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The 'Eggplant' Petite Air Friday gets tested by the smallest person at Bike Friday
AFTER THE DOUBLE WIN by Tim Link riding a Bike Friday in OBRA Eugene Flat Time Trial and yours truly sneaking off with a nice prize for coming 1st of 1 in the 40+ category (see story), it was time to try and repeat these monumental successes in the subsequent series: The OBRA Eugene Hill Time Trial Series.
This is a 3.5 mile uphill slog which again, you must do with a firm picture of a pack of dobermans snapping at your seat bag in mind.
For this race, I decided to try out the flashiest, most expensive bike in the showroom: the 'Eggplant' Dura-Ace Petite Air Friday, so named for the unique Power Purple and green paint job.
You've probably seen or read about me tooling around on a yellow Pocket Rocket Pro Petite for quite some time (see Lite is Right and My First Race) so it was time to test ride its sister in the 'hood.
There are already several proud owners of this stunning model at Bike Friday, including Theresa Scholz, Hanna Scholz and Marketing Director Kristin Allen. They cruise out for the lunchtime ride looking like a super chic Lara Croft-meets-Charlie's Angels trio sans the rocket blasters and pancake makeup. How could you resist that?
So what about this little folding bike? It's all Dura-Ace equipped Petite Air Friday with Moots Ti seatpost, STI levers shimmed for small hands, 38cm wide Terry drop bars, and the incomparable Capreo 9-tooth cog cassette that Shimano invented especially for small wheeled bikes. (Meaning: no more giant chainrings to make the gear ratios equivalent to a big-wheel bike necessary). The wheels are 14-spoke, Alex R390 Mini-BMX rim laced radially in front, 2-cross the rear. The saddle is my personal favorite, a Terry Men's Fly, longer than the women's Butterfly, so flexes more in the middle. Available from Bike Friday of course!
The cranks are a classic old 155 cm TA 30,38,46 triple, a gift from UK customer, Marion Guy, who came over to pick up her Pocket Rocket Pro Petite (see Sweet Dreams Are Made of This).
She says,"I found them at a garage sale and I couldn't just leave them there!". Would the shorter 155 length more appropriate for my little legs than even the 165 cm ones on the Pro Petite? I was about to find out. The cranks have a nice groove worn in them by toeclips, but otherwise are in great shape. I understand Hanz, ever the stylemaster, is ordering a new set of 155's for this bike.
The pedals are my 250 gram composite resin WTB Stealths. They're actually designed more for MTB competition. They're not quite as 'clunk' precise as the standard all-metal kind, but at that weight, (about half that of regular SPD's), I'm willing to wear it.
I took the bike out at lunch to see how it would get up the 4-level steeper-than-steep Greenhill Road. The shifting is crisp and precise. The ride was definitely more cushy than my Pro Petite (it would want to be for the extra price of the Ti suspension beam), which I also put down to the cushier IRC Roadlite tires (the Pro Petite is set up with the unforgiving but faaaaasssst sub-1" Primo Champions).
We rode out the to start of the Time Trial, which took about half an hour. At first I felt a little stretched out, as the bike was not originally designed for me. I stopped to unbolt then push the Ti beam in further. Perfect! Great that you can adjust the fit like that.
I noticed the bike was extremely nimble uphill, very stable downhill. The 14-spoke wheels made a delightful whirring sound as the wind swept by them.
Air bikes are also comparatively slightly heavier than their Pocket equivalents, but people buy them for their suspended comfort, rather than weight.
Is it the extra weight, comfort, geometry and fit that made this bike feel good? Probably any or all of the above. Sometimes it takes a while to tweak your Bike Friday to be just how you like it. It is not a toaster.
I checked the tires and discovered why the ride was so comfortable - there was only 40 lbs of pressure in them! Yet, the bike felt very fast. Moral: always pump up your tires ... it is one way to avoid pinch flats.
The contenders included the usual barrage of carbon fiber and Ti bigwheelers, now stripped of their aero bars and anything that might add dead weight to the mission. For such a short race, where the record is apparently 11 minutes, water bottles were also discarded... Tim Link even took the seat post bag BRACKET off his Pocket Pilot Elite - now there's are real weight freak for you. I told him he should have gone for a 1-coat color instead of the 2 coat Racing Green (most of the Bike Friday fancier paint options are 2-coat processes). He insisted Racing Green was a 1 coat. I begged to differ. Someone on a lightspeed was listening and smirking at out ridiculous circular conversation.
At the start someone helpfully held onto our seats so we could clip in and not waste time on such a short race. The odd person spurned the offer and did an impressive track stand start.
I made the mistake of being in a too big a gear to start so lost some valuable seconds pushing off. Moral: Start in a low gear!
I made an even bigger mistake. In the 20 minute wait when I should have been warming up, I was making the kind of aforementioned pointless conversation and my leg muscles must have cooled off. Because during the first flat section, I could barely turn the pedals. It was a shock. I am good at hills, having hauled life support systems up mountains on my world travels, but here, I was riding on a flat road like it was Everest. Tim Link, who started 30 seconds behind me, shot past within, ahem, 30 seconds of me leaving the start line. Moral: Warm up until the last but don't wear yourself out.
