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.”
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.
Strida Folding Bike review at Toronto’s Green Tenant
Since many rent their homes and apartments some terrific energy saving or green projects are not possible. However, many projects are possible when you know what or how to do them. Green Tenant is a blog with lots of environmentally appropriate how-tos and information primarily for those who rent. They just posted a review of the Strida.
Thanks to Andrew for this.
Strida Folding Bike – slip one under the tree for me
The BPlot is driven by great features, gossip, grooming and gifts. Written by Richard Virgilio who worked in production for programs such as “The Maury Povich Show,” “The Carnie Wilson Show” and “The Howard Stern Show.” He was “Gay Rich” on Stern’s radio show. In addition to the terrestrial radio show, he was regularly featured on Stern’s E! Entertainment show, short-lived CBS Saturday night show and in both his tomes “Miss America” and “Private Parts”.
In this post which evokes the Santa Baby Christmas hit, Richard drops the sable and adds the Strida among other temptations.
Air Canada – you’re not quite getting it
It’s time to reconsider your policy, just like Jet Blue as reported by BikePortland.
The corporation is just too big to apply common sense, to properly communicate within, and is indifferent to what travellers really think. It’s not the issue that bicycles are green transport and as such, should be encouraged and welcomed. Air Canada is missing the key point here. They have a policy, appropriate for conventional bicycles that requires the passenger to pay a $50 fee to cover the cost of handling that unwieldly bicycle. When it comes to bikes which fold up smaller than a snowboard, that do not require any special handling, the fee should simply not apply. Indeed, it often does not.
I have traveled on Air Canada with my Strida folding bike many times. Customarily I pay no fee, drop my Strida’s carry bag on the belt and pick it off the carousel on the other end, much like I do for many other items. Occasionally, when I have been told there is a charge for bicycles, I have had a discussion with the ticket agent in which I compare the Strida folding bike to many other items Air Canada accepts from me and thousands of others every day without a fee. Each time so far, I have not had to pay the fee.
A few weeks ago Yvonne Bambrick, Executive Director of the Toronto Cyclist’s Union, took a Strida folding bike to San Francisco on Air Canada. There was no fee requested on the flight down, but the $50 fee was insisted upon on the return flight.
Read some of the details of Toronto writer Lloyd Alter’s experience with, and impression of Air Canada’s policy in this Financial Post article. Lloyd Alter has stitched together a summary of the saga.
Interestingly while typing this post, I received two email messages from Air Canada offering me 15,000 bonus miles as part of a current marketing campaign to keep us all flying with them.
Hello World; and Folding Bikes yet…
Hello new Blog. Let us be the first to welcome you to the blogworld. It would appear a new weblog is emerging about folding bikes.
Sweet!
Some good points to consider from this site.
Blogger: you may be a veteran with years under your belt, or just new; but isn’t it cool how fast you can be noticed.
Be sure to use the WordPress blog stats so you can see who is sending you people!
