Folder success at Taipei Bike Show

The Taipei Bike Show in Taiwan is one of the most important cycle shows, especially as such a large proportion of cycles/frames/components are made there now. During the show the Strida and Swivel-head folding bikes scooped 2 of the top 4 places in the Complete Bicycles Awards Category TBEA awards. Congratulations to Strida, Ming Cycle (the Swivel-head) and of course Mark Sanders, who designed both these machines.

Addendum: BikeBiz have an article on the awards also.

Brompton at SJS

The latest issue of St John Street Cycles (SJS) e-Newsletter announces that they now list all Brompton spares, parts and accessories on their web site. You can access their web site at http://www.sjscycles.com.

TerraPass offer folding bikes

The Summit Daily News has an article regarding methods for Americans to reduce or offset their carbon footprint. It seems that TerraPass will "throw in a free folding bike" (type unknown) when sufficient carbon offsets are purchased to compensate for 1 million air miles.

International Bicycle Design Competition

Bicycle Retailer has an article on a recent design competition in Taipei. One judge noted that the majority of the 717 entries from 60 countries were for folding or compact bicycles. Looking at a PDF of a shortlist of entrants, it seems that most entries exist only on a computer screen. Second place was taken by Chung-Hsiang Liu's ES-Bike that converts to a shopping cart.

Folds Up!

Time's Up notes that New York's Folding Bike Ride and Festival is being held on the 12th of May for fans of folding and small-wheel bicycles.

Brompton World Championship - Barcelona 2007

Thank you to Oscar Garcia, for sending the following link to a U-Tube film of the World Brompton Championships bike race held in Barcelona UTUBE LINK

Go Get A Gecko for USD 129 UPDATE

Quote "Gekko Folding Bike Now Selling For $129
New Orleans, LA - March 19, 2007 This weekend, RideTHISbike.com began selling the unique Gekko folding bike. Made to go on mass transit, the $129 Gekko folds/unfolds quickly and rolls when folded." End Quote

The Folding Society are not able to confirm this statement is true. Please review the website where we found the information. PPOL News About Cycling

Update - we have received an email from Larry confirming the price is USD 129 including a carry bag and shipping within the USA (lower 48 states). Larry included some more links about the Gekko Bike below. Thank you for making contact with us Larry.

- General info about the Gekko

http://ridethisbike.com/2007/03/nice-1-spd-129-folding-bike.html

- Photos of the Gekko

http://ridethisbike.com/2007/03/gekko-folding-bike-photos.html

- Video demonstrating how the Gekko folds

http://ridethisbike.com/2007/03/video-how-to-fold-129-gekko-folding.html

Inspirational Strida

Strida were selected for profile in the March 2007 "Inspirational owner's" column of the Lovemarks web site - Lovemarks is a member-driven website run by global brand-building powerhouse Saatchi and Saatchi. It accepts nominations from people who have had consistently good experiences with a company or product, and want to share the news. The profile can be accessed HERE. To celebrate the achievement, Strida are offering a special referral code 'lovemarks' (the referral code box is found on the last checkout screen) - use it before Saturday, March 31th to receive a £19.95 discount on your order. The Strida web site is at http://www.strida.co.uk.

"Special Interest Group" pages

Due to lack of support from manufacturers, dealers and owners, our Special Interest Group web pages are not, for the most part, updated very often. For that reason the new SIG added today is rather different from its predecessors - it is primarily a source of links to other sites where more information can be found - manufacturers, dealers, forums and blogs.

Google following IKEA

According to the Guardian, Google is giving all of their employees free bicycles with company branding. Although IKEA recently did something similar with folding bikes (many appearing on Ebay shortly afterwards), Google are giving employees the choice of four models, including a folder manufactured by Raleigh Europe.

Next Origami Ride 25th March 2007 Details Updated

The ride details for the next ride on Sunday 25th March 2007 starting from Kenilworth, Warwickshire have been updated here.

Guardian of Society

For those readers not based in the UK, the Guardian newspaper recently ran a series of articles on most aspects of cycling. This article by Matt Seaton includes a little folding bike history, briefly reviews three folders and even namechecks the Folding Society.

A2B and VV

For Folding Society members that haven't yet subscribed to A to B magazine (now also available in a digital edition), the most recent issue roadtests the Dahon Joule dynohub and the Bridgestone Moulton Custom. The piece on the early history of the Moulton is also a worthwhile read.

The upcoming VeloVision magazine (also available digitally) includes items on the Brompton World Championships (suit and tie mandatory) in Barcelona and a roadtest of the Montague Paratrooper folding MTB.

March Origami Ride Long Eaton

15 riders enjoyed the good weather as they cycled 18 miles along the Nutbrook Trail from Long Eaton to Shipley Country Park and back. There was a good mix of folding bikes plus a Trice Classic.
Our thanks go to John, who kindly let us test ride his "Sinclair Abike". There was great debate over the merits of this light weight fast folding machine. I believe group consensus was "it was to be better to ride than had been expected and that it was very light and easy to carry".

It is a shame that a test bike had not been made available to the Folding Society before now.More information can be found here along with a link to John's blog.

Meet the Bromptonaut

We finally meet the Bromptonaut from the Secret Folding Society in the latest issue of City Cycling.

Design Concepts

Designers seem to be attracted to bicycles, the folding variety included.

The 'One' folding bicycle has been designed by Thomas Owen with an intriguing look, although there seems to be no power connection between the pedals and rear wheel. A rideable prototype would be much more interesting.

The Everglide folding bicycle is designed to be a means of transport for the 'last mile' between public transport and the final destination, according to the Village Voice. This Australian design appears to be aimed at the same market as the A-Bike, although it is uncertain whether it exists, other than as a concept. There are some more details on the Australian Design Award - Student webpage.