Strida Folding Bike donated by savedbybikes.com to A Mine Free World Foundation
Lisa McCoy is the executive director of A Mine Free World Foundation, which distributes bicycles to rural children in Cambodia. The organization also provides education and vocational support to land mine survivors.
Even though Lisa has given over 300 bicycles to rural students to get to school, she doesn’t have a bike of her own for travel throughout rural Cambodia.
Excerpt from an article in What’s Up Muskoka:
“McCoy knows the monetary and practical value of the donation, and was amazed when she received the news.
“I was just in awe when I got an e-mail saying they were going to donate one to me for getting around the villages and around the city in Cambodia,” says McCoy, remembering the moment.
The versatility of this bike has McCoy excited for her return to Cambodia in October. It can go on the
airplane with her checked baggage, and even on a bus. “They can even go on the back of a motorcycle, and in Cambodia,
everything goes on the back of a motorcycle,” she laughs. She’s anticipating some double-takes as she travels with her Strida.
“They’ll never have seen anything like this before, and it’s going to be a novelty for them as well. I’m sure I’ll
get some interesting reactions when I start my six-month term this coming winter.”
Here’s the link to Lisa’s blog, thank you and your colleagues for your wonderful work Lisa.
Strida Folding Bike (and legs of steel) Conquer The Ride To Conquer Cancer
…as an update to this post. We were fortunate enough to be able to supply a demo Strida Sport Duo for Dave’s fundraising ride.
The 2010 Enbridge Ride to Cure Cancer in Alberta was absolutely spectacular ! Well over 2000 participants and in excess of 7.1M dollars raised makes it the largest fundraiser in Alberta ever.
Some of Dave’s impressions, riding a Strida for the 1st time and going 220 kilometres yet.
“There were no other “folders” in the ride. I was surprised by some of the first impressions people had: The racer/high performance crowd in general figured that I must be putting out twice the energy…until I let them ride it, and they were blown away by its performance. I was invited by one “high performance” team to join them for next years ride ! The mountain bike riders were typically embarassed to be passed uphill by a “folding” bike and figured I must have legs of steel.
Downhill I was hard pressed to get much over 55Kph, and glad of it…Uphill was really good…There was one hill in particular, at about 80 K, that challenged the best and defeated many, yet this Strida allowed me to simply keep pumping away and cleared the top in good shape ! Very sweet ride!”
Our thanks and congratulations to Dave, and all the riders in the event!
Strida Folding Bicycle, Design History and Background
It’s amazing to explore the early stages of an industry changing idea. 
Mark Sanders, the designer of the Strida Folding Bicycle has posted his Master’s Thesis on the Strida’s design, and his Business Plan. Thanks to Treehugger.com for posting, The Fascinating History of the Strida Bike
Strida Folding Bike Circumnavigates the Polar Circle
As we mentioned in this post, the Strida bike has crossed the Sahara Desert. Now, Regis Fender has ridden from France to the Polar Circle and then circumnavigated the circle, all on his Strida; some 3500 kilometers.
As posted on RideThisBike.com
“Although a Strida folding bike may not seem like an ideal bicycle for long distance touring, Regis loves his. He has written that the belt drive and simple design makes the bike very reliable.”
You can take a look at Regis’ blog. There are some stunning images there.
There is also a posting at VivaLaBike.com where they write:
“The Strida that he rides is a folding, single gear, belt drive bike. It’s designer Mark Sanders, designed the bike for urban commuters with the intention that the bike would be used for short commutes. However, we’ve found, and Regis has proven, that the Strida is a more than capable bike for long commutes and can withstand the rigors of the road.”
Strida Folding Bike; don’t leave home without it
Two customers of savedbybikes.com sent this photo of themselves in Madrid with their Strida bikes, which they brought with them from their home in Canada to Spain.
We were delighted to see the picture and read their email message:
“Here we are in Madrid on our last day. We were 5 weeks in the north of Spain and used the bikes almost everyday! We won’t be going to Europe again without them. No problem with Air Canada …” “We love the bikes and so many people stopped to ask us about them.”
Thank you so much Roger and Myra.
Toronto to trial European-Style Bike Lanes
Studies show that University Ave has excess capacity, so the city will take the opportunity to test bike lanes separated from motorized traffic by a buffer zone. It’s the fear of cycling in the same lanes as motor vehicles that keep many from bicycle commuting.
Currently, University is a difficult commute; vehicles entering, exiting and turning from many angles. And, perhaps because of this excess capacity, they seem to travel faster than other traffic downtown. We know of a couple of GO Train commuters who take their Strida Folding Bikes from Union Station and head up University to work. They describe University Ave. as a “magnificent street, but scary for bikes.”
Here are most of the details from a Toronto Star article.
Commuting advice and specifics on Bicycle Commuting
For those that do have to commute daily, here’s a nice compilation of commuter tips from Lifehacker (terrific blog for keeping on top of technology.) There are lots of embedded links to explore the ideas further.
Number 6 is of course, the perennial best tip if you can’t swing number 2. If you decide to take up Bicycle Commuting, here’s a great resource for that.
Please post your own tips below.
Philidelphia: improved commute, but a Folding Bike gets you in every time
Philadelphia, which is ranked number one among the ten largest US cities for bicycle commuters per-capita according to the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition. They just posted an update on the SEPTA Bicycle Policy update. It would seem that the policy only allowed 2 bicycles PER TRAIN; at least that has now been changed to 2 per car. If however you commute with a folding bike, you’re on board no matter what. As they suggest however, be prepared with a copy of the SEPTA bike-n-ride policy to show anyone who may not be aware.
Strida Folding Bike nice day for a commute in Tokyo
Very enjoyable 3 minute video of a morning Strida folding bicycle commute on a beautiful February day in Tokyo; the start of a great day.
Strida Folding Bike easy to ride for the non-cyclist, with a weather forecast yet.
Back in August (when the weather was nice), savedbybikes.com donated a Strida Folding Bike to a Toronto news channel (CP24 Breakfast) for a free giveaway. Nalina Sharma who does the weather on air has never ridden a bicycle in public. Not only does she ride the Strida just fine, but gives the on-air weather forecast from the bike with a police escort.
Good video for people to see how easy it is to ride a Strida Folding Bike even when you are not good, or have no experience on bicycles.
