We just ride with what we can afford. Most important is to have fun and also sweat out a bit at the same time. After so long I still ride my humble Dahon Eco C7 and so does my wife. It's fine with me, even from Kuala Kubu Bahru to Fraser's Hill and a friend of mine rides the Kalaq    also can reach Fraser's Hill. It's the engine that's important. 

Feeling inferior seeing others in expensive bikes is usual but feeling proud and arrogant seeing others in cheaper bikes is also usual. But feeling dissapointed when failing to catch up with the inferior bikes is even more pronounced! Hahahaha.

The bike there are awesome. Take very little effort for them on hill climbing and pedaling. I can see the different between a powerhorse and a entry level folding bike. The normal cruising speed is about 25kmh. 
My passion towards a foldie is burning high. Lusting for more power. 

Hmm, am thinking of Tern P9 perhaps? 

When we see other bikes better than ours, we just admire lah.  But no one can claim his bike to be the best, as there will always be someone with a better bike or perceived higher value bike.  The key word is perception.
If you think your bike is good, it is good.

We do what we can with our limited money, lah.  If you can afford it, go for it.  But not at the expense of our daily necessities or future needs like life savings, children's education, medical expenses.

Have you seen the type of bikes that most Dutch people ride?  It is mostly functional, it just gets you from A to B.  Their bike carriers can be made of discarded wooden boxes.  Not glamourous, high specs or what.
Their bikes are Practical! Which means their bikes are saving them money for other uses, instead of them spending more money on their bikes....  heh heh.

And this makes sense to me.  I have two bikes.  One is Tern - that one for weekend rides and occasionally ride from PJ to KL to work.  The other one I use amost daily  - an old bike (24 inch steel and very rusty bike) to the LRT station, lock and park it there for free.  My car is parked at friend's house for minimum charge, still got to pay lah.
Ride about 2 km to LRT.    So I save parking of RM3 and save some petrol going to the LRT worth about RM1.  I get some exercise too and for that I put a value of about RM0.50 (instead of going to the Gym which costs me RM3 a day, whether I use the gym or not)

Daily savings of RM4.50 is RM22.50 a week.  And as it comes to RM90 a month can pay for my phone bill already..

So what do I think of my 24" run down bike and with almost all the spokes are rusty?  To me it is a tool that is PUTTING money in my pocket.

What do other people think of my bike?  It is run down and needs to be put in the scrap yard.

Nevermind what other people think lah, then ..    what you think is more important, right?

Tern P9 is a good choice.    Speed is about your stamina and also how hard can you pedal. Also your bike's weight is crucial too. If you want speed in your folding bike, Dahon Dash is good and if you can still find the Hammerhead which is sub 10 kg, you found gold! The Kinetix Pro rims is a standard feature of the Hammerhead.



When I was coming down from Genting Peras, at the kampong flats, me and wife also can do 25km/h to 27 km/h average and so did a few more on the Dahon MU P8, KHS F20 even the Kalaq, in addition to mine and wife's Dahon Eco C7. But the point is we know it's only another 10 km run till the coffee shop, but can we go further??? It's endurance also. How long can we last pedalling at high gear? We also need to pace ourselves, know the route well or find out about the route.

Reminds me of a story my friend told me. There was this jamboree trip and there was a thousand riders. As with Jamboree riders, MOST don't know the route and were never well prepared. So the ride started and my friend who knew the route well was starting slowly and his riding companion ask him to hurry. He said, " No worries, with the pace they started off, most won't finish". And he was right, only a small group lasted till the end. Just like the Penang round island ride, half way, most of them were on the municipal lorries.    Still the best is riding constantly and increasing your speed as you get used to it. A good training is Putrajaya. In the beginning, I started with using the whole range of the 7 speed. Eco C7 is a 7 speed bike. Then after a few rides, i never used the largest 2 cog. Now, I don't shift at all, maintaining at 52T X 13T, eventhough I have 27 speed.  It's never about the bike, it all your own's capability.

I will give a good tip for those who are not really into upgrades. Upgrading a front crank is expensive, we all know it. What you can do is , change the front crank to double, like 50/39 or better still 50/36, very ideal compromise. (can get second hand ones in BBS) Other than that, nothing else. If you ride mainly on flats, use the bigger crank and if on trips to Genting Sempah, Genting Peras or Fraser's Hill, manually shift the chain to the lower ring and used that for the whole trip.

Last week another rider kaki of mine bought a KHS F20. It was actually an 8 speeder but the shop has added a double crank to the bike making it 16 speed. He got it for 1.5K from GW cycle (give and take a little, depending on how good your bargaining power is  ). It's light, much lighter than my Eco C7 and it's fast too. I hear there's another importer for KHS somewhere in Klang and some say it's cheaper than FB Bikes and GW. Check it out.

Thanks for the precious tips bro. I think for now I am gonna cycle a lil bit longer with my Raleigh and from there on, will only think bout getting another bike for myself.

I think before change to new bike try change tire first, see can it fulfill ur need...

Just wonder what setting on their bike.? frint 56T back 11T?

Definitely will make a difference.

The tires should be the skinny slick type, pump it up hard 70 to 80 psi.  Acceleration also faster because these tires are lighter.
see the racing bikes and what tires they use...  ultremo, durano

Hahaha!!!! Kesian... Don't let that shiny Moulton intimidate you.. Its probably brought out for parade on social rides.. hahaha!!! BTW, the owner, Finty, he started with a Dahon Speed P8.

Setia Alam is orang kaya township la bro, so, Van cycles also very smart in placing their store there.. Strategic... You will meet people where "money is no object", but with Orang Kaya in this case, they would only go for social rides la.. Tayang basikal.. hahaha! Anything more than that, too "hard" for them la..

People who really ride their foldies, tak kira specs and class. They don't even have time to lepak in bike shops, and all they crave is the "next big adventure", so, that said, jangan kecik hati, keep on riding!



Ride you foldie in good health!

Sam

hi all

im looking for a foldie. anyone can recommend any good foldie?

i only use it occasionally, so a basic specs will do

And what is your budget?

im getting 2 of them. so roughly 1.5k for 2?

Do u mean the guy with chrome moulton name is Finty?

im getting 2 of them. so roughly 1.5k for 2?

im getting 2 of them. so roughly 1.5k for 2?

Anything less than 1k each...go bike shop just choose color...

Yup

Sam

Anything less than 1k each...go bike shop just choose color...