. It seems to be a bit more sensitive than my regular road bike to having the right saddle in the correct position even though the specs on my Pocket Rocket Pro were taken from my regular bike; my two-year old saddle on my regular road bike just didn’t feel comfortable on the Pocket Rocket Pro – I still don’t know why. The nut on the bottom bracket hinge needed to be slightly loosened to fold it up the first time I packed the bike, and this took me a while to figure out. I bought a crescent wrench for this, but the spanners in the tool kit that comes with the bike can loosen this nut. The quick release on the stem needs to be tighter than I expected to prevent the handlebars from creaking and to prevent a shudder while braking on steep descents. The seat mast clamp also has to be tight to stop the seat from sliding down, and the first time I tightened the clamp I broke the clamp bolt. I’ll get a replacement bolt and clamp to be covered in case this happens again. The front brake cables clack against each other while riding, but I’ve addressed this with a few strategically positioned twisty-ties. I also want to find a way to keep the chain from dirtying the protective felt bags when the bike is in the travel case. With a bit more experience I am confident I’ll resolve all these matters.

In summary, I love the ride of my Pocket Rocket Pro and how well it travels. The service from Bike Friday has been consistent with its fine reputation. The Pocket Rocket Pro was the right bike for me and I am extremely glad I purchased it.

I looked at a lot of folding bikes over the last year. Bike Friday, Brompton, Dahon etc. My wife Tanya, an avid researcher, spent a lot of time as well. She asked me, "What is important to you? Do you really need the compact fold of the Brompton, or do you want a folding bike that rides like a real bike?" That really got me thinking.

Well, I test rode a Season Tikit at Warm Planet Bikes in San Francisco, and also tried a friend's Brompton. I also tried a Strida and a Dahon. My wife kept researching. I kept looking at bikes.

I kept coming back to Bike Friday...

Last month, I finally bought my Season Tikit a month ago after about a year agonzing over my decision. It is in Green Gear Green and I have named it Kermit! (You know, "It's not easy being green." )It has been fantastic! I knew I would like it, but I can't believe the difference it has made in my commute.

It has made in a huge difference in two areas primariy. One is getting on and off the train. The other is getting in and out of my building at work. I live in San Mateo, Ca. and commute to San Francisco, Ca. via Cal train.

With our local Caltrain, there has been a problem for years in bike capacity. At least once every couple of weeks, I was bumped from the train and had to take the next one.

http://www.sfbike.org/?caltrain_bob

Now that I have the tikit, I get on the train with no problems. In the first two weeks alone, I was able to get on at least four trains that I would ordinarily been bumped off. The folding bike is always allowed!

My other issue has been my workplace. Frankly, it is NOT bike friendly. Before my tikit, I had to take my bike through the loading dock, down a one-floor freight elevator to the basement, and then try to sneak my bike onto another freight elevator up to the 10th floor where my office is. I say sneak, as the building has a "NO BIKE" policy. They want me to put my bike in room designated for that purpose in the basement. Just getting my bike in and out of the office took 10-15 minutes extra, time crucial if you are trying to make the train home.

Well now I pull up to the front of the building, fold my Season Tikit, and walk right in and take the main elevator.The security people smile at me and nod as I go by. No hassles! I also can stick my tikit right under my desk, so that I can easily leave in a moment's notice. I honestly think that with the increased time I get at work, the tikit will be paid for in no time at all!

Oh, and here's the other thing: It is a joy to ride! The other day, a group of my fellow commuter's asked about it. They genuinely liked it, including one freind who has Brompton with a three gear internal hub (He was jealous, in a good-natured way, about my eight year nexus hub), but one of them made a bit of a derisive comment and said his folding bike, a citizen, only cost him a few hundred dollars, and insinuated that I was stupid for spending what I did for my Season Tikit.

I noticed he had a regular commuter bike, and not a folder with him, asked him why he wasn't riding it at the time. He said that the ride was somewhat clunky and the fold was cumbersome, but he liked it just fine. I smugly thought to myself that he just made the point of the tikit for me. Why have a folding bike that, frankly, sucks? Why not pay for quality, and have a bike that you can actually enjoy?

Anyway, I could go on about all the other things I like about my tikit, but I think that would require a few more pages... long story short, I am an extremely satisified customer!

Best Regards,

Ty Smith