Mi (Bike) Casa Es Su Casa

Today the DC Flyer and I went across town to a fledgling bike cooperative---the Bike House in Petworth, DC. This is a small group of volunteers who meet on the, um, grounds of Qualia Coffee on Georgia Ave, NW. Check out Qualia Coffee here: http://www.qualiacoffee.com/, and check out the Bike House Co-op here: http://www.thebikehouse.org/.

Qualia extends its backyard to the Bike House. It was a blast hanging out, meeting "customers" and even fixing a flat and making a (hopefully will hold successfully) boot for the punctured tire out of a round-cut piece of plastic milk carton from the recycle bin. As always, the DC Flyer garnered much attention and a serious "Whoooaaa: that was waaay cooler than I even imagined" response from one of the volunteer mechanics when I folded the rear triangle/wheel under the frame.

It was great to see some old, resurrected bikes make their way to the gathering. I worked a little bit on a Schwinn Varsity, in it's glorious original electric Kermit green; the same paint, I do believe, one would have found on an AMC Gremlin from the same era.

All told, it was a great time at the co-op. I hope to go back once a month and learn and help. They also have mechanic clinics one hour before the general public can drop by, so I can hone my primitive skills before tackling customers' bikes. The weather was beautiful (right before some rain tomorrow!) and everyone was cool. I hope this group finds a permanent home. I wouldn't want them to "roast" in the summer sun if they're still out back of Qualia Coffee come summertime. Sorry, I had to go there with the coffee pun, and I don't even like coffee. But I do like bikes :)

Where Has My Tikit Gone?

No, thankfully it hasn't been lost or stolen. But where have I taken it? Let me count the ways...er, places:

1. On the Maryland Ride-on bus front rack.
2. On the Maryland Ride-on bus, covered, inside the bus!
3. On the Maryland Ride-on bus, uncovered, inside the bus!
4. Inside the library and parked under the table.
5. Inside the Safeway grocery store, down the aisles and through the checkout, wheeling along all the way!
6. Inside the office, parked under my desk. (Okay, very pedestrian when it comes to Tikits and Bromptons and the like. So sue me.)
7. Inside a sushi restaurant. This was the best. The staff wanted to check out the bike, so I ended up giving them a fold/unfold demo right there in the restaurant. They all rolled it around. One gentleman, possibly the owner or manager, was interested in folding bikes and had been doing a little digging around. I gave him several brand names to check out and dissuaded him from the "A-bike". Sorry, folks. I hate to discriminate against a fellow folding bike, but c'mon. Pee Wee Herman wouldn't be caught dead on one of those, not even in a darkened movie theater, doing...nevermind. This manager/owner was trying to show me via his laptop some brand he had seen that was from england. "Brompton?" I offered. "Strida?" Nope. He never could find the webpage where he had seen it, and I couldn't help as all his google search results were in Japanese!

Where it has not been:
1. To a bike shop. I've been able to dial in the shifting well enough with just the barrel connector, so the chain stays on the sprocket where you put it; no wall climbing down a gear or bungee jumping up a gear. The shifter is still tight--it takes effort to downshift (move to a larger sprocket) but I'm used to it now. At some point I will see if I can loosen it up. I don't know if the cable just needs some more slack, or what. I don't think there is friction because it shifts pretty smoothly. It just takes a little muscle to get it to the next index point on the shifter. Shifting up is still tight but much easier with gravity on your side.

I have found the Tikit to get more comments than my Pocket Crusoe, and that's cool. The Crusoe is generally my higher-speed, free-time bike for trail rides and zooming around the city for exercise or longer distance destinations like going across town. So I am happy to be off to the races on that bike. (Why is cross town always so much farther than going downtown or uptown? It's a good thing Billy Joel didn't fall in love with a crosstown girl. They'd have never seen each other!) The Tikit is the attention gravity point. People get sucked into its event horizon and I strike up lots of conversations. It's great fun, even at 05:30 when I catch the bus. That's all folks. Whatever your ride, ride it!

Tikit to...Read?

Today I did some urban limit testing with the Tikit. On my commute to work, I folded and covered the bike for the bus portion to see if the driver would let the bike on that way. Recall the near disaster in a previous post where the bus rack swing arm fell off the front wheel and I was lucky to still have a bike and not a failed science project!
Well, the driver didn't flinch as I boarded the bus. I got a seat at the front with room to hold onto my bike. The front seats face out to the aisle so there is not a seat in front to cramp the space. I don't know if I can squeeze into a standard seat (with another seat in front of it) with the Tikit. That's a project for another day. So, complete victory for the Tikit design (at least with this particular driver). The fold is super fast and so is using the attached bike cover. Less than a minute, probably, to fold and cover.
Onto a store report. How would the folded Tikit be greeted in a city business? I tested the waters at our local DC library branch. Again, not even a batted eye as I wheeled the folded Tikit into the library. It even parked neatly under the table where my wife and I sat. Praise again!
All in all, I have no complaints. The shifter is loosening a bit (as it has required some force to downshift), and after properly inflating the tires today, it rides a HELL of a lot better. It felt so slow before, and when I finally took my floor pump to it, I found out why. I don't think there was more than 25 PSI in either tire, and these are rated for 60-85 PSI! Thank the tube Gods I didn't pinch flat. I now inflated the tires to the low 80's and they feel fast and firm, with just a touch of give to help on the city streets, smooth as they are :). Green Gear, great job on this bike.

