My Strida LT

Strida Forum Riders Reports
21

Yes you’re right of course; the screw 274 (474 is the longer for kickstand) at the bottom tube alone is too weak to preserve the excenter from turning under load.
After loosening of that bolt there are just two cases possible; either the excenter can be moved or not (that means the groove nut is tight - or not).
Both cases require the mentioned hook key explicitly.
(To derail the belt with a screwdriver without releasing belt tension is a no-go in my opinion.)

At the manual there is one major failure more - it is nonsense to tell a load for the belt but NOT the amount of deflection. :wink:

Another bad trap is the rear wheel bolt 379; be careful not to overtighten it - but it must be glued!

22

Yes, you’re right about releasing the belt before removing it, I guess I would have done that anyway.
Thanks for the tip about being cautious with the last screw - I have a torque key and some loctite, so I’ll manage. It’s no rocket science but you’re right that these procedures are not complete enough for the layman to do the work easily.
I’ll report again as soon as I have mounted and tested the new wheels. I know what to expect - I just hope my bottom agrees with my choice, since apparently it will be a slightly tougher ride :smiley:

23

In the case of the last screw 379 it is also for a specialist impossible to work properly;
simply because Ming cycle was unable until today to supply a recommended torque!
Even workstores do not have any additional information besides the official, there is no dedicated workshop manual existent as far as I know (at least not in English - possibly in Chinese…)

Especially for that little bolt I wrote that a while ago:
Tips from Mark.pdf torque warning!

Regarding torque key; I like to work with these tools and have a few of different torque ranges here naturally. But on this single bolt I’d recommend NOT to use them because:

  • They are mostly not precise at the lowest end of the range.
  • The “click” of very low torques can be pretty silent; there’s a certain risk to miss it.
    I’d use a common, 90° angled Allen key but vice-versa - meaning to use the longer leg inserted into the bolt’s head - and then drive the shorter leg between thumb and forefinger, and that’s it.

Btw, taking the rear wheel off means also to disassemble the parts goup around/below the counterpart of the magnet - at this point in time you should check also part 338 (called magnet spacer) if it is bent or broken; it should look symmetrical. Please replace if necessary.

:bulb:
Ah, some more:
It can’t be guaranteed that the brake discs (rotors) are in exactly the same position like that of your old wheels. So, if you remount your calipers, be sure first that the brake pads are out of the way of the rotors before starting to mount the two bolts. In most cases you have to re-adjust the pads anyway.
You know how to tighten the caliper bolts of disc brakes?

  1. Tighten the bolts - but not fully yet.
  2. Pull the brake lever (caliper should find optimal position by its own).
  3. Now tighten fully.
  4. Let the lever go.
    (Before this action it is necessary to adjust the pads “about” right.)
24

So many useful details, thanks!
You really don’t want me to have any excuse when I screw up, is that it? :laughing:

25

Hello all,

I received the new 18" wheels and mudgards from Markku very quickly, many thanks to him for making it so easy.
Ironically, since we’re living through a period of drought, heavy rain started to fall on the day I received the wheels so I wasn’t very motivated to do the work immediately.
Just did the swap now, very easily thanks to all the documents supplied by Chris.
I couldn’t find the right hook key, so I improvised and used an oil filter key and a piece of rubber instead - it proved just fine.

I’m thankful to Chris for warning me about not overtightening the wheel’s final screw. I’m pretty sure I would have done so without his advice.

The only problem I faced was some ugly tsh tsh tsh sound coming from the front wheel when first turning it manually, after adjusting the brakes. What happened is that the head of top screw holding the mudgard came incredibly close to the tyre. There is no possible adjustment, since the spacer under the screw determines how deep inside you can screw it… so I cut all the rubber hair that were coming in contact with the screw’s head and now it’s OK. At some points the tyre almost touches it, but it doesn’t soi guess it’s fine. No more annoying sound. But that makes me think any thicker tyre would cause a problem.

Anyway, now the loctite is drying but I can’t wait to test ride the bike… hoping my bottom will not disagree with my choice of going for larger wheels but thinner tyres!

I’ll let you know, have a nice weekend

26

Hello Geo,

Nice to know you received my wheels well. The issue with fender screw touching tyre is something due the fact Chris wrote about elsewhere here: the rims are not fully perfect centered in left-right direction vs the hubs. There are Strida owners who are said having managed to mount wider Schwalbe Marathon tires on their 18" wheels while others not, myself being one of those. Initially my plan was to order those but then managed to measure the clearance, which was too small and thus had to invest in 16" wheel set to go all the way get the Big Apple balloon tires for comfort.

With these new wheels I have minor issue on front wheel: only little press on brake level is needed to engage braking, this means I can’t utilize the parking mode with the string at end of handlebar. Adjustment on brake cable and pads ai required - later one day.

Cheers,
Markku

27

Hello you two Strida blokes; great to read that you could cooperate, thank you :smiley:

Cheers,

Chris

28

Hi again,

On Sunday I took time to test the bike with 18” wheels – a 10km ride across the old town. I must warn you readers, none of my findings will come as a big surprise!

