Review of Sinclair's A-Bike (Summary: it's a scam)

[slowmotion]

My Sinclair scientific calculator was excellent and ahead of its time, hence the fact that reverse Polish notation has become the standard.

I think that the very early ones were available as a kit for self-assembly, but I may have remembered that wrong. I think that they cost a fair bit.

 

[shink3488]

It surprises me that someone had to actually buy a Sinclair A bike to realise that it would be bloody useless

If the inner components would be resilient (e.g metal), the bike would probably last a reasonable time. It would still be a piece of crap, but a working one (assuming of course, that the company would support the bike, which doesn't).

This though, it's not visible without opening it, let alone from Internet, so it's not obviously foolish to buy one.

There are reviews which bash the bike, but on other principles, which for some people, may be tolerable (like me). Selling a bike which can't be repaired after a few months is not tolerable to anybody.

 

[shink3488]

a wild stab in the dark... paid poster working in behalf of Strida?

Please realize that this is a purely political argument, that doesn't have any reference at all to the content of the post itself.

I wouldn't certainly think that somebody needs to be paid from Ferrari if he bashes a Skoda :-D

 

[shink3488]

[QUOTE 2811198, member: 45"]If I may say old chap, it's rather rude to pop up on a friendly community forum just to have a rant.

How about you tell us a bit about yourself?[/quote]

:-) Nice to meet you.

I live in Germany, and I use a mix of public transport and folding bikes (yes, for the damn last mile :-)).

I'm trying to find a lightweight folder (I mean, 9 kg max), but it proved to be a really tough challenge, excluding the super-expensive (1000+€) ones.
I think the only one which may fit the bill is the Dahon Jifo.

I actually had a Strida 5.3. I loved the attention to detail, in small things like the braking "bands" (don't know the name) on the sides of the handlebar. It was heavy though!

I'm still a bit surprised that my racing bike weights 8.4 kg, and I can't find anything just scaled down :-D
I even found that some company was selling small polo bikes, but unfortunately they don't make it anymore.

 

[shink3488]

You never mentioned any length of commute, long or short!
A "long" commute on an A-Bike would be at most a mile, having had the chance to try one.
There have been a couple of reviews, that I've seen where out of those on test the A-Bike has come out/off worse. I believe Focus magazine did one a while back. I think the summing up was the most telling when they said it would be great for getting around large buildings, where storage space may be limited.
They even handed the bikes to staff to use for a week.
There was a thread on here about the suitabilty of the same bike in the Shipley area. The hills were the part of his commute & causing problems.
Here I'm responding to the reply to my own post only.

An important point of what I've written is that a review of this specific bike can't be very reliable unless the reviewer has used it for months.

The message is not that you can/should use A-Bike for micro-commutes, or not. The message is that when it brakes, and it happens even to people making very short distances (say, even less than 10 km in a week), it's going to break, and when it's going to break, its only place is the garbage, since Sinclair's company won't repair it.

This is unacceptable for a company, and it's fair for people to know. The reviews I've seen until know don't mention what happens to an A-Bike after a few months, nor how Sinclair's company handles repairs. Both are crucial aspects.

 

[mickle]

Its a terrible product. I know this because i bought one. A fantastic piece of industrial design - let down because they made it too fricking small and too injection moulded.
Sinclair had nothing to do with the design - it was created by a Honk Kong (IIRC) design house and they brought him in to give it some gadgety 'credibility' when it launched in the UK. I rode mine once - for half a mile downhill to a pub and then retired it.

 

[classic33]

For the Focus review, they tested folding bikes against one another. They also handed them to staff who normally used a non folding bike, for them to review. And like I said it managed to come of worst.
Other than that there's not a lot more I can add, apart from the fact its totally unsuitable for me, for day to day use, so I'd never consider buying one. I do have the advantage of having tried one on the road, to help me make that descision though!
You bought something, possibly because you liked it when you first saw it, and now you're aware of the short comings you want to let the rest of us know. Have you written to the company that makes them & not the company that markets them?

 

[classic33]

Its a terrible product. I know this because i bought one. A fantastic piece of industrial design - let down because they made it too fricking small and too injection moulded.
Sinclair had nothing to do with the design - it was created by a Honk Kong (IIRC) design house and they brought him in to give it some gadgety 'credibility' when it launched in the UK. I rode mine once - for half a mile downhill to a pub and then retired it.

I managed about a mile in Leeds City Centre, shortly after it came on the market. Might have one given for going into Tescos or other such places though!

 

[mickle]

A micro scooter is a better machine in every respect.

 

[steveindenmark]

A micro scooter is a better machine in every respect.

A Microsoft scooter???? Get a big one, there are great fun





Steve

 

[HazelMotes]

I found a used A-Bike on ebay for around $100, including shipping, so if it breaks, at least I will have had a chance to try it. It's obviously not a serious bike - the design is pretty much focused on having the lightest, smallest possible package, and everything else is sacrificed to that end.

I had a Strida 1.0; it worked fine until the plastic doohickey that the bottom bar hooks into the "head tube" broke, causing the bike to collapse. I landed flat on my face (fortunately, I had just arrived at my destination and was almost at a complete stop). The top connector was destroyed as it's not designed to unfold in that direction, and the chainring was also broken. Their more recent offerings seem to be of much higher quality, but the first one definitely wasn't. So maybe Sinclair will improve the A-bike eventually.

I was using the Strida to travel to work from a parking lot around a half-mile away, so it was perfect for that - fitting in the trunk and opening and collapsing in seconds. It's a great design for that application.