“The Fónta”TM folder

Velo Vision has a report of a new Irish-designed folder called “The Fónta”. We have now received a press release on the machine too. Although there is quite a detailed paper specification, the only pictures seem to artist's impressions of the machine fully folded and fully unfolded. One point noted in the spec is the quoted weight of 13.8Kg, which is moderately heavy. Other points readers should note are that the asking price is £1997, which is very high, and a waiting time for delivery of 18 weeks - which suggests the machine is some way from production, and most experienced folder designers will confirm that the time, expense and trouble of getting from concept, or even prototype, to production are considerable. The artist's impression shows what looks like quite a compact folded package, but the number of joints involved must raise questions about lack of stiffness when riding. The company has a web site address, http://www.fonta.ie, but apparently this will not go live until July. You can find information in the meantime at the Velo Vision web site. It will be interesting to see what comes of this machine, but at this stage I certainly won't place an order myself (just paid for home and car insurance)!