I made the following changes to my Strida-5 during the last year. I had decided to make the Strida-5 my only bike for 1 year. Now I am going for two years.
I changed the seat to Brooks B67. Next best thing to sex
I changed the pedals to Speedplay Frogs; more power to the rear wheel, higher spin rate, better climbing, better bike control. Speedplay Frogs matched with Pearl Izumi ALP -X mountain bike shoes have worked wonderfully for both riding and walking.
I changed the nylon crank set for the new Strida-5 alloy crank set. Alloy was less egg shaped than the nylon crank set thus allowing me to have less belt tension before belt skips on cog.
Burned out my OEM tires from Kenda and switched to Schawlbe Big Apple - bike now handles dirt trails much better and the ride is much smoother. Found I can run 50 psig in the front and 55 psig in the rear when running dirt trails. I trials ride a lot so I have found the lower pressure not only gives me a smoother ride over choppy surfaces, I crossed a creek yesterday on the DPR trail in Ill doing kick pedals (hold the pedals parallel with the trail, drop your rear leg down until the pedals are vertical to the trail then force forward and downward with you high leg until the pedals are parrallel to the trail again, repeat). I know a lot of people say they cannot stand up on their Strida but I stand up all the time, not during full pedaling but while coasting or kick pedaling. I cannot track stand my Strida unless I am standing up. Anyway back to the Schwalbe tires - the slight increase in foot print as well as the suspension characteristics of tires made for easy gentle trials moves while crossing the creek. On the road I run 55 psig front and 60 psig rear and the find the tires just as quick as the Kenda’s.
Gear failures for the last 12 months - egg shaped the front wheel when I hammered a pot hole in the the road at night at speed, did not break a spoke. Trued the wheel as best it can be but still has a little egg shape. Will order a new from wheel from Area Ware this month. I hammered a rock on a trail with the rear wheel. Hammered it hard enough to skip the rear end sideways and enough to almost lose it. Only broke one spoke!!! Trued the rear wheel up on the trail and then rode it for month until I could find a bicycle shop (was in China at the time) that could replace the spoke. Spokes on the Strida are standard lengh!!! so no custom cutting was called for. Road into a chain drawn across the trail by a farmer who does not like rails to trails riders. It was at dusk on a down hill and I did not see the chain at all. The fall was not bad at all but the fender got ripped up. Fixed with super glu and some foam, will replace soon. So you can see the only problem with a Strida-5 is me.
Support from Area Ware is fantastic. I send an email with questions and within a business day they tell me what to buy or what to do.
Smart marketing; you have to hand it to Strida/Ming. All of these upgrades and accesories make Strida the iPod of bikes. (Sorry if the comparison offends anyone!)
Good lord. Please post some video. Don’t forget the disclaimer about non-recommended use.
Please consider suing this jerk. You are very lucky not to have been seriously injured.
By the way, do you clean your bike a lot? I would imagine dirt, grit, rust etc and the associated wear and corrosion, especially on the freewheel, would be more of concern with you than with most riders.
All in all a very exciting report about the extremes one can go to with Strida!
How on earth did you get a Brooks B67 on the seat attachment?
I just bought one myself and cannot figure out how to get it on. The rails seem like they would fit once the assembly is in them, but getting the seat on seems impossible.
If find getting saddle rails onto the nylon seat mounting, takes a bit of a ‘Knack’. I find its best to put one rail in the slot on one side of the seat mounting, and then rotate the saddle down so the other rail ramps up and then snaps into the slot on the other side. Sometimes I have used a screwdriver to carefully lever this 2nd rail into place.
Once in the slots the saddle can be adjusted as far back as you like, and then re-fit the clamps . It is best to keep the clamp bolt as loose as possible - just enough tightening to close any gaps, but not enough to put the seat mounting into permanent compression - which could weaken it.
Thanks for your response HA. The thing is that the B67 rails have much less give in them than the standard Strida saddle. The Stridda saddle rails, I can flex with my hand, and can snap on as you suggest. The B67 won’t even budge.
I admit it may be possible to use the leverage of a screwdriver but I’m reluctant to do that as it’s a $100 saddle and I don’t want to scratch it up in the process if it doesn’t ultimately work (which would prevent me from returning it for refund). If I know it will work, I can live with that. But that’s why I’m hoping to hear from TBAKEL to get his direct experience with this specific saddle.
Initially I was inclined to get the Brooks Flyer but having considered that most if not all the time I’ll be sitting on an upright position I finally decided on the B67.
I was just wondering if it would be easy to attach it on the QRS seat molding than the standard seat molding? I’ve noticed that there was some degree of difficulty and I would assume it’s on the standard seat molding and not on the QRS.
The most important difference seems to be the height of the four “noses” around and before the saddle bolt hole.
At the standard molding the width of the “noses” is ~ 48,5 mm.
At the QR seat molding the “noses” are smaller, ~ 44,5 mm.
(The width of the grooves for the saddle rails is equal at both moldings, ~ 38,5 mm).
So, I believe that’s much more easy to “snap” a saddle onto the QRS than on the standard molding.
The crucial factor whether a saddle fits on the molding or not is the distance of the saddle rails to the the lower edge of the saddle nose, as you can see below.
Both shown saddles, the SDG Ti Fly and the Tioga D-Spyder (on top) will definitely not fit on the Strida seat moldings
You might estimate the required distance at the original Strida saddle and molding.
