It’s off-topic Sunday.

[fusion_alert type=”custom” accent_color=”#ffffff” background_color=”#70d3c3″ border_size=”1px” icon=”fa-star” box_shadow=”yes” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””]In the spirit of off-topic-ness, lets explore micro habits, one I like in particular.  Micro habits and nerd-fantastic toys, and potentially super trick engineering.  And very high priced toys.  (& ways to get them cheap)[/fusion_alert]

I care about my eyeballs.  They want to be outdoors, see the world.  So one of my planned habits is adding reasons to get outside.  And stay outside.  Since I’m a huge nerd and have a middling shopping addiction to boot, I use these particular weakness against my otherwise lazy self, by buying fun outdoor toys.

Especially outdoor toys that speak to my inner nerd.  Toys that can be upgraded, tinkered with.  Toys with specs and fan sites. 

Bikes, totally falls into this category.

Unfortunately, bikes are generally not an amazing design for the modern world.  They take up a huge amount of space relative to their usefulness, and unless you make lots of concessions, a bike is just a pain in the a**.  Doesn’t easily fit into a car, forget about it on public transport, has a ridiculously large footprint, and generally just … not a very strong design.

But bikes are amazing.  You can sneak around town, get on sidewalks, go for rides, and skip the car.  Bikes can tick all the potential nerd boxes, the get outside boxes, the your-eyes-will-appreciate-you-lots boxes.

So let’s talk about bikes.

I just got back from Hong Kong to Bangkok.  Back to my favorite coffee shop in town, to write you this quick Sunday post.  And while it being summer the B (Bangkok) should B-erlin or B-udapest, due to some emerging family planning, it’s not.  Rather, it’s summer in Asia.

2014-01-20 18.24.04

Hong Kong:  The lure of 24/7 cities.

Which, if you happen to be here in the summer, Hong Kong is a 50 dollar flight from a lot of nearby locales.  Visa waiver for most Western passports too and a quick and easy ride into town.  Highly recommended for a few days of seeing something new.  Drop into Kowloon and eat proper Chinese food.  And then a quick jump to Saigon (though, pricey visa and you need to get an invite letter first!), or to Bangkok.  

But, bikes.  Today I’m back in home base Asia-Bangkok, digging Mr. Stealthy out of his suitcase.

bike friday ticket in suitcase

Meet Mr. Stealthy.

Mr. Stealthy is a folding bike.

Acquired a lot of years ago, while spending a few months in Park City, Utah.  It was sort of a thing I did on a whim while there learning how to paraglide.  I found myself researching folding bikes, in an attempt to upgrade from “Donkey“, a Dahon folder made sometime in the 1970’s.  

I never fully appreciated the magic of folding bikes, before Donkey.  

Donkey emerged sometime while spending a while in Florida.  And if you never tried a folder, but like to get outside, this is totally a worthwhile read.

Consider this use case:

You live in a larger city, and it’s the weekend.  The weather is nice, you go out for a ride to the nearby park.  But then a friend calls unexpectedly, all the way across town, inviting you for lunch.  Do you ride all the way over there, arrive all sweaty and late?  Or do you ride all the way back home, drop off your bike, and then take the subway?

Not with a folder!  You just fold it up, take it with you on the subway.  Brilliant.

2015-08-01 16.16.52

Mr. Stealthy living up to his name on the subway.

And then when you’re taking the elevator to the 20th floor at your friend’s condo, the folding bike takes up no more of a footprint than a backpack.  Very politely hides in a small corner in even the smallest apartment, too.

There are lots of folding bike makers, especially popular in Asia.

In the U.S. and Europe, by far the biggest brand is Dahon.  I wasn’t the biggest fan, due to proprietary parts (super annoying especially since Dahon doesn’t support their older bikes) and made-in-China.  But they have a wide selection, and far more friendly pricing than the arguably more interesting options.  

Let’s nerd out a bit.  For me it boiled down to two contenders on the serious folding bike front:  Bike Friday, and Brompton.  

First, Friday.  

Bike Friday is made by a small shop in Oregon.  They have a famously crappy Website which remains crappy even after a big redesign.   But their bike designs are something special.  The Tikit, my personal favorite, has the distinction of folding and unfolding in about five seconds flat.  No adjusting anything, no knobs, no questionable hinges.  It’s some seriously cool design.

2015-08-01 16.30.32And stealthy, if you go for all-black.

The other big factor is that the bike fits standard parts.  Brakes drive train, stems and things, you can go customize, buy them anywhere, upgrade whatever you want.  Bike Friday will also make the bike custom for you, any color you want, any components you want.  Dangerous grounds, that.

It’s not what I did.  

While in Utah I found a bike dealer online that had one single one of last years medium size all black ones left.  50% discount.  

Because while these bikes very quickly get into four figures and compete on price with decent used cars, you don’t have to spend all that money.

How save a thousand bucks.

