Mudguards??

[soul7963]

I have had my a-bike for 2 months now (have had one replacement delivered in person by David). I use it for my commute from platform 7 kings cross to Percy street (in between oxford street and Tottenham court road). The bike has been perfect and I have been really pleased with my purchase, until recently.... The British autumn/winter is not the nicest of things and i find that even the slightest bit of rain, or surface water, causes the bike to spray water absolutely everywhere!! My jeans are covered, as is my shirt, suit jacket and coat. I do occasionally wear over-trousers but only when it is really tipping it down. The main problem, however, is not the fact that every time it rains, my clothes are ruined. It is that when the bike gets wet, the water (and grit) gets into every folding and sliding mechanism in the bike and proceeds to stop it functioning properly.

Anyway, after that rant, what I really wanted to know was if anybody has any solutions to this problem or if anybody has spoken to mayhem or a-bike to see if they are making mudguards for it? Because I would really like to continue using this bike if at all possible.

Thanks

Tim



P.s.

After re-reading my post I just want to make it clear to people that are looking at buying the bike, that if they fix this one issues then this bike beats all other folding bikes (including brompton) hands down every day of the year.

[John]

Hi soul7963,

I agree that the A-Bike could do with better mudguards. The small
ones that come with the bike are not effective.

I have also found that dirt and grit in the folding mechanism does make
it harder to fold. As a stop-gap solution I clean the bike
( in the shower !) and spray WD-40 into the folding pivots.
However, most of this would not be necessary if the bike had better mudguards.

I would also like to see better protection for the chain, and
some better sheilding to stop dirt being thrown inside
the rear gearbox mechanism.

If the manuafacturer could extend the existing mudguards
rearwards, it would not affect the folding of the bike.
In the meantime I might try to see if I can make some
mudguards out of something....

I hope Alex Kalogroulis is reading the forum.

John

PS: I also agree that the A-Bike is in a class of its own for folding.
It really is the only truly portable bike on the market.

I have had my a-bike for 2 months now (have had one replacement delivered in person by David). I use it for my commute from platform 7 kings cross to Percy street (in between oxford street and Tottenham court road). The bike has been perfect and I have been really pleased with my purchase, until recently.... The British autumn/winter is not the nicest of things and i find that even the slightest bit of rain, or surface water, causes the bike to spray water absolutely everywhere!! My jeans are covered, as is my shirt, suit jacket and coat. I do occasionally wear over-trousers but only when it is really tipping it down. The main problem, however, is not the fact that every time it rains, my clothes are ruined. It is that when the bike gets wet, the water (and grit) gets into every folding and sliding mechanism in the bike and proceeds to stop it functioning properly.

Anyway, after that rant, what I really wanted to know was if anybody has any solutions to this problem or if anybody has spoken to mayhem or a-bike to see if they are making mudguards for it? Because I would really like to continue using this bike if at all possible.

Thanks

Tim



P.s.

After re-reading my post I just want to make it clear to people that are looking at buying the bike, that if they fix this one issues then this bike beats all other folding bikes (including brompton) hands down every day of the year.

[Binch Shin]

Hello A-bikeBoy and everyone

Here is the answer from Alexander Kalogroulis.
---
Very interesting sites and comments - he is right, the mudguard could have been better. I am guessing that some users are cycling and freewheeling faster than we envisaged in our testing stages.
We will look to improve the mudguards or supply clip-on extensions as accessories.
---

(I introduced abikecentral and your blog. He likes these but has no room to join us. )