Alex Wetmore is always busy with something…

My Bike Friday Tikit arrived last week. I found it at my house around 5:15pm and had it unpacked and ready to ride by 5:30. The bike unpacks really fast and I enjoyed my first ride on it (with a few component exceptions).

Over the weekend I converted it to drop bars and made a front porteur rack for it. I made the following changes:

• Changed from flat bars to drop bars
• Installed adapters to make the V-brakes work with drop bar levers. I’ll probably change the levers to Diacompe 287-V sometime in the future…I really don’t like V-brake adapters.
• Swapped the 175mm crank arms for 170mm ones.
• Changed the cassette from an 11-28 to an 11-34. This also required swapping the rear derailleur to handle the larger cogs. When the SRAM i9 hub is available I expect to switch to that.
• Installed my favorite saddle and pedals.

The front rack was a little tricky to make. I wanted to make it pack easily and didn’t want it to interfere with the fold.I originally made the rack platform a little large and had to remove about 1cm from the left to clear the front tire. When the bike is folded the saddle rests inside the rack. I don’t think that this will be my final design, I want to experiment with a triangular rack platform to reduce the size and eliminate any chances of saddle interference. This design does work for now and my first couple of trips.

I took the bike for a test ride today and it rides pretty well.There is a little bit of play in the stem hinge, but I expect that I can adjust that out. The rest of the frame seems to be very stout.

The fold on this bike is amazing. With a little practice (it took me about 5 tries to get the hang out of it) it folds down in a few seconds. My first attempt was not pretty and took significantly longer (but Josh and Cam probably got a laugh out of it). Once folded everything is secured nicely by a single latch and there are no traditional quick releases. My front rack and the drop bars make it a little wider than a stock Tikit, but it is still reasonably small. The fold protects the drivetrain (and keeps the greasy chain away packed away in the middle). More importantly it doesn’t put the handlebars in the middle which makes converting to drop bars possible. This is not true of many folders by Downtube and Dahon.

It packed into the suitcase quickly. This was my first attempt at packing it and I had to figure out a new packing method to work with the drop bars, but it still packed more quickly than my old New World Tourist. I had to loosen six bolts: seatpost, stem riser, pedals, front fender, and handlebar clamp. The stock handlebars don’t even require you to loosen the handlebar clamp. It’s a big change from my New World Tourist where I remove the handlebars, saddle, derailleurs, left crank,and pedals.

I think it’ll be a winner.

If you want more details on the Tikit I recommend reading the review by The Folding Society.

It’s hard to find details on the components on the stock Tikit. I expect that they are still figuring out the best component list. Here is what my bike came with:

• Flat handlebars with SRAMMRX Gripshift,Tektro V-brake levers, foam grips, and a bell.
• Microshift rear derailleur. I have no experience with this companies components, but it seems to be okay (it’s better built than the plastic Shimano Sora rear derailleur)
• Tektro V-brakes. I’ve had some problems with the return spring popping off of the spring tension screw. When I go to the SRAM i9 I expect to use a hub brake in the rear and better V-brakes up front.
• The wheels have Joytech hubs, un-branded rims, and 24 spokes. The front hub is narrower than a normal hub. The stock cassette is made by SRAM, 8sp, and 11-28.
• The headset is made by Diacompe and appears to be 1 1/8″ threadless. I haven’t pulled apart the front end to figure out exactly how their steerer and headset arrangement works.
• The tires are Schwable Marathon. These tires can ride a little rough, but are a pretty good choice for a utility oriented bike.
• The saddle is a pretty typical plastic/gel saddle. I actually found this to be more comfortable than I expected.
• The crankset is a generic 130mm BCD crank. The large Tikit comes with 175mm crank arms. The chainring has 53 or 54t and there is a matching chainguard ring. The bottom bracket is a generic cartridge bottom bracket.
• The seatpost is a Kalloy Uno.
• Planet Bike Fenders. The rear one has a custom stay that allows the bike to stand on the fender when folded.

When I first saw a Tikit I was a little underwhelmed by the component spec, but upon riding the bike I realized that it really wasn’t too bad. The spent money on some of the most important parts such as tires. I think the first model really should have used an internal gear hub, but the derailleur setup does work pretty well.