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LOSE 10 LBS IN ONE PHONE CALL
The Ultralight Crusoe - By Lynette Chiang
"Me? Ride a bike? Oh, sure, when I was a kid...."
If there's one thing that almost every man, woman, and
child has tried at some time in their life, it's rideing
a bike. Why? Cycling is probably the only activity that
lets you do it all: keeps you fit, gets you from A to
B, doesn't use gas, doesn't eat parking tokens, is quiet,
and can be as social or unsocial as you like. Above all,
it's fun.
But for some, particularly woman, smaller riders, novices,
and older people, biking can be awkward, uncomfortable
or just downright scary.
For
starters, your average bike is big, weighty and designed for the dimensions of
the average male body. Women's bikes are often just "pink versions"
of these, and ignore the fact that men tend to have longer arms and shorter legs.
This leads to an inefficient, stretched out position that within a mile or three
can create back, wrist, knee, and motivation problems for the woman cyclist.
 Enter
the custom Crusoe.
Weighing from just 16 lbs., excluding saddle and pedals, it's the lightest and
latest offering from Bike Friday®, makers of the world's leading performance
travel bicycle. To give you an idea of this astonishing achievement, the average
big-wheel bike weighs at least ten pounds more, and the lightest aluminum mountain
bikes, though weighing in at a sprightly 17 - 20 lbs., neither travel easily nor
is the frame easily repairable on an overseas trip.
And the ride? Snappy and agile comes to mind - it feels
like an extension of your hands and feet. The frame is
constructed from the same tubing as the elite ultralight
road model, the Pocket Rocket Pro, but comes standard
with flat mountain bike bars and twist shifters.
The Crusoe is the leading lady of the new Bike Friday®
Petite Series. It is smaller, lighter, and, it folds in
about 30 seconds to take on a bus, train, or throw in
the back of a car. Like all Bike Fridays®, it also packs
into a checkable hard-shell suitcase for airline travel.
Anyone who has tried to take a regular bicycle on an airplane
will immediately see the advantage of a Bike Friday®.
The suitcase can be used to stow your belongings and towed using an optional trailer
kit. The resulting trailer tows well on all types of terrain. Shuttling your luggage
like this makes a lot of sense, particularly for touring where you touch down
at one destination and depart from another.
For someone who wants to do some light touring, fitness
training, or sport riding the Crusoe is perfect - throw
a rack and panniers on the back, or pull the trailer.
Front rack braze-ons don't come standard, though these
can be added. However, in the spirit of "LITE is
RIGHT", if you want to carry front bags, you probably
want the more sturdy New
World Tourist model. Or carry less.
Lightness is something which you may or may not consider
important. For some it is not so much the riding as the
folding and carrying from A to B where it becomes an advantage.
Hauling the bike from place to place, in or out of its
suitcase, is where you appreciate less weight. Especially
if you are small or not very strong.
For those who are new to the world of travel bikes, the first thing to notice
is Bike Friday®'s signature 20" wheels. The 26 inch wheel size of a standard
bike limits how small the frame can be reduced before the geometry, and therefore
fit, is compromised. Small wheels allow a Bike Friday® frame to be custom
sized to fit riders from as small as 4'6" to as tall as 6'4". Owners
include members of the Little People of America, and the odd NBA® star who
cannot be named but who cannot be missed either, especially when he pedals his
Bike Friday® to practice!
 Small
wheels... doesn't that mean you have to pedal more? A common misconception to
those new to the world of small wheeled bikes. The answer is no way! The choice
of gear ratios is simply adjusted to match the effective ratios of a regular bike.
Put another way, one full turn of the pedals on either bike covers the same ground,
the wheels of the Bike Friday® simply turn more, and though there is a little
extra wear on tires, the advantages far outweigh this factor. A large range of
high quality tires are now available especially in the Bike Friday® touring
and mountain models.
There are several more advantages to small wheels: they're
stronger, faster, lighter, they also accelerate, climb
and turn better. In fact, Bike Friday® has won several
time trials and races, including the recent 2001 World
HPV Championships (Brighton, United Kingdom).
The second thing to note is the frame design. The low
step-over height makes a Bike Friday® particularly easy
to get on and off, which is perfect for petite, older
and novice riders. It´s the "person-friendly"
bike.
Like most Bike Fridays®, the Crusoe is custom-built to
fit the body and riding style of the rider. If you happen
to already have a bike that fits you perfectly and would
like your Crusoe to ride similar, crucial measurements
are taken off your bike and used for sizing. If you don't
have a bike that rides well, you'll get a bike that fits
you, perhaps for the first time in your life. The fit
is guaranteed.
In terms of lightness the Crusoe configurations range from a 20 lbs., 7-speed
model with high quality componentry for around $1100, all the way to the 16 lbs.
Crusoe Elite 9-speed for $2145 which boasts ultralight delights like a carbon
fiber seat post and top shelf DuraAce/Ultegra componentry. There are also 14,18
and 27 speed versions too, including a model with the groundbreaking Rohloff 14-gear
speedhub, depending on how many mountains you intend to conquer.
The company has a 24-hour hotline to assist you even if you are out in the boonies.
"I might be asleep when I answer it, but I'll answer it," says company
cofounder and designer, Hanz Scholz. "We can ship parts almost anywhere in
the world within 2 days."
See www.bikefriday.com/thecrusoe
for sample model configurations of the ultralite Crusoe.
The full range of road, mountain, touring, tandem and
recumbent Bike Fridays® are showcased on www.bikefriday.com.
Call a Bike Friday sales consultant at 1-800-777-0258 or e-mail [email protected].
The Bike Friday® Travel Team will help you design your personal Crusoe - the bike
for all riders great and small.
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