My BF NWT…

…that would be my Bike Friday New World Tourist.
On Friday I left off with the delivery of my NWT. After work I headed home and unpacked my bike. As much as I would have liked to see it packed correctly in the TravelCase, that was not to be. I’m hopeful that it will ship today so I can have it time for the weekend so I can pack for my trip.
The bike was very well packed, almost over-packed if that’s possible. Everything seemed to be in great shape and I didn’t have much trouble getting things sorted out. I should note that the instructions Green Gear supplied were excellent, any trouble I had was basically my fault – I’m not a handy guy.
Once I got the bike together, which took well under and hour from start to finish including putting on all the reflectors and such, I discovered the one problem I was to encounter. The front brake wasn’t properly adjusted and the front wheel wouldn’t spin freely. After a frustrating couple of minutes I decided that I might check the instructions.
And of course the instructions for the exact problem I was having were clearly spelled out. My problem was solved in about 30 seconds.
I only had time to take the bike around the block that evening and it seemed fine. It’s kind of hard to tell about the fit of a bike on such a short ride, but everything seemed to work and the bike wasn’t noticeably uncomfortable or anything, indeed it felt pretty darn good.
On Saturday I didn’t get a chance to ride it. I had to be at an all day workshop noted elsewhere on my blog. I decided to haul all my camera equipment on a bike I was more familiar with “just in case.” I probably needn’t have worried, but still…
Finally Sunday rolled around and I was ready for something other than a ride around the block. I had a bunch of errands to run and off I went on my NWT. I noticed immediately how easy the SRAM Dual Drive was to use and how much it is an improvement for me over a front derailleur. [For me means exactly that – you might prefer something else and that’s perfectly okay.] I also noticed that the fit of the bike was perfect. In fact it was better than what I think I ordered. I used the measurements from my body and my Giant Sedona and it seemed to me the handlebars on the BF were a centimeter or two higher. This was an improvement.
As I was running errands I never had the chance to ride more than a couple of miles at a stretch and a lot of that was stop and go, but the bike handled beautifully once I got used to it. Everything was crisp where it should be crisp and smooth and silky where it should be smooth and silky.
I was, I am, extremely impressed.
After my errands it was time for lunch and I had to put the bike in the back of a friend’s van so we could go together to the restaurant. It took a couple of minutes to fold and I did have some trouble because the folding hinge was, as the BF website predicts, a bit sticky at first. It wasn’t difficult though.
In the evening I rode out to a meeting I attend and had the opportunity to fold the bike up again. It was easier, but still a little stiff. Today I rode it to work and folded it to take upstairs and, again as predicted, the fold was much easier – I suspect practice helped too.
Here’s an image of my bike packed away in my office…

In order to make it easy to fold my BF I had to do a wee bit of modification to the standard setup. It seems that, at least on the heavy rider upgrade NWTs, the seat mast does not come with a quick release. I called tech support on this and they said I could certainly use one, and they recommended Salsa, but that for big guys they couldn’t exactly recommend it. Still, having to use my wrench to take the seat off seems unacceptable to me (again, to me – your mileage may vary) so I went to my LBS and picked one up. As my seat mast is seated all the way down in the frame the quick release only needs to keep the seat from twisting, no weight is being supported. The upshot is that it works fine and doesn’t seem to be putting any extra stress on the bike.
That’s it for now – the bike is sweet and I can highly recommend one, even for really non-handy guys and gals like me. 😉
Aloha!