Tag Archives: Douglas Hoffman

The 18th ABFC Gathering

The place to be

By Robbie Dow / Bike Friday Sales Manager

The 18th Annual Gathering of the Australian Bike Friday Club (ABFC) took place in early April 2014, and I was quite fortunate to be a part of it.

Before the trip started, I was looking forward to meeting several Australian Bike Friday owners, people I’d only talked to via phone and email. However, I was a bit worried about the group rides, as it was nearing the end of winter in Eugene, and I really wasn’t in cycling shape.

Also, while I had ridden longer rides on other bikes, my experience with my Bike Friday Silk was limited to commuting and other short rides, so I wasn’t really sure how it would hold up to the 50km and 60km group rides planned for the event. There’s only one way to find out!

I flew from Eugene to Los Angeles, and then to Sydney, a day later than originally planned due to a visa glitch. The flight to Sydney was only about half full, and I was fortunate to have a row of three seats to myself. This meant I was able to sleep for about 8 hours total, which helped make the 15 hour flight a bit more bearable.

When I arrived in Sydney, Bike Friday owner George Leindekar was kind enough to meet me at the airport and ride the commuter train with me to Central Station in Downtown Sydney. George then helped me get set up on the train to Mt. Victoria. I had two Bike Friday travelcases (one with my Bike Friday Silk, and another Silk that I brought along for the trip), a third suitcase with my personal belongings, and a backpack. I am quite thankful to George for his help, as I don’t know how I would’ve managed with all of my belongings without him.

The rain didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits

Even though I was exhausted and jet-lagged, I couldn’t stop looking out my window of the train and taking in the surroundings. The city gave way to countryside, and the train slowly worked its way up an incline through the Blue Mountains to Mt. Victoria. When I arrived at my stop, Bronwyn Laing of the ABFC picked me up, and we went over to her place for a short time before getting back in the car and driving to the town of Rylstone.

Here’s the interesting thing about the ABFC gatherings. The event originally started as a day ride, expanded to a weekend, and kept growing in size over the years. The 18th annual event spanned five days and attracted 138 attendees, mostly from Australia, but also a few people from other countries. Even still, the five days of riding weren’t enough for some, so a dozen or so riders planned pre-event rides.

I met the rest of the pre-event crew in Rylstone, and then I assembled my Bike Friday and prepared it for the next day. We had a fantastic dinner at the local pub/hotel, and I shared a room at the pub with fellow Bike Friday Silk owner, Mitsuo Tadokoro, who was visiting from Japan. The next morning I headed off on my first ride of the trip, a 55km outing to the town of Mudgee.

So many Bike Fridays!

The ride was amazing — lots of grazing land, with beautiful rolling hills. Early on I saw a wallaby in a field along the road, and there’s just nothing like seeing a wild animal as you ride past on a bike. Riding on the left side of the road took a little getting used to, but by the end of the trip it seemed fairly natural.

We stopped for lunch at a small one-room school in the town of Lue. The teacher came out of the classroom and welcomed us. She said we could use the covered outdoor tables in the school yard (it had warmed up quite a bit, so the shade was certainly appealing) for our lunch, and she even offered us tea and coffee!

After we ate, 18 or so curious and enthusiastic grade school children came outside to meet us, and next thing I knew I was answering questions about Bike Fridays and America one after the next. One of the children asked why I talked so funny. Another boy was about as tall as me, and when one of his classmates pointed out that the two of us were the same height, the boy said, “Hooray, I’m an American!”

I didn’t know what to expect on my visit to Australia, but I certainly didn’t expect to interact with a group of eager school kids. It was a real treat.

The gang

We rode some more, and eventually the rest of the pack pulled away from me as I began to lose steam. I arrived in Mudgee in last place (not that we were racing), and this is where riding on the left side of road became a bit more of a challenge for me, as there were numerous roundabouts running clockwise with quite a bit of car traffic.

Fortunately, the drivers were courteous, and I fumbled my way through the roundabouts to the campground, or as it’s known in Australia, “caravan park.” I’ve never seen so many Bike Fridays in one place at the same time, and I work for Bike Friday! I was also surprised to see so many tandems and tikits, but they performed on the long rides just as well as the other Bike Fridays.

Bike Friday folks sharing their travel stories

The next several days were a blur of riding, meeting people, answering questions, and seeing what people have done with their Bike Fridays. The day rides around Mudgee were incredibly beautiful, with more rolling hills, and a plethora of wineries and grassy fields. The Aussie Bike Friday folks were exceptionally friendly, and everybody went out of their way to make me feel quite welcome. They’re also quite passionate about their Bike Fridays.

Often, I would forget I was on the other side of the planet. But then a car would drive past on the left side of road, or I would hear people would talk with an Australian accent, and I would realize where I was. One person corrected me when we were discussing the brake levers on his Bike Friday: “It’s not ‘levers,’ it’s ‘leevers.’” So I pronounced it “leevers” for the rest of the trip.