Here’s my favorite trick:  You can find Tikits on craigslist if you are lucky enough to live in the USA.  Just go to Google, type in site:craigslist.org “bike friday tikit” in the search bar (exactly like that), and it’ll search all of Craigslist in all locations at once.  (a very handy shopping trick)   Now you just have to figure out a way for the seller to agree to send it to you!  This way you can get a Tikit that otherwise starts at well over $1,000 for a lot cheaper.  They also retain their second hand value rather nicely if you sell them locally in a trendy type of city.

The ride:

It’s twitchy the first time you get on one, with the 16″ wheels.  But after you ride this bike for a while, it’s hard to go back to full size wheels.  They feel like there is an eternal lag in response.  You can flick it around between pedestrians on the sidewalk, hop over into the road, navigate anywhere nearly as quickly as on the Tikit.  

Another use case:

You travel.  And maybe more than just a couple of days at a time, like maybe a few weeks somewhere.  You’d like to have a bike with you, but you’re not obsessed with bikes and ready to deal with packing up a full size bike and paying huge airline fees.

But if it was super simple, like barely a second thought, it’d be nice to have a folding bike with you.  Something you can bring into movie theaters and restaurants.

Here again, Tikit.  20 minutes, take off the seat post and some minor wiggling, it fits into a standard Samsonite suitcase with enough room to spare for clothes and things for a week-long trip.  No extra airline fees and no matter where you find yourself, you have your favorite ride with you.

2013-10-20 17.21.47Mr. Stealthy is great for getting around Budapest.

Instead of taking the taxi or the subway, you find yourself outside a lot more.  Which means, less smartphone temptation.  More distance vision opportunity.  Elevated heart rate which seems to work great with better distance vision as well.

And full of clever ideas, the Tikit has a built in cover (that little black bag on the frame).  It unfolds and covers the whole bike in seconds.  The you just push it around by the handle that is part of the bottom of the seatpost.  Handles really well being pushed, and under the “shower cap” it’s impossible for anyone to even notice that it’s a bike.

2014-04-02 10.53.52Mr. Stealthy leaving Berlin.

Micro habits.

The difference between successful people and less-successful ones, is habits.  If you want something, you won’t get there by making one gigantic effort.  You don’t get rich by building some huge thing right now, today.  You contemplate your end goal, and then you figure out which habits you need to start to work to build, today, to eventually get there.

If you want better eyesight, (amongst many other things), you need to find yourself outside more.

What’s the lowest friction way to get yourself there?  For me, it’s not working against myself, but rather with myself.  My inner nerd needs toys.  The Bike Friday Tikit is just that.  It’s been back to the factory for various upgrades, they’re great about taking your money like that.  ;-)  Bigger front chain ring for more speed.  Different tires for more speed.  Better folding pedals.  A newer stem handle design swap.  And then when it’s back, all the new inspiration to go for a ride.

It’s awesome when a bike becomes the size of a large bag, in a matter of seconds.  You can change your mind about riding and throw it in the trunk of a cab.  You can drop in on the next subway station or hop on the bus.

2015-08-01 16.03.06

Some subway, somewhere in the world.

Sounds like a giant ad for Bike Friday.

But it’s not.  Downsides?  Very expensive for what it is.  Their customer service, while well meaning and much lauded online, has been completely less than stellar for me.  I often wondered whether they went out of their way to hire the least capable people they could find for that job.  But at least it’s not some huge, impersonal corporation.

If you’re looking at folding bikes, the other big temptation might be these guys:

brompton-vs-tikitWay more colors!

Brompton.  Made in the UK.  

The also have a great site, a dangerously tempting bike customizer (try it out!), and their bikes fold way, way smaller than the Tikit.

brompton-vs-bike-friday-tikit2

Insanely small fold.

Downside?  It takes notably longer to fold and unfold, and the ride is less encouraging (I could never ride one hands-free, which on the other hand is quite easy to do on the Tikit).  Also, non-standard parts all over the place, supposedly necessary to make the amazing tiny fold happen.

They also don’t roll nearly as well, when folded.

But if you find yourself in London or Singapore, you’ve probably seen various Bromptons, and probably not a single Bike Friday.  Another considering, depending on where you live the support for from brand matters.  (for example, my most recent interaction with the omg-what-is-wrong-with-you support at Bike Friday for one of the few non-standard parts, left me fairly high and dry)

Nerd approved, you can get titanium Bromptons, and clear coated lacquer paint Bromptons.  

There it is, the bits of off-topic Sunday.  Things for you to contemplate.  Hopefully something to inspire you to get outside, away from glowing screens and e-mails and Sunday blog-reading.

(And hopefully I didn’t just inspire you to spend 400 hours researching folding bikes online.)

If you like off-topic things like this, leave a comment.  I need a way to judge the interest level in various topics, so let me know whatever you would enjoy more of.  ;-) 

Cheers!

– Jake