I got one!

[A-bikeweb]

Hello A-bikers,

I am the happy owner of a A-bike.
First I want to tell how good is the service A-bike.co.uk provides. I ordered the bike on internet on saturday the 9 of september, about at 11 o'clock in the night and I received it on tuesday the 14 (I live in France).
The bike was well packaged and was in perfect condition.
I had some meters with it and I felt well on it.
Today I bought a longer seatpost and a comfortable gel and elastomere saddle to make it something as a city-commuting bike.
I have a blog under construction about that great bike ;
You can read it there : http://tinylink.com/?Em82Pmvjd5, there is also a link to a photo album on the post.
Friendly
Emmanuel, in love with the A-bike.

[John]

Hi Emmanuel,

Congratulations on your new A-Bike!

It is interesting to hear that you also
replaced the seat and seatpost.
This looks like the most common modification
done to the bike. I hope the designers
are reading this forum, and respond
by producing a better seat and longer
seatpost.

The problem with fitting a conventional
seat seems to be that the folded size is
greatly increased. Maybe a seat such as:

http://www.spongywonder.com/bicycleseatfacts.htm

would help keep the folded size small?

Another option would be to have a conventional seat
with a seatpost that allows the seat to tilt forwards
90 degrees while folding, so the seat does not protrude
from the folded package.

Happy A-Biking!

John

Hello A-bikers,

I am the happy owner of a A-bike.
First I want to tell how good is the service A-bike.co.uk provides. I ordered the bike on internet on saturday the 9 of september, about at 11 o'clock in the night and I received it on tuesday the 14 (I live in France).
The bike was well packaged and was in perfect condition.
I had some meters with it and I felt well on it.
Today I bought a longer seatpost and a comfortable gel and elastomere saddle to make it something as a city-commuting bike.
I have a blog under construction about that great bike ;
You can read it there : http://tinylink.com/?Em82Pmvjd5, there is also a link to a photo album on the post.
Friendly
Emmanuel, in love with the A-bike.

[Garry]

That Spongy Wonder looks very interesting. Although it has a heavy looking frame, I wonder if it would be good for my mountain-bike.

A folding saddle is a great idea! Is there anyone who can make one? I guess it needs to meet strict safety standards as it's taking weight of up to 85kg and in the case of any failure you don't want to be sropping down onto a seatpost

Garry

[Mat_Dizzy]

This seat looks very intresting

How much do they retail at?

[John]

Hi Garry,

That Spongy Wonder looks very interesting. Although it has a heavy looking frame,
Garry

Yes it does look heavy, but there are many other similar
saddles out there, just do a web search for "noseless saddles".

A folding saddle is a great idea!

I was actually thinking of a seatpost such the SP22:

http://www.jdtranzx.com/products/seatpost/1.htm

I was thinking of replacing the bolt with a quick-release,
so the saddle could be tilted forward so it lies flat against
the post. The only problem with this seatpost is that it is not made
in a 25.4 diameter.

I'll keep searching ...

John I

[A-bikeweb]

Hi John, Garry and others,

Some additional information about the seatpost and the saddle I bought for my A-bike :

The seatpost is a Lynx ; I bought it in a cycle shop. It is made in Taiwan, made of aluminium and exist in 2 lengths and 3 diameters ; mine is 25.4mm diameter and 35cm lenght. I have long legs and such a length permit that a long part of the seatpost is inside the seatpost pipe to avoid it makes a lever at the top of that pipe. It cost me 15 euros (about 10 pounds sterling).

The saddle is marked Lookin ; it is similar to some Royal saddle. I wanted a very comfortable saddle because of the very little diameter of the wheels, which does not permit some flexibility, as large bike wheels does. In spite of the perfect comfort it gives, that saddle is not spongy. It cost me 50 euros (about 3O pounds sterling).
Of course it is heavier than the original one, but not as much as it looks.
The fact it protudes from the folded package is not such a problem for me.

With those saddle and seatpost, riding the A-bike is a pleasure.
As a contemplative rider I like very much the straight riding position.
I didn't have problem about the short handlebar, maybe because I am accustomed to my Razor footscooter, which also has a short one.

As soon as my work will permit me I'll have some larger ride and shall make reports and photos.

Emmanuel

[JJ]

Hi everybody!

I just got one too! This is neat!!!

[Guest]

Congratulations!I also want to buy one.

[Jon Laurence]

Hi all,

Are you talking about this (seat post)?
http://hk.f1.page.auctions.yahoo.com/hk/auction/1115176220?u=gino5868

And this (just see the 4th last picture)?
http://hk.f1.page.auctions.yahoo.com/hk/auction/1115106421?u=gino5868

Ignore the text if you don't read Chinese. Just see the pictures. I don't know why that the Taiwan company can sell imitations online just like it's legal. Anyway the seat post is so good. And that's only about $11 USD, including the saddle. The saddle can be changed just like any other bikes. Interesting.



Jon

[Weakling]

It is a dilemma for me.

I am very much against that people make money stealing others designs.

But I am also very much against that a design hinder features needed for
that bike.
The fakers have one version with bigger wheels and such is needed
on roads that are not optimal for the very small wheels the original have.

That bigger faked a-bike is still very small and light compared to
competing bikes like Downtube Mini or Dahon Curve or similar smaller bikes.

Couldn't the owners of A-bike make a legal deal with such makers
which would allow some control of quality. A license sort of.

Yes I am naive. The fakers are only in it for money but if they could make money by doing changes that is asked for like a better seat or bigger
wheels then so could the patent holders do too.