Readers of this blog will know that I love my stock 8 speed hyper-fold Tikit. It gets the nod for more trips than all my other bikes combined. I have few complaints and I have only made a few upgrades [unusual for me!]. The 8 speed drivetrain has a decent gear range and has been trouble free over the last 6 months. So what could Bike Friday do to make me excited about a new Tikit? Well I have been coveting Alex W's internal gear hub Tikit. Not enough to make the mod myself, but enough to be super excited when I heard there was a IGH Tikit prototype in the works. Naturally I was more stoked when Bike Friday let me have it to test pilot around town in advance of the model being released for sale.
The bike is the same great Tikit with new adjustable horizontal dropouts and a Nexus [redband] 8 speed hub [SG-8R25]. I'll post specs on the drivetrain and more on how she rides tomorrow, but I'll say this - the Nexus is a very smooth IGH that makes my Rohloff seem clunky and rough. The shifting has been flawless and the hub has taken all the hammering and abuse I've thrown at it so far. This Tikit will really shine when the long dark winter comes again...arggghhhh!...=-(...and shifting is immune to all the snow/ice and gritty badness that gets all over the drivetrain.
Keep in mind as you read my reports that this bike is a prototype and the production model may be different.
5 comments:
Sweet, sweet sweet Vik! That's killer that you've got a proto type. If you decide you are going to sell your old, clunky, long derailer hanger hanging down to gather the grit and grime of the road and life, no good piece of $^$&,(ha, ha) let me know, I'll buy it off of you not now, but right now.
I'm corresponding with BF right now on shipping a used Tikit to my parents address in Pheonix. That way I could actually buy a used one as they don't ship those to Canada. I've just started the process with BF, and I think they are a great company and am having a wonderful experience just emailing back and forth and asking questions. I think I'll be on a Friday soon or later. I hope sooner.
Great bike! Can't wait to hear how it goes for you! Peace.
Hey Jeremy,
The Seasnons Tikit is a medium frame and my old Tikit is a large. Although I can ride a medium fine the extra 1.5" on the large makes a huge difference and fits me much better. So there is little chance I'd sell the old bike.
Sorry....OTOH the BF folks are fun/easy to deal with so I hope you get something worked out and are riding a BF soon.
=-)
Vik
I wonder if this device would be useful with the internal hub as a mod to a stock bike:
http://www.paulcomp.com/melvin.html
Would having a second chainring be useful?
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My new tikit is somewhere East of Colorado in the back of a UPS truck. Should be here tomorrow. The wait is a killer!
/skp
Ooh bike lust. Maybe I'll get one of those next year, but right now I'm waiting for delivery on my llama, so I can't swing another bike right away :)
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