This year, the club set aside a time for people to sign up to give presentations and share their experiences traveling on their Bike Fridays. This proved to be a really popular event, and it was fun hearing about all the places people have gone, and the unique experiences they’ve had on their Bike Fridays.

Outside the pub in Rylstone

Friday was the longest ride of the event, the “pub ride.” There was a shorter version of the long ride, but I missed the turn for that one and ended up taking the long ride, which ended up being around 70km. We met at a rural pub — the Cooyal Hotel — and I was ready to stop and relax with some lunch. It was fun to see all the Bike Fridays lined up outside, like brightly-colored, small-wheeled biker gang.

Saturday was “fancy dress day,” and several people dressed up in costumes for the day’s rides. That evening, we all gathered at the local country club for a banquet dinner. I gave a presentation about Bike Friday — who we are, what we’ve been doing, and what’s to come. This was followed by a charity auction that raised over $4,000 for Guide Dogs Victoria, an organization that provides services for vision impaired people, including assistance with tandems, so vision impaired people can ride a bike.

On Sunday, I skipped the group ride so I could focus on packing and getting ready to leave. I caught a ride to one of the area wineries where the gang had assembled for a final lunch. I was able to say goodbye to several people before I left. Unfortunately, I missed many people I would’ve like to have said goodbye to, but I guess I’ll just have to catch them next year.

I think the horses like my Silk, too

So how did the Silk do? Smooth as Silk. The Alfine 11 hub gave me a nice, wide gearing range, and the only maintenance I had to do was a brief tweak of the shifter cable. Some of the riding was on rough, bumpy gravel roads, and I was surprised at how well the bike handled the terrain. I’m considering switching from a 60t to a 55t belt ring for better hill climbing gearing, as I only really used the top end gears on steep downhill slopes. I’m also considering a lightweight Pocket Crusoe for next year’s event, which will be held in the town of Mansfield in the Australian Alps.

After the event, I had a few days before my flight left, and I’m especially thankful to Bike Friday owners David and Jenny Ingham, who were gracious enough to let me stay at their beautiful house in Manly. I was also able to do a little exploring in Manly Beach and Sydney, which proved to be a lot of fun.

The night before my flight, I was invited to an amazing dinner at a French Bistro with a dozen or so Bike Friday folks, and it was a fantastic way to close out the adventure. I am just amazed at how something as simple as a shared interest in a travel bicycle can bring together so many people to become life long friends.

It’s the magic of Bike Friday.

Stopping for lunch at the Coolyal Hotel At one of the wineries The Silk feeling at home in any hemisphere

Lifestyle commercial

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We just received this neat note from Bike Friday owners Rich and Amanda Ligato:}

Hey Bike Friday Folks,
A few weeks ago an ad agency contacted us to ask if we’d be interested in allowing them to make a vignette commercial about our early retirement for Nationwide.  They wanted to include some footage of us on an adventure, so we suggested we ride our Bike Friday’s.  They filmed it here in Southern California.  The road scene is in Earthquake Canyon near Joshua Tree and the water scene is at the Salton Sea.  They used this amazing $100K drone copter camera to get the overhead and aerial shots.
We thought you might be interested.
Happy Cycling!
Rich & Amanda Ligato
www.vwvagabonds.com

Another Haul-a-Day post

 

Here is the second great post about our soon-to-be-released Haul-a-Day.

Sweet ride on Gates

Gates recently blogged photos of a sweet Bike Friday they caught at the National Hand Built Bicycle Show in Charlotte, N.C.

Bike Fridays ’round the world

Traveling by boat from ThaTon to Chiang Rai proved no problem for Bike Fridays. They didn’t even have to fold ’em!

Bike Friday owners Bob Stockinger and Mary E. Duffy are world travelers, as well as organizers of a Tandem Rally in France each year.

They told Bike Consultant Ruthy Kanagy that Bike Fridays are popular in France. They sent Ruthy this email:

“Mary and I wanted to let you know that the Tandem Club of France’s most common model is the Bike Friday tandem.

“We were at the annual meeting of the club this past weekend and there were four Bike Friday tandems. No other mark was even close to four.

“We ride our Co-Motion tandem here and use our Bike Fridays when we are touring the world. We spent four weeks in India two years ago and this past winter we were eight weeks in Thailand.

“Other than one fast downhill blowout they continue to be wonderful to see the world on.”

Bob Stokinger & Mary E. Duffy

Salviac, France

You can see their whole report here.

Bob Stokinger on the way from Nakhon Sawan to Chai Nat.

 

Mary E. Duffy on the road to Chai Nat.

 

 

Happy Birthday Bike Friday

Bike Friday owner Glen Nison sent us this photo and Happy Birthday wishes.
Happy birthday folks. Still loving my NWT!
Glen Nison

 

Sneak Peek of Bike Friday’s Cargo Bike

The Bike Friday Haul-a-Day will be compatible with Xtracycle deck accessories.

