A French guy, Régis FENDER, has just ridden his Strida 3000Km including 1400Km across the Sahara desert. 
Apparently he needed no spares, but notched up 7 cheap tyres.
strida.fr/10.html
(and translation: bit.ly/nHAIp)
What is it with taking Strida’s across deserts and the like ? (EvilV may care to comment 
)
A belt drive must be ideal in those sandy conditions - an oily chain, would have been a ‘sand magnet’ and given up early on (ie this trip would not be possible on most bikes, nevermind folding bikes).
Kudos to the guy !!
I have no experience of taking one across deserts. Maybe you are referring to my using one as a long distance luggage trolley - a role it performed very well.
I am filled with admiration for this chap. From the photos, we was riding on decent roads which he’d have to be of course with such a bike. I suspect that you could expect most bikes to ride 3000 km without problems.
The triumph of this exploit across North Africa is the human one, not really the engineering. How did he put up with it? I’d not have thought the ergonomics of the Strida would be ideal for such a task, but I’d have little doubt that a Strida could do it if the rider could.
If he’d done it on Saharan roads on a cheap mountain bike, he’d have done it easier and with one set of tyres. The tyre wear he got seems extraordinarily bad. He wore out a tyre every 267 miles!!!
I also wonder what the drive pulleys are like after the sand.
Sorry: to us townies all open spaces in the country that look a bit dry seem the same 
The same French guy, Régis FENDER, has ridden his Strida 3500km in the Arctic Circle.
http://ragg.over-blog.com/album-1632115.html
ridethisbike.com/index.php?o … &Itemid=50
What’s wrong with this guy?! takes all sorts of crazies and eccentrics 
. Hopefully he ditched those cheap tires and bought a pair of schawlbes instead! One pair would have lasted the entire trip. Can someone tell him by email that cheap tires aren’t the way to go??
I just noticed on one of his pics that he’s riding on schwalbe marathons. So this time he might probably last the entire trip on one set of tires.
Régis Fender @ FR national magazine
http://www.strida.com/en/news/?method=detail&aid=114