Looking for a Shhortcut to a Great SX

Strida Forum Tips and Techs
1

To save me going through the pain of trial and error I thought that I should ask you experienced Strida riders what I should do to my new SX. I am looking for equipment that is going to take the SX to a different level as well as being safe and legal. I have little in the way of tools so mods are probably out of the question unless they really are hugely beneficial. I am located in the UK so would want to try to avoid imports from outside Europe to avoid import duties.

What I want to keep is the single speed simplicity. The problem that I am likely to have is with comfort so to start off: -

Saddle: 30+ years ago I had a Brooks saddle which was secondhand when I got it so it was well broken in. I think that it was a Brooks B17 and another one is on my wish list, along with a B68. I am getting confused if a mod is needed to the seat fitting to be able to fit another sadlle. The more I read the more confused I get.

Tools: The tools that I have at home are cheap and basic. I do have a decent quality socket set though. I have seen the workshop tools and today have been told that the bike comes with three allen keys. I am looking for a recommendation of a pocket tool. Some of the SKS ones look nice.

Tyres: I am not sure which the bike comes fitted with. I am thinking that Schwalbe may be the way to go as my other half has had so many punctures in her bike tyres.

Lights: Still not sure on this, whether to go for the Strida lamps or something else. I have a number of good torches from Nitecore, which could be OK for the front with a decent mount. I have seen the Twofish lockblock mounts and they should be OK. What I haven’t seen is how the mount on the rear of the Strida works. I don’t want to buy the £50+ Cateye light from the Compact Lights thread. Is anyone using Knog lights? Opinions?

Pumps: Small one to carry around with me. I have a couple already, but there is no gauge on either of them. I am not sure what pressure the standard SX tyres need to be pumped up to. http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk recommends the Topeak Race Pocket. I think that I will try out the ones that I own before buying another pocket one. Is it really worth me buying a track bike pump for use at home? The Strida may be my only bike. The previous website recommends the Topeak Joe Blow Sport bike pump. http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/bike-pumps-guide/

Jacket: I have no idea where to start with this. I have a few jackets already, gore-tex, eVent etc. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. Shetland is a cool and windy place. Temperatures above 20 degrees C are very rare indeed.

Lock: Probably a low priority here as there is little crime. Except in the main town many people leave their houses and businesses unlocked as well as leaving the keys in their car’s ignition lock. I plan to keep the bike in the office or in the house. At some point I am going to need to lock it to some street furniture. What lock do you think that I should buy.

Servicing: I have seen the Workshop Tool thread and have picked up some useful tips from there. Does the manual include details on servicing the bike. My greatest worry here is the amount of salt in the air as you are never more than 3 miles from the sea in Shetland.

Health: Many years of running in boots whilst in the military has done little for my knees. One of the worries I have about the Strida is not being able to stand up and pedal, meaning that my knees are likely to take the pressure. Is it just a case of building up the strength or are there other suggestions that might help me?

Luggage: I will be wearing a Hill People Gear Tarahumara rucksack. These are quite small, but very comfortable. It would be useful to have some overflow space on the bike for carrying things that I might pick up as I buy things in the day.

Sorry for such a long post, but it would be nice not to fall into the traps that you may have fallen into as new Strida owners. If there is anything that you would strongly suggest that I avoid, that would be interesting to hear too. My SX ships on Monday.

2

I have just realised why I am getting confused over the tyres fitted to the SX. On Velorutions site although it is described as an SX, a zoom in on my iPad reveals that it is actually and Evo that is pictured instead, hence the Schwalbe tyres! I now realise that they will come with Inova rubber fitted.

3

Very detailed post, thank you :smiley:

Saddle: Several users of Hong Kong Strida Club and Stridaforum decided to use Brooks saddles, to find out the types which will fit Strida without modifications of the seat molding it might be useful to try the forum search for the exact type.

For example; here Replacing your seat?

on the other hand here Strida-5 24/7/365 - Long distance mods & living with the bik

Obviously no problem…

Out of security reasons I would recommend to modify the seat molding very carefully, the better way will be to purchase a suitable saddle.

Tools: This point should be worth an extra thread…
Maybe you should study first the manuals, there are actually hints for simple maintenance procedures, like brake pad adjusting and belt tensioning.

Tyres: Either Schwalbe Kojak 18 x 1,25 or Innova 18 x 1,35, there’s not much choice…
The third suitable tyre is the Schwalbe Marathon 18 x 1,35 (very similar to the Innova).
Btw, the standard maximum pressure for Marathon and Innova is 6,5 bar, for the Kojak 8,0 bar (!)

