(Photos: Jim Merithew/Wired)

Strida 5 Folding Bicycle

The first thing you need to know about the Strida 5 folding bicycle is written on a small yellow sticker on its buffed aluminum frame: "Caution!! Using rear brake first when braking." Ignore that advice and you may find yourself hurtling forward over the handlebars like Wired.com associate editor Danny Dumas does in the video below. Thanks to the Strida’s narrow wheelbase, doing an endo is much more likely than it is with most other bikes.



The Strida 5 is also underpowered, with a single-speed drive that won’t let you go much faster than 10 miles per hour without pedaling as furiously as a meth-addicted circus clown. And climbing steep hills? Just forget about it.



Those reservations aside, the Strida is an elegant, if unusual, piece of bicycle engineering. It won admiring stares from other riders of folding bikes, and amused looks from everyone else. It’s fun to ride, nimble and perfectly suited to zipping around pedestrians on broad sidewalks. Plus, its speedy folding and unfolding are well-suited to public transit — you can zip to the train station, collapse the bike in 10 or 15 seconds, and hop on your train without missing a beat. To take it on the streets of a busy metropolis like San Francisco, however, you’ll need nerves of steel and a strong sense of the ridiculous. Our advice: Keep a broad grin on your face and think of the British royal family; blue-blooded members have been spotted zipping around London on these trendy triangular bikes. —Dylan Tweeney



WIRED: Just 19.4 pounds — light for a folding bike. Easy to fold and unfold quickly. Belt drive means not worrying about greasy chain marks on your slacks. Winner of numerous design awards, giving it serious hipster cred.

TIRED: Tricky to steer at speed. Top-heavy, especially for taller riders. Slow. Expensive. Tiny, flimsy rack holds little more than hope.

Price/maker: $775, areaware.com (U.S. distributor)

Scroll down for more on the Strida 5 plus hilarious crash test video.

The Strida isn’t meant as a replacement for a normal bike — it’s aimed at urban commuters who need to travel a mile or two beyond the train station or bus stop. As such, it works perfectly. We tested it on the streets of San Francisco and on the local commuter train. Its light weight makes carrying it on and off the train a cinch, and when folded, it is compact enough to lay on the floor of the train at your feet (or hold alongside yourself when you’re standing).



Other folding bikes collapse more compactly — for instance, Bromptons tuck into a small pod barely bigger than the bike’s wheels. By contrast, the Strida is a longish package, and the middle bar (the bottom of the triangle) doesn’t always stay put when folded along with the other two bars.

The Strida’s 16-inch wheels look small, but they ride comfortably and smoothly. The belt drive is geared generously, so you get up to speed quickly from a dead stop — but the maximum speed seems rather low. The disc brakes grab reliably and firmly (just make sure you don’t grab too hard on the front brake alone).

The Strida’s seat height can be adjusted by sliding the seat up and down the back strut, using an Allen wrench that conveniently stows right underneath the seat. If you’re on the tall side, however, you’ll need to move the seat quite high, which means two things: Your center of gravity will be high, and you’ll feel like you’re almost sitting on top of the handlebars. It’s an unusual combination that makes the Strida somewhat uncomfortable at first, though you’ll get over the wobbly feeling within half a minute. Still, it’s probably best-suited for riders shorter than 5′ 10".