Just in case you are one of those rare species who don’t read our fantastic forum, here is a news. Go here and read it!! You can get all the information currently available from official A-bike store about forthcoming A-bike Plus (a.k.a. A-bike Mk-II).

http://abikecentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=987

The new version has…
1. A newly strengthen leyshaft.

2. An improved freewheel assembly.

3. Strengthen alminium tubing.

4. A new air-sprung cushioned saddle.

5. A smoother drive mechanism.

6. An improved sports carry bag.

While the reason why A-bike team decided to change the version name for the new one from Mk-II to Plus is unknown, I could say the Plus is definitely a plus to A-bike market.

Release date isn’t announced just yet, but ‘later this spring’ according to the official website. There is still a possibility of more improvement will be revealed before deployment. Oh, this suspense is killing me!!

Tower Bridge will be also getting a new finish. The construction will commence this summer.

It was just before Christmas shopping season 2007, A-bike.co.uk had sold every single A-bike they had and gone out of stock. Only god knows how many people out there got disappointed to find that there weren’t any much-wanted A-bike among their Christmas presents. (I don’t like people get disappointed, but I hope there were many people wanted A-bike for Christmas though.)

A-bike.co.uk said they are expecting more stock coming in April 2008. For those waiting for the new stock probably could get paid for their paitience. some source suggests the April batch will come with improved parts design.

So, the monumental original A-bike got wiped out from the market already? The answer is no. Just not yet.

Apparently Currys Digital is still selling A-bike. There was a user at A-bike official support net, reporting he bought his A-bike form Currys Digital at Charing Cross, central London in the end of last month, and I also witnessed one display model at Currys Digital, Oxford Street, central London last week. The poor A-bike was already put besides the dark corner of the shop, gathering dusts… I couldn’t tell whether they still intend to sell the one, but when I went back there yesterday, the Currys Digital was now selling the very same A-bike (as an ex-display model) for just under £75!!!! (see photo)

I bet it’s still sitting in the same corner at this moment. Can’t wait till April? Then here is your chance. It’s time to go out to high street and do some hunting.

About one month ago, our HK friend Amuro introduced an interesting site to me. When I visited the site(a fake sales site), I had to shout “Thank you!!” because they were trying to make me and my friends famous with our photos. We owed to you, the fake guys!!

Attention everyone! We will have the first A-bike meeting in London with Sir Clive Sinclair!!

Date: Sat. 28th July
Time: 12:00 (Noon)

*I need to know how many of you will come in order to prepare food for the picnic, so please let me know your intention of attendance via PM or This topic. Don’t be shy.

—detail—
12:00
Meet in front of the National Gallery @ Trafalger Square.(see pic.)
then we do A-bike Rally in Central London for an hour or so.

14:00-ish
Picnic with A-bike inventor Sir Clive Sinclair and the chief designer Mr. Alexander Kalogroulis in a royal park.
(Wine and refreshments will be provided by Mayhem UK, but it would be nice if you could bring food along. It’s a picnic! )

A-bike made its debut to London’s high street at Selfridge’s department store and Hamleys toy store sometime ago. These venues provided A-bike to have good amount of exposures to shoppers who had never heard of the fantastic bike before. The downside of these bigshot stores is their premium price tag. It’s £10 to £30 more than the A-bike distributer, Mayhem UK. And now, another bigshot joins the club. It’s UK’s major electrical appliance retailer Currys (and Currys digital). Surprisingly, they don’t ask for the premium. It sounds a good deal. Well, at least from consumer’s point of view.

If you look at Currys online shop, it says we cannot reserve and collect at your local store, and A-bike is only available for home deliverly. However, some Currys stores actually do have stock in store. I heard a report from a Japanese girl bought her A-bike at Currys (digital) near Bank tube station. So, why don’t you give a call to Currys branch near you to find out? You might get lucky and be able to bring one back home on the day, who knows? (Oh, don’t forget to buy shock-pump with meter.)

If you are ordering your A-bike online, by combinig those cashback services (e.g. quidco), you can get it even cheaper.

While real A-bike slowly spreading its market in UK, Asian fake counterparts never waste any moment. For example, A-Ride, one of the biggest players in chinese fake A-bike market, manages to infiltrate Japanese Amazon before real one does.(see above pic.) By the way, In the photograph in the amazon dipicting a pair with A-Rides in a train (pic below), can you see the girl is carrying the bike naked? Um…. It’s not allowed in Japan. Over there, folding bike has to be carried in a bag when the rider takes public transport with it. The boy’s doing alright in that sense. (I’m not sure about the thing in his bag though.)

Not sure about authenticity of the A-bike your saw in online shops and eBay listings? Ask in A-bike Central Forum. A-bike owners from all over the world will help you to figure it out!!

There was a Strida owners’ meeting in KR on 23rd June 2007. About 60 Stridas and 3 A-bikes were there. We ran 25km at average speed of 17km/h. To follow Stridas, I had to pedal madly. That was agony to me.

After the group riding, Angel-House Party began !!  A beautiful Strider, Ms. Angel thankfully invited me to her house. We were very happy together

1. YouTube video (Click below picture to see the memorial video)
   
2. Photo collection (click below picture to see all photos)
   

There was a get-together for A-bike owners in Seoul, KR on 17th June 2007. At the day, two A-bike racers participated in the 3rd Seoul bicycle rally and overtook many MTBs on an uphill road.

1. Youtube video (click below picture to see a video)
   
2. Photo collection (click below picture to see all photos)