Wise indeed. . In the end, who used waifu's bike the most? Hehe

Sampai Tua la.............waiting for frame to crack The Birdy frame I got from 'desastar' is a year 2000 model and still going strong, that's 17 years ago. Hahaaaa.

Correction,
Sampai cucu jadi Datuk…

This post has been edited by KenC: Mar 3 2018, 10:23 PM

I don't think you can get away from "wasting" time or money on the first bike. At that stage you don't know what you want or what suits. Once you know, buy a good one so you can enjoy riding. Nice bikes will always ride better and components will be more precise.

If you bought the best bike money can buy and it turns out that it suits you, bonus!

Buy a cheap junk 1st bike Treat it as "test water" insurance…
1st time success? You think you smarter than bicycle manufacturer?
But than again, human are the most adaptive creature, if you insist your bike is perfect for you, nobody can deny you of your believes. (Especially after you spent an obscene amount of cash or remortgaged your home for a few kilo of tubes and metal parts)

This post has been edited by KenC: Mar 4 2018, 11:10 PM

Re-mortgaged your home for a few kilos of tubes and metal parts....................hahaaaa. That's a bit far fetched isn't it? Doing so for a automobile, maybe yes but bicycles.........unless you are nuts about Alex Moultons and their limited edition series. I know Billy here, the bike shop owner paid RM23,000 for his and still needs to wait 8 months for delivery. But his logic is for investment as he said, " Another few more years , it will even cost more ".

The subject leading to this tread was his first bike and he has budgetted 1.5K for his first venture. So, no need to buy a junk bike and then gets fedup with it because of the ride it gives and TOTALLY abandon riding altogether.

Many of us rides because we like to do it and many of us do not ride because the doctor told us to do so. No, we may not be smarter than a bicycle manufacturer but we do know what we actually want and the bike manufacturer cannot please all in general. They have to make many, many, many , many , many .................many, many sacrifices to the quality and rights to make a bicycle affordable to most of the general riders. Like, skip the heat treatment process, steal other's design, hire cheaper un-skilled welders or painters, skip quality control procedures and so many more. So, if someone CAN AFFORD a better bike, why not, even if it is his first ride.

Ya,thx bro...
Basically i am leaning towards d java pro 3 cause of it design...
Regarding d body frame,is it a bad quality one?
Coz i see it comes with a hollow crank,better specs with cheaper price?
Maybe plan to get a Dahon Speed Falco if available...
Coz from what i understand from d discussion...
Getting a better frame & a frame that i like is a better choice...
As we usually upgrade parts,not frame...

Importing fnhon might be my last choice if i am not urgent in getting one...

Absolutely. My first folding bike was $99.00 from Ebay. In hindsight that was stupid as there is no way it can be turned into a rideable machine. No tricks lah, the more money you spend, you will have a nicer bike. Whether that is fit for a purpose, only you will know. I would always buy a branded bike secondhand as you will not lose money, whereas a cheap one, you will end up giving away

A bike manufacturer designs and build their bike for a certain market. If you know what you want from that bike and can modify to suit, then you are smarter than the manufacturer.

Some of us mortgage our houses to buy a nice car, yet some will drive a basic car even though they can afford the best. All depends on what is right for you. So I agree, if you can afford it and want to, buy the best as your first bike! just pick the right one, ok? hahaha

No matter what brand, just ride.

These were my bikes a couple of years ago. At the time, I was searching for "the one" and the only way to find that was to try what was out there. Out of the four, I still have the BF Tikit.

Since then I've had other Dahons, Birdys and Bromptons. What do I have now? Bike Fridays and Bromptons. Bromptons for their ease of fold and transport. BFs for their riding abilities. Have I found what I've been looking for? I think so. Occasionally I itch when I see a nice Moulton, but I know it will not ride any nicer than what I already have.

Some may think buying branded is about showing off, but I can't help what others think. Life is too short not to enjoy what you enjoy, right?




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I am a hoarder… I seldom sell stuff I own…
I also work with metal all my life… seriously expensive these bicycle frames… really just 7 tubes… It the expensive high precision metal stuff I can sell with bicycle frame price… Warren Buffet pun kalah ooooo
1.5k is cheap jalopy to many ppl… mine is cheaper than cheap… I no need Brooks saddle, all it take is a few thousand km in a month or 2… any bike will feel as bad after 200km non stop…

This post has been edited by KenC: Mar 5 2018, 02:48 PM

I have got one Fnhon 305 16", one Tern P24H, one Brompton M6R, I kept all 3 because each of them has got very different characteristic.
Fnhon is very light and agile, tern p24h is damn good touring bike. Brompton is the best balance between portability and rideability.

Waiting for boarding

desastar the one on the foreground is the frame you brought from Oz. The one leaning at the rear is a Rhine actually. Looks similar , right? The real Birdy is 17 years model already with the newer one having a different rear stays design. The latest Birdy Classic also uses the stays from Mk 2s.

The ride, the feel is actually very similar on both bikes. This led me to think that t is not worth to actually buy the Birdy, ie. if you don't mind riding a Rhine. All accessories from Colorplus, Ridea and another brand (can't recall) are inter usable. Bolt treads are the same. I can confirm the Classic is made by Rhine but Pacific bikes still reserves making their Mk 2s and 3s in Taiwan , else it replicas would have hit the market already.

I tot the "real" birdy copyright had expired. Hence the Rhine and Rhine is 20" becos of actual market survey conducted…

This post has been edited by KenC: Mar 5 2018, 07:58 PM

Maybe it is difficult to tell from the pics, but the Rhine's main frame tube is slightly angled compared to the Birdy which is horizontal. And it main frame appears to be not as thick and the geometry slightly different?

Good to see it brought back to life!

The latest Birdy Classic main frame is also smaller now compared to the older models. The old frame circumference is definitely bigger. One point that can distinguish the Rhine from Birdy is the cables of the latest models are internally routed. Also the rear suspension is also mounted differently. The geometry is slightly different but the ride, not much difference. The main tube is horizontal but mine is not because I have modded it to 20 inch so the front is slightly higher. Both the bikes are 10 speed with 11/40T cassette. The Rhine has a little chain rub on the rear stays at the lowest gear ( I have to file off to thin it a little ) while the older MK 1 Birdy has a lot of space to accommodate.

I did a 50 kilometer ride last weekend and it was good. For me it is though but my average speed is just 15 km/h. That little contraption that bolts near the BB to hold the chain slack when folding , cost over 200 bucks I am still waiting for mine from Taobao along with the chain guide and the V-brake adapter. Birdy's parts are a bit hard to source locally as it is not popular but I managed to install a Brompton's rear suspension on the Rhine but can't work on the Birdy MK 1.

One good point though, both the bikes weighs around 11 kgs.

You mean that spring loaded chain catcher? I paid A$120 for the Birdy one, so thats about RM360!
Does work if installed properly. Im going to try and install that on the BF as the chain drops everytime it is folded.

Btw, there was this lady who was giving away her Brompton last week. The bike is stuffed with a crack in the handlebar post and the so is the hub. I would have got it, but she was in Sydney!



This post has been edited by desastar: Mar 6 2018, 06:30 AM


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Tern P24H is the one that has the Sturmey Archer hub right? The later ones had the Sram dual drive unit, which is what I have in the Tikit. Mine runs 27 speed as I replaced the shifter and put on a 9 speed cassette. Yes they are good tourers.

yes the one with sturmey archer, i find it quite good actually.

from gombak to genting sempah no problem at all.but from genting sempah to janda baik,almost got mental breakdown.if its not because the newly upgraded crankset (53/39t),i wouldnt be there (last time single chainring 53t).