SOLD! FOR SALE: My Previous Princess Pink Speeding tikit

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UPDATE: Sold, 6/28/11, to Janine who says:
I love riding road so needed a more speeding type of tikit it's 24 miles to work and I work around 13 hrs a day so take the bus and train both besides the bus as I live rurally.

+++

Alan Scholz, CEO of Bike Friday zips
along on Cycle Oregon 2003 - on an
Air Friday with me trying to chase! 
I have a new Bike Friday Speeding tikit. Thank you to Rob,  Alan, Hanna and the Production team at Bike Friday for speccing out such a spiffy machine, and especially Merle and Bethany for the cute note on the box when it arrived at bfold!

My princess pink Model T Speeding tikit is for sale.

Hence, my previous one, about 18 months old, is spruced up and for sale to someone smallish with a penchant for pink (dusty rose, my friend Cheryl calls it) and a fast commuter folder. New, this bike retails for around $2300. David Lam at bfold.com is selling it - completely overhauled - for $1600.

Me with the Speeding tikit in Boston - now for sale in Manhattan.
The Speeding tikit is the bike to own if you want the elusive combo of ...

a) a bike you can commute with, and take inside and 
b) a bike you can take on a slightly longer, weekend ride, say 30-40 miles, and still have it perform decently and comfortably.

This would be the ideal steed for someone who has room for only 1 bike - say, a studio dweller in Manhattan. Or a couple with cats and dogs and stuff filling every corner. Or kids! Who also likes pink.

The Speeding tikit folded. Shown with folding commuter pedals.

What makes this a folder fast?  It's set up like a road bike, with 53/39 chainrings, bar end shifters, and a 9-26 rear cassette. This gives a fairly decent gear inch range of  24" to 94" - if you understand gear inches. The rear hub itself is a a bit of a jewel - a high-end alternative to Shimano's moderate-end Capreo hub for small wheeled bikes. The hub is made exclusively for Bike Friday somewhere Over There.

The bike weighs around 23lbs I believe. Commuter folders aren't super light by definition - the folding mechanism does weigh something. But oh, the convenience. I have never been refused entry to any building in Manhattan with this bike, except for the New York Public Library which bars any kind of bike, not matter how well disguised. OK, and Price Waterhouse Cooper. The tikit wears Prada!

Speaking of folding, this bike comes with what is called a Model T fold - there's a single big twiddly knob just above the Chris King headset that you finger tighten to lock it all together:

The Model T "twiddly knob" - one step fold/unfold


Here's a video of when I first took delivery of this bike - on my way to Jennifer Benepe's Hot Velociti event!



SPECIFICATION


For gear freaks, here is the specification for this bike:








Some more pics of the tikit in action:

Manhattan Moonlight ride

Bahamas

In the Bahamas with fellow Bike Friday owner Hilge
More about the Speeding tikit:

ITS PEDIGREE: Co-designed and built by HPV champ Rob English, British Hour Record holder and 7th fastest cat in the world. Rob's Speeding tikit

VIDEO: Walter at Bike Friday demonstrates how to operate the Model T fold, available on all tikit models, and on the tikit I am selling. Watch video

Unfortunately a lot of the stories and videos about this bike and indeed, Bike Friday, are currently unlinked on the brand new BF site, but there is plenty of material about the tikit on YouTube.



MY NEW SPEEDING TIKIT

It's not much different from the previous one - other than being all pink, geared slightly higher, and with the hyperfold mechanism. My touring Bike Friday mysteriously disappeared from its hook in the factory, and this is a partial replacement for that bike.

My new Speeding tikit isn't that much different from the previous one - shown here on the NYCC perimeter ride,  23 May, 2011.



Burn carbs not hydrocarbs!

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