EUGENE, Ore. - Aug. 22, 2016 - PRLog -- Where on the planet can you buy a custom built, under 20-pound bike for less than $2000? How about made in the USA? That bike is now being premiered on Kickstarter. Oh, there's another huge piece to this story that takes this bike from being just an amazing bike for all your basic requirements to being a breathtaking breakthrough. It folds down small enough to fit into a backpack in under 30 seconds.
Bike Friday http://bikefriday.com is a 24-year-old company that keeps listening to the market and coming up with amazing bicycles that advance the cycling-as-lifestyle way of thinking. The business started with a folding touring bike and trailer where the trailer became the suitcase for the folded bike. You just packed the bike and headed to the airport. That bike is still the number one seller for Bike Friday 24 years later. It is called the New World Tourist.
Then last year, Bike Friday launched an under 33-pound utility bike called the Haul-a-Day that raised over $135,000 on Kickstarter. That bike is now the number two seller for Bike Friday. It filled a niche in the growing market of those who want a car-lite, or car-free daily lifestyle.
But co-founder, chief inventor, and iconic frame builder Alan Scholz had been thinking about the next bike for years. He saw a revolution building in urban and suburban transportation. He noticed that even Los Angeles, the car culture poster child, was forced to start building up instead of out. With density came the need for public transit, mixed-use buildings, and new approaches for getting around.
The trending word in all of this was: "The final mile." But studies were showing that while that phrase was catchy, the final mile was really more like the final three miles, and that the transport need was at both ends of the journey. You need to get from home to the bus or train, and then you need to get from the public transportation to the workplace.
Enter a host of solutions for the last mile: busses, vans, Uber, Lyft, shared vehicles of all kinds, walking and, of course, bicycles. What would consumers need in a bicycle that would work for the "last mile?" Surprisingly, the answer was a bike versatile enough to be used for a full range of cycling needs, including a bike that is great for the last mile and a longer, weekend ride.
Scholz had the answer. In his imagination, the bike was going to be a great solution for going 50 miles on a Sunday, light enough to carry under your arm or on your back, and would fold up so small that it would fit in a backpack. The bike is now a reality. It is called the pakit, and the specs are impressive indeed.
The lightest version of the pakit weighs under 15 pounds. Less expensive versions still keep you under 22 pounds. Finding ways to reduce the weight was paramount in making the bike easy to carry a few hundred feet or to and from other transportation, up the stairs at home or office, or for longer distances in the optional backpack.
The low weight contributes to better performance when accelerating, going uphill, or needing a burst of power. This bike performs as well as any city bike and better than most.
There are many choices to customize the bike to really fit you, your size and your needs. The bike is custom built from the ground up to the customer's order. The customer chooses the drive chain from a vast array of options including belt drive, single speed, hub gearing, 10-speed chain ring drives. The customer also chooses from a wide variety of pedals, tires, seats, and other components and accessories.
Normal bikes come in a couple of colors. The pakit has 4 standard colors and 15 upgrade colors.
Now what about those 16-inch wheels? "16 inches was great for my kid's bike, but won't I give up power or speed or something on an adult-sized bike?" The clear answer is, in fact, just the opposite. You will gain agility and acceleration compared to 26- and 27-inch wheeled bikes. The smaller wheels are stronger and will stay in true longer.
An amazing city bike! That was the goal. It is amazing because of performance, weight, and customization to ensure a perfect fit with its rider. Cyclists who commute or just love to ride 25 miles on a regular basis will love this bike. But building a top-of-the-line, custom city bike was only half of the task. This bike also had to fold. The pakit does this with the same excellence as the rest of its features. The pakit folds down to the smallest size of any popular folding bike.
How small does the pakit fold? Small enough to go on public transportation as a carry on. Small enough to fit easily next to your desk or tucked away in a cabinet. Small and light enough to be easily carried by a 5' tall woman. Small enough to fit 4 on your 16-foot sailboat. Small enough for commercial pilots to store in their personal storage area. And small enough to fit in a backpack. Bike Friday has even created a backpack for the pakit that is designed to fit and create good balance and comfort.
Bike Friday was so successful on Kickstarter with the launch of the Haul-a-Day utility bike last year that they have decided to go back to the public with the pakit. You can find videos and more details about the bike, along with multiple ways that you can help Bike Friday bring the pakit to market by clicking over to http://bit.ly/pakiT1. The company has already spent almost $100,000 in designing, building prototypes, and testing the new bike. Now they need another $50,000 to finish the tooling and development of the backpack, plus bring in materials to manufacture the first batch.
Bike Friday met all of their ship dates on the last Kickstarter campaign and expect to start shipping pakits in December 2016. You can participate in the Kickstarter campaign by taking advantage of a number of award choices starting at $10. Of course, you can purchase a custom built pakit by choosing that award on Kickstarter.
Contact
Randy Kirk
***@gmail.com
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