Here is a photo of Richard King with his Bike Friday Super Pro — Titanium times three!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Last fall when Bike Friday faced the challenge of our tikit stem recall, Richard King appeared out of nowhere to lend his assistance. An independent engineer with experience in failure analysis and stress analysis, King came up to Eugene at his own expense and visited Bike Friday. He reviewed our testing procedures as well as our solution and gave us valuable independent confirmation that our solution was sound. Shortly after that, Richard became a Bike Friday owner. He recently sent us this note:
From Richard King:
“Last year was pretty momentous for me.
“I had both hips replaced (titanium stem, cobalt socket, high-density polyethylene liner). So that’s titanium times two.
“Then I decided to treat myself to a Bike Friday Super Pro for my 60th birthday. I got a good deal on because of the Bike Friday planner program.
“I had the great pleasure of working with Bike Friday Co-Founder Alan Scholz to customize it. The Super Pro has a titanium seat post, so that’s the third titanium.
“The Super Pro rides like a dream, nimble and fast, and is a great climber.
“Once I got dressed in my time trial get-up (a borrowed skinsuit), I asked my wife to take a photo.
“It had to be taken on my trainer because my wife refused to be seen outside the house with me wearing the skin suit and what she calls my ‘conehead’ helmet.
You’re not seriously going to wear that?” she asked. “OK, I’ll take a picture but leave the garage door closed.
Richard King in his skinsuit, in his garage.
“I participated in the Bay Area Senior Games time trial on May 19th. There were a 5K and a 10K on beautiful Caná·‰ada road in Woodside, California.
“Due to a combination of the great bike, my fantastic riding ability, and the fact that there were only two people entered in my age group in the 5K and three in the 10K, I earned two silver medals in the 60-64 group. It was satisfying to actually be faster than one person.
“I got quite a lot of nice comments about the Super Pro. There were a lot of people with high-end composite Time Trial bikes, disk wheels, etc. Mine was the only small-wheeled bike, and it held its own quite well.
“If only it had a more powerful ‘engine’ …
7 Responses
That’s a fantastic story from start to finish and I enjoyed reading it. I’m glad Mr. King helped out to ensure our Tikit stems are configured optimally. Thank you Mr. King and Bike Friday!
Press On, Richard. I’m 75 and I still ride my Bike Friday even in these hot Texas temperatures.. You have a lot of good years ahead.
Thanks Scott, that’s inspiring to hear.
Our Northern California temperatures have been rivaling even Texas lately.
Well done Richard, can you tell me the chainrings/sprocket size?
At 91 I still am riding; hope you do the same.
Congrarulations Richard and Scott for hanging in there. I too ride my Bike Friday regulary, usually 20 or so miles, at the ripe age of 86 and I plan to continue !!
A gimps at the life behind the bicycles now made in USA. Things are looking good. One must say that Richard will go down in history as one stepped in at a pivotal moment to uphold the innovation that will bring about future bicycles, as well as the rebirth of United States bicycle manufacturing.
Funny how the wife thought the aero suit and timetrial helmet strange, but not the riding of a 20″ wheeled folding bike.
I like riding my PRP because on it I feel the way I did (feel is important here) when I was 17 and could almost not be dropped when I rode with the best in the San Diego Bicycle Club.