I didn’t adjust the height of the saddle so it’s higher now – an unanticipated, but welcome side-effect.

The bike definitely feels more stable, which is good, while remaining very agile in town. I must admit that as a typical Frenchman, culturally (and pathetically) allergic to petty regulations, I occasionally ride on side-walks so agility is important for the safeguard of my fellow pedestrians. The beast also feels quicker, very logically, but that’s a feature that I fully enjoyed only this morning as I was riding to work on long straight lines. There are hardly any slopes in my flat region so that’s definitely the right choice. lastly, these wheels just… look better :slight_smile:

On the downside, the thinner tyres do make the ride rougher. That’s a fact and it was to be expected. At one point I rode across the oldest streets of Lille, which are mostly made of disjointed cobblestones, and I felt like my skeleton was going to fall apart. And the palms of my hand and wrists were in real pain – so, never again will I ride these streets with the Strida! Maybe you know about that bicycle race “Paris-Roubaix” with its famous paths of cobblestones… I wonder how participants can survive such a treatment. Anyway, that is an extreme situation and I guess it would have been painful with the 16” wheels too, just maybe more acceptable. Having said that, on the normal streets and all bicycle lanes I’m likely to use on a daily basis, it may be also a bit rougher, but not to the point it becomes unpleasant. The bike does “vibrate” a bit more, and I noticed the bell (which was already noisy) was “signing” its unwanted tune all along… so I just got rid of it. Problem solved !

Lastly, fitting those bigger wheels has few measurable consequences when the bike is folded. Admittedly, I have to lift it higher when carrying it through stairways and escalators… but that’s because I’m shortish, at 1.74cm :slight_smile: At floor level the bigger size of the wheels causes no problem, not even in a packed metro, as I could experience this morning. It just makes things a wee bit more complicated on escalators: the 16” wheels could fit perpendicularly to the stairs, making it easy to start folding/unfolding the handlebars and pedals while going up or down. The 18” wheels only fit parallel to the stairs, making for a slightly more cumbersome position of the bike, that’s no big deal, just a question of habit.

As a conclusion, I’m happy with the new 18” wheels, definitely no regrets. And the travelling time between my office and the metro station has decreased by a significant margin :slight_smile:

29

… oops, once again I posted before logging in… my apologies to the moderator !

One remark : when the bike is folded and when I’m pushing it in front of me, the back wheel causes the pedals to turn. As a result, the left pedal, or rather the left metal crank hits the angle of the luggage rack at the back at each revolution, taking off some of the black paint. It’s a bit annoying, especially since it seems the two wheels look perfectly parallel and well connected thanks to the magnets. Have any of you experienced this as well ?

30

Hi Geo,

no problem - the forum software does recognize/remember you.

Many thanks for your detailed feedback; I’m really happy that you don’t regret the change :smiley:

As mostly I’ve tried to reproduce your issue with my bikes - and could not.
Looking closer I think there are two reasons for the difference, that’s for one the height of the seat molding (adjusted for me - 1,89m) but the second reason has to do with the kind of folding.

Do you fold your Strida by “crossing” the tubes or do you already use this thingy?
https://stridacanada.ca/product/strida-frame-clip//
:question:

31

Hi,
Thanks for trying to reproduce the problem, but you just couldn’t. You’re just not as dumb as I am, lucky man!
I realized on the way back that sometimes, after folding the bike, I push it backwards, I mean with the handlebars facing towards me. In that case the pedals rotate.
If I push it the other way round, they don’t.
Now I wish I never posted that stupid remark, but hey, you never know, it could be useful for some other Strida owner with an IQ as low as mine :wink:

32

Suggestion:
It is not that complicated to replace the original loops by adjustable ones! :smiley:

33

Hi, scorching Strida users !

Lately I grabbed a Strida kickstand for a handful of coins, from a second hand webshop. It is marked “Strida”, it is meant to be mounted the same way as the current version but it is slightly different. I guess it’s from an older generation. Anyway, it was supposed to fit all Strida versions, but I discovered it doesn’t. Only the angle is adjustable, not the length, so it’s too short for my 18" wheels version.

I cut a piece of rubber which I screwed at the bottom - It’s functional, but fairly ugly :slight_smile: so I’ll order myself a new one.
It can easily be undone, so if one of you guys needs a kickstand for a 16" Strida, you can have it for the price of shipping.

[Offer also posted on a French forum]

34

Glad to hear of your Strida experience! I myself have just acquired a Strida Sx and am looking forward to providing an account of my own experience with it soon! How long did it take you to get used to the folding mechanism? I’m seeing all these videos of people who easily fold and unfold their Stridas so quickly and smoothly… I’m not strong enough to undo the magnet without grabbing the wheels and separating them while the bike is lying down, but I’m hoping I’ll intuit some trick like turning the tubes a certain way that’ll overcome the lack of strength on my part.