But things got better. Tim told me I should aim for 18 minutes. I did notice, as at lunchtime, the shorter cranks seemed easier to turn. We are talking only 10 mm difference, 1 cm, but I hallucinate there is a difference. The slight bouyancy of the beam felt like I could really 'sink into' the bike at times. Whether or not this is good for speed I am not sure, but the cushiness gave me something to push against and seemed to conserve energy.
I tried a combo of standing and pedaling, sitting and pedaling, but as they say, you have to find what works best for you. Tim claims the full Monty at Izzy's the day before a race works a charm.
Probably 5 guys went past me on the way up. I did, however, pass Bike Friday's Japan Marketing Advocate Ruthy Kanagy who was heroically attempting the feat on her green Sat R Day. GOOOOO RUTHY! What a champ.
Hyperventilating like all the rest I made it to the top in around 17-18 minutes, I'll have to check the results. Candy Walker had ditched her Cannondale for her Pocket Rocket Pro for this ride, knowing full well the small wheels climb better. We'll see.
On the way down I spotted Bike Friday Wheel Wizard Ted Wade on his Single Speed Pocket Rocket grinding up the hill. Maybe he's going for my tactic - be first in a category of one. Single Speeds have become de rigeur at Bike Friday ever since Fred the Bike Friday Parakeet started squawking about salesguy Walter Lapchynski's covetable Single Speed Bike Friday.
There are 3 more of these time trials. I might ride the Pro Petite next week to compare. and I'll definitely make sure I don't stand around talking about the weight of a coat of paint this time ...
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OBRA results (spot the words 'Bike Friday'!) can be viewed on the OBRA results page. Check the results for Ted Wade, Ruthy Kanagy, Lynette Chiang and Tim Link - all riding Bike Fridays (Tim has moved from winning Cat 4 to competing in Cat 3 - a true masochist).
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My above observations of the Petite Air Friday are only initial. I shall keep you informed of my ongoing experience with the bike as I ride it more - so consider this report a 'work in progress'.
I asked Alan Scholz why he, Hanz, and many folk ride an Air Bike. This is what he said:
"The beam isolates you from road shock and vibration. When going down a hill, the wheel naturally skips about. On a fixed frame bike this is transmitted directly up through your body. Up to an hour's riding it's no big deal. But for extended rides the vibration tires you. Thus, a suspended bike means you can ride in more comfort, for longer.
Isolation from that skipping wheel also means you feel more solid on descents. You are not having your whole body jarred by the road, feeling like you have to hang on for grim death. [A bit like sitting in a nice BMW or Mercedes saloon vs a clapped out VW Rabbit. In the former you can be going 100 mph and it feels like 40. Same with the Air bike.]
Air Bikes are ideal for triathletes, where they must jump off the bike in as energized state as possible so they can run.
It's also great for mid-Westerners, who have those infuriating concrete splits in the road that go kathump... kathump ... for miles and miles... it's worse than gravel because it's like water torture. On an Air bike, you see the splits in the road. That's all."
Well. I do know that after Rufus Woods rode Randy Komisar's Air Friday in the recent PACTour/Bike Friday Training Camp, he immediately called up to trade in his Pocket Rocket Pro. In that camp Lon Haldeman commented that "Type As hauled it 85 miles back to Tuscon on the last day faster than any of the other groups he could remember..." - the other groups he is talking about have been almost exclusively 'big wheel' bikes. The type A's included "Jack Rabbit" Alan Scholz, "Aggressive 27 mp/h" Hanz Scholz, "Animal" Jeff Linder, and several others on their Air Fridays. They came in fast because even 85 miles of fast riding did not tire them.
What about that argument that a bike should be stiff not flexy?
"I don't get that. Bikes in the Tour de France have been the lightest, whippiest things for years. As are the riders. Next question."
So what are the disadvantages of the Air Bike?
"It doesn't fold as fast. If that is the most important thing to you, get a Pocket Rocket Pro. Also, for some, the Air bike requires getting used to - that subtle oscillation. Some people take to it instantly. One person took an entire year - but will now ride nothing else."
Tim Link is not about to trade in his Pocket Pilot Elite for an Air Friday, however. He says his stonking great Ti seatmast absorbs enough shock to give him an immaculately smooth ride, "as smooth as my Bianchi Boron was." Note, however, we are still talking about the same issue - isolation from road vibration. Tim's Pocket Pilot Elite.
Call the BF salesguys so they can get you on an Air Friday, Air Glide or Air Llama - until further notice, I'm sold.
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Read Petite Bike Friday stories here
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Lynette Chiang aka galfromdownunder.com
Emailable link to this article: http://www.bikefriday.com/bf/petite-airfriday
For more information, follow this link http://www.bikefriday.com/petites.