We’ve been showing off the beta version of our new Cargo Bike, the Haul-a-Day.

Here is a great blog from someone who checked it out in Seattle in March

Ever Dream of Suping up a Bike Friday?

We’re coming up on our 22nd Birthday on April 1st.

We’ve built more than 40,000 bikes over the years, and in all honesty, it would be difficult to find two exact matches.

That’s because our customers have insight and imagination that, well, that create magic.

So here’s a blog post for the dreamer’s out there, from two whose dreams came true.

Enjoy. We sure did.

 

Independent Review

One could be a bit stereotypical and wonder about a blog called “The Retrogrouch.”

Then again, Oscar on Sesame Street is a grouch, and a rather lovable one at that.

So we read this review of Bike Friday holding our breath.

I mean, don’t you want to know what “The Retrogrouch” thinks of his Bike Friday?

Ultra Review of a Pocket Rocket Pro

Douglas Hoffman took his Pocket Rocket Pro on a trip to India, and captured this photo in rural Maharashtra State.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Douglas Hoffman, executive director of the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association, recently reviewed a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket Pro for their January Newsletter. Here are some excerpts from his review:

“I ordered from Bike Friday a bike that would perfectly match the fit of my most comfortable bike for long distance riding. I ordered a Pocket Rocket Pro, as I wanted the bike to be something that, if I needed to, I could ride in races and other events. I wanted the controls to be familiar, and as much as possible the set up to be identical to that of my most pleasant race bike, a titanium Serotta built to fit me in a few years back. So, when I ordered the bike from Bike Friday, I measured everything exactly to the nearest 0.5mm, confirmed this against my fit measurements on file and provided them with all of the information they requested.

“90 days later, a box arrived, and though I was anxious to get it all together, I very carefully clipped each zip tie and went through all of the parts one by one, before beginning assembly. I have a default approach to putting things together. I figure things out, try a few things, if something doesn’t work, I try something else, but it took only a moment to realize what care had been put into building this bike and I felt it deserved more respect. So instead of my “when all else fails read the instructions” technique, I sat down and read the very clear paperwork that came with the bike and laid out each piece with great care. Then I began to put the bike together. Having done the necessary reading, everything was easy. The bike had been well packed and each piece was well protected. Of course, Bike Friday makes bikes for many purposes and that includes bikes that come together and break down in seconds, but this was not that. The Pocket Rocket Pro is designed to be the best possible combination of a fully functional race bike and a bike that packs easily and efficiently. And what a combination it is.

“As the bike came together I continued to be amazed. The fit and finish was impeccable. There was one detail I did not think was a masterpiece, and that is the little plate with my name on it that they added at no cost to me. The adhesive had peeled off a bit and so it was a bit loose. Nothing necessary or even useful, it was just a cute add-on, done in my opinion too cheaply. I would rather not have it. Again, the overall fit and finish is excellent. Rather than providing me with a fixed and ultra light stem, they included an adjustable one, so that I could dial in the precise fit and then send it back for them to use as a template for the final. Frankly, for me I do not think this was necessary as I have all of my fit numbers precisely logged and ready to go. I assume that this is not the case for most people, and as such, the adjustable stem process is a good step. It was a non-issue for me, however, as they make the process so easy. There is a next day air box, label, and packing material included, and once I had confirmed my fit, I had the new stem in hand in less than a week. Well done!

“So, I got the bike all set up, did some local riding and packed the bike up in a rather spacious suitcase (provided) with all of my riding gear including helmet, shoes, pump, etc., as well as my garment bag, and hopped on a plane for Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. …

“Each day for the next week, after I had done what I was there to do, I got on the Bike Friday and took off. As I rode off the property of the ashram, I rode into a world to which I have limited exposure, a world that I would never have seen without the bike.

“I rode the bike hard at times: standing sprints up hills (trying to keep up with 3 young people on one Honda Rebel Motorcycle, yelling, “Come, come we race!”) and braking hard (on a descent a water buffalo, easily 1000 pounds, burst forth from the bushes on the side of the road). I also rode the bike on familiar roads here in the Catskills, climbing Meads Mountain and descending McDaniel, roads I have ridden many, many times on bikes I know well. There is nothing this bike does not do well. It would not be the first bike I would reach for if the only factor were the ride. I own beautiful bikes built for me by Spectrum and Serotta. For most days I would reach for one of them. But the fact that I can consider this bike, which weighs under 20 pounds and fits in a suitcase, against them at all, the fact that I give up so little in handling, braking, climbing, and descending, as compared to bikes that are arguably the best in the world, is an astonishing testament to the abilities of Bike Friday.

“I would recommend a Bike Friday to anyone who is looking for a folder and would urge them to do as I did, contact Bike Friday, tell them what you are looking for, listen well and then make choices. The people at Bike Friday know what they are doing, and the engineering work behind their designs, much of which was done by legendary bicycle builder Rob English, simply works.”