Lights: Common bike lights are usually mounted on top of the (unfolded) handlebar, I mean it’s not very practical that the headlight is at the outside of the (folded) handlebars. Searching for another mounting position, I’ve found at the Honk Kong Strida Club an interesting solution - pics will be posted asap at your SX Lights thread.

The Strida rear light is equipped with an angle adjustable plastic clamp, the clamp is able to supply a vertical mounting position of the rear light.
Actually, I’m working on a solution for my magicshine rear light, I want to combine the original rear light clamp with a few aluminium profiles as an adapter to the magicshine mount…

Pumps: The pressures of the narrow tyres are relatively high, the air volume of the small tyres is low, guess that’s the reason why the pressure is falling fast, mabye the pump will be more in use than on normal bikes.
I’m sure you will appreciate the comfort of a good floor pump with pressure gauge…btw, if the gauge is at the upper end of the pump - it will be more easy to read…
For outside will one of these new-fashioned CO2 “bombs” do a good work, I mean…

Servicing: Less of the Strida parts are made of steel, but one thing might be worth a look:
Please read this post first:
How does the bottom bar latch work?

The mentioned small spring (part 12 on the patent drawing) is (was?) not rustproof, the small drill hole (position 112) might “catch” water,
a drop of waterproof grease cannot be wrong at this point :wink:

4

Strida mount for the rear light is not compatible with regular lights since it uses two screws for mounting. Brand strida rear light kit contains the adapter, but other lights would not easily fit.

If you decide to use non-Strida lights, I would recommend Magicshine rear light. It is bulky (uses external battery pack) and a DIY mount is required for it to fit, but it is visible in the daylight.

Schwalbe kojak (default tyres for strida SX in Europe) are high pressure (70-115 psi) tyres. Pocket pumps are ok if they can provide such pressure,but having no gauge on them is not good. It is important to have rear tyre under nominal pressure since it bears almost all the weight - low pressure reduces its life.

Those jackets should be ok if they have bright color and/or reflectors.

Try clip-in pedals and learn circular pedaling. That should alleviate the problem.

Default aluminium Strida rack has 10kg weight limit, but it is rather small and the seat prevents from using it for big items. Strida rack bag is, consequently, not very big - ~10L(?).

Basically, “it just works”. The only thing I can remember - mud flaps were not included with my strida, I had to buy them separately.

5

Thank you to the both of you. These are very good answers, which I am sure I will keep coming back to.

The best thing that I can do is probably be patient and await the arrival of the Strida. I am sure that many of my questions will then be answered for most things, but buying the Strida lights would probably be a wise investment and enable me to get it out on the orad sooner rather than later

6

I have ordered some stuff. I wanted to get the Strida lights, but velorution’s website said that I had to accept cookies to get the items into my basket, with instruction for Firefox, IE7 & IE6 as well as Opera. I am using an iPad so I just went to Amazon and picked up a set of Cateye lights EL135 & LD150. I have also invested in the Specialized Expedition saddle and a Twofish Lockblock just in case it might come in useful on the helmet.

I have signed up for the Magicshine newsletter and have put of the purchase of the Scwalbe tyres until I see what is on the bike.

7

Hi StriderZE,

SADDLE

Riding the Strida requires an upright seating position so a saddle that is wide will help a lot in distributing the weight of the body. I used Brooks B67 for this purpose. It’s wide and has springs for a more comfortable ride.

LIGHTS

I used Cateye TL-LD560 front and rear. It fits on the rear rack. Not only that it’s a reflector it also has 5 modes of lighting. The front light can fit on the front tube without obstructing the fold.

SAFETIES

I use Hornit DB140 Bike Horn to warn motorists and pedestirans.

8

Luggage
I’m really enthousiastic about my Ortlieb Messenger bag that’s on the steer facing forward.
I’ll make a topic of it with some pics.

Pros

  • 100% waterproof
  • easy access
  • good fixation abilities
  • clip on ability for LED light

Cons

  • if not fixated correctly a heavy load can influence your stearing and suprise you!
  • a new bell needs to be placed approxably above the ‘steerlock’ mechanism

Tires
My Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires made my Kojak’s to retire :smiley:. 6,5bar and a year without a single flat tire can’t be beaten by 8bar slicks in my opinion. The tire has a hard core (speed advantage?) and a great all-round profile. Get them soldier!

9

Thanks a lot for the responses.

Looking forward to a picture of the Ortlieb bag SF

10

Luggage

monkii clip + rixen kaul vario rack KR810
more pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/genuine_strida/

Many thanks to Genuine_S!

11

Brilliant pictures - thank you.