Honoring Friday seems like a pretty excellent thing to do and since we haven't talked about transportation in a while, I hope this rolls you into a great weekend. Biking to work is great for the planet and a great workout... but what do you do with the bike all day? Many commuters have problems with parking, storage and theft. So wouldn't it be great if you could just pedal to the office, fold up your ride and stash it under your desk? Now you can.
Bike Friday has been specializing in high-end folding bikes for almost twenty years, guaranteeing staying power. This winter they launched the Tikit, an ultra-compact two wheeler (though ultra compact is still lightly subjective).
Check out the video of it folding and unfolding on YouTube. Not only does it collapse into a nice, tight bundle, but the process takes less than three seconds! Even short-attention-spanners will love this.
Now, before you start making reservations for some extreme adventure, keep in mind that you are not going to be dirtbiking the Tikit up a mountain, or cruising to victory in the Tour de France. The wheels are smallish (they have to be), and because of the frame joints, you don't want to be doing any kind of high-impact riding. But that's not the Tikit's calling. The Tikit loves the supermarket, coffeehouses and bus trips. No need to worry about bike racks, roof racks, or having it stolen off the front porch.
The company is still owned and operated by the Sholz family - Alan and Hanz set up their Wright Brothers-like shop in the '90s, initially building folding bikes with the world traveler in mind. But they realized that they could have an impact on fossil fuels by encouraging folks to switch their commute from "hydrocarbons to carbs", as they say. And pretty chic to boot, minus the elephant-sized sack.
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