Aardvarks Travel Well

This is the inaugural multimode commute report on the Bike Friday Tikit. Thumbs up! There are things about the shifting and the feel of the bike overall that need to be dialed in. The tires are a little too soft, so I will pump them up. I find them bouncy right now. The grip shifter is really tight. It takes some force to downshift. I think that will loosen up as I use the shifter more. It might be my imagination but it seems even a scad looser already. Oh, but the actual use on mass transit itself...

The Tikit kicks ass for use on the Metro Train. I have read just about every blog/review/comment on the web about the Tikit, and a few people have said it is hard to roll when folded. Hogwash! This thing is easy to roll and easy to turn while rolling. I can even wheel it right on and off the train. The "gap" is no problem at all. I imagine a Brompton rolls easier overall, on its rack casters, but I doubt it could roll over the Metro platform/train gap.

Now, Bike Friday have made an upgrade/fix to the Tikit. The "handle" for rolling is a sort-of triangle on the frame, pointed to with the red arrow above, and known as the "aardvark". This replaced an older style handle that was recalled as some developed a crack over time. The new design corrects that, and makes a full loop handle. I think this new handle helps in holding onto and turning/pushing the folded Tikit. So thanks to the aardvark, I was rollin' easy.

As a reminder, my commute involves train and bus. So, A+ on the train portion. Scare on the bus portion! I used the front bus rack again. When I got off the bus to retrieve my bike, the spring-loaded swing arm on the rack that fits over the front tire, had slid off the tire. So, my bike was just hanging out in the wheel wells of the rack., possibly one big bump away from unintended flight. I damn near flipped when I saw that. It seems the tire is small enough that the swing arm had slid down the tire. (see green arrow pointing to swing arm in the pic).

The first time I used the rack this did not happen. So, I think I need to ensure the swing arm is really mashed down good against the wheel/on top of the front fender. This last time I think I was trying to get it to hug the tire below (in front of) where the front fender stops in front of the fork. Big mistake that could have cost me a bike. I don't imagine the Tikit would fare well hitting pavement at 55 MPH. "Uh, driver, can you stop so I can retrieve my bike from I-270?" Good luck on that one. Can you say "contemporary metal tubing wall art?" Whew!

Tonight I drive back with the bike safely in the car, so no worries. (there is no bus on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I get off work. It doesn't come for another 1.5 hours, so I shuttle myself on weekends). Given this scare with the Tikit, I will strongly consider using the bike cover and taking the bike on-board if I can. Most of the drivers are cool, and this morning the driver even asked me a bike question (about my helmet-mounted mirror) as I left the bus. Sounded like he did/wanted to do some riding. Alright! Happy riding everyone.

The Tikit Has Arrived

The BF Tikit was waiting for me at the office. The guys in the room were anxious for me to open the box, so I began without delay! What a wonderful site to see one wheel and one Planet Bike fender, clues to the blueberry bike that lie within. A short while later the bike was free from its corrugated cocoon and being assembled.

I put on the front fender, oriented the handlebar post and handlebars; put in the front wheel and replaced the brake noodle to its cradle; adjusted brakes, mounted the saddle and adjusted seatpost height, and put on the pedals (gotta remember they are little more than hand-tightened. I remembered to bring a multitool but not a pedal wrench. The best I could find in the office was a sturdy pair of needle-nose pliers, which probably did nothing at all).

Then, at lunch break, it was off for a test spin---I went whirring around the building in the dark of night. The gears only slip a little, so not as much cable stretch as I had feared. The shifter is TIGHT; it takes some effort to downshift. Shifting to a higher gear is of course easier, going to smaller cogs.

The cable slipping does matter here----I drove in, but intend to ride the bike home (via bus and Metro Rail, of course). I can easily make the short ride without much fuss from the slightly slipping gears. Tomorrow I will see if I can dial them in. Though I am a very clumsy mechanic, I can twist a barrel connector as well as anyone. Hopefully I can twist it into proper position or coax the cable into taughtness.

So how was the ride? Smooth. I like the Schwalbe Marathon tires on the bike. They seem to roll well enough and given their lower PSI than the Primo Comets on my Crusoe, they soften the ride. Compared to the Big Apples I had on my Dahon, the Marathons seem a great middle ground. I brought my floor pump and might see what is the current PSI of these tires. They are rated from 60 to 85 PSI. My guess is they are closer to 60, based on pinch feel.

I tried out the "stealth" cover. All of us at work agreed it's hardly stealth, but might just get you by when grease or dirt is the main concern of a concerned authority figure. We weren't too sure it would pass for a "french horn" as has been reckoned, especially with the blue Aardvark bike handle/frame poking out of the cover. At any rate, it's pretty darn cool that it contains its own tortoise shell. How many bikes can say that? So tomorrow, I must decide whether to rack mount the bike, or bag it and see if they'll let me on the bus. Decisions, decisions...what a great dilemna to have. Viva la Bike Friday!