F1 fever is hitting a high note. This the race weekend and final preparations of the track are underway. My riding route passes through most of the race track and over the past few weeks, things have been taking shape, lights, barriers, now kerbs are in place. Yesterday most of the roads were closed in the evening and I had to find my way across. The funny part was that I managed to get inside the confines of the circuit but could not find a way out on the other end.

Inquiries led me nowhere and someone suggested I walk through the underpass (where is the foldie when I want it ). Luckily, some parts of the circuit were not fully secured, I guess for people to walk in and take pictures. I managed to get out and follow along a couple of non traditional paths and rejoined my regular commute route.

When I was in the circuit, I could not help but snap my racer(ahem!) in the track. Looks more like a pick up if you ask me…

It has been a few months and a few folding bikes tested, purchased and ridden. Though the initial posts were hinting at helping a friend decide on a foldie, it also was an exercise for me to figure out what I need (see, I walk the talk too).

As I mentioned elsewhere, a flurry of purchases were made, by me and people who are close to me that included:

1. A Novara Flyby Buzz (Rebranded Dahon Mu).
2. A Bike Friday Tikit. No, make that 2.
3. A Brompton M6.
4. A custom New World Tourist.

Each bike was bought for a specific reason and till now, everyone is extremely happy with their choice. There goes the debate on which ‘brand’ is better. All these are cool bikes with very unique features and equally unique quirks. I guess I should start with my bike, the New world tourist and continue on to other bikes in future essays.

Note: Most of the following is grabbed from my response to a comment from Al. so you might find duplicated info, but I suppose most of you are not reading comments…

Firstly, I decided I needed a custom sized bike as I could not get a comfortable fit on the Dahons / Bromptons. Of course, I could have obtained a decent fit from either one, but I had planned for a long term upgrade plan for the foldie and decided to go with Bike Friday.

Off the bat I decided to base the bike on a NWT and not the tikit, that made the decisions simpler. Nothing against the Tikit, I am just holding it out for a future purchase 

I was considering between the Sport / companion / expedition. I guess a large portion of the decision was factoring in the cost for a custom build. BF does some awesome custom specs but I did not want to decide up front (Didn’t have much lead time either, the bike was delivered in 2 weeks flat… Awesome).

I wanted to build the components on my own schedule. So I decided on the bike that gives me enough options. Sport has a narrower fork and I believe it can take up to 38mm tires without fenders. I wanted fenders and so that was easily eliminated. The expedition, it seems, is built with a more robust tubing and a wider fork. I was looking at the clearances for the fork and figured that I could do up to 2″ tires on the Companion without fenders and 1.75 with fenders. That was plenty good for me. Regards the overall strength of the tubing, I believe there is not much separating the NWT Companion / Sport / Expedition, people tour in all of them. So it essentially boiled down to the cost of a custom spec.

I was in discussion with BF and figured that I can get a custom spec NWT for as low as $948. Now that is a really good price point and I decided to upgrade to a Chris King headset with the savings. It is well worth it. Note I got a 8 Speed version that is plenty good for city riding. I am sure it is fine for loaded touring too but a wider gear range never hurt anyone (except pride when riding granny).

My idea currently is to make a slow and steady upgrade. The following are in the pipeline:
1. SON equipped front wheel.
2. Dual drive equipped rear wheel.
3. Rear D with a shorter cage. Stock rear D is too long (spec’d for Triple front) I like the idea of a dual drive heaps, especially for a 20″ wheel.
4. Handle Bar upgrade (midge or Moustache, still on the wall)
5. Bar end shifters (and a twist shifter for the Dual drive)
6. Front rack. I hear the bike handles extremely well with load up front, I got to try that some time 

Since I did not want to go the whole hog upfront, I went in for the cheapest custom. Turned out to be the NWT 

Went on a short ride towards Seletar Air base on a warm Sunday evening. The place turned out to be very rustic and very beautiful and rarely do you see unpaved roads in this Country. Took the opportunity to take a picture of the NWT (sorry for the crappy iPhone shot). The bike is itching to go on longer rides.

I find the bike without fenders a bit naked and am planning a bunch of upgrades in the coming weeks (fender included). I dislike the flat bar . But overall, the ride is pretty much spot on.

As you can notice, the bike Friday Folding Rear rack allows me to put in some Inline skating wheels (20 SGD for the upgrade, sweet) to prevent damaging the rack and for rolling it when folded. Good when rolling it from one corner of the room to another and pushing the while storing. Not much use on the road. Neat, none the less!