Some news about A-bike mark II

[rongood]

to JazJon, i am in Berkeley, and love my A-bike. Have not met anyone else in the Bay Area with an A-bike. I doubt there is anyone in SF with one, so you will be noticed!! I get lots of comments and laughs and "what the fuck?" when i ride, and enjoy it immensely. Last year i put out a call for any A-bikers to meet at Oakland Civic Center, but none showed up. I fear that's because there were none. Bike-to-work day is May 15, Thursday, and I will be on my A-bike riding from Berkeley to downtown Oakland, where there will be hundreds of bicycles. Perhaps someone there will have one.

[Guest]

to JazJon, i am in Berkeley, and love my A-bike. Have not met anyone else in the Bay Area with an A-bike. I doubt there is anyone in SF with one, so you will be noticed!! I get lots of comments and laughs and "what the fuck?" when i ride, and enjoy it immensely. Last year i put out a call for any A-bikers to meet at Oakland Civic Center, but none showed up. I fear that's because there were none. Bike-to-work day is May 15, Thursday, and I will be on my A-bike riding from Berkeley to downtown Oakland, where there will be hundreds of bicycles. Perhaps someone there will have one.

retro 36 just shipped my bike last week (from the UK) I hope to have it soon! I doubt I'll have it in time for the May 15th thing unless it shows up today.

[greenbiker]

Still haven't met or seen another A-bike. Would love to get a A-Bike II. The main site is down for A-bike so hope its good news that they are updating with the new hardware!!

Next Week is Bike Week and the whole month of June has lots of activities. Will make my rounds with Critical Mass on Friday. Everyone should take their A-bikes around the world out for Critical Mass.

John

[Amuro Lee]

A-bike Plus is selling in the Netherlands.
http://www.abike-shop.nl/product_info.p ... ucts_id=44
The selling price is €274.00...

[Amuro Lee]

Message on the front page of a-bike.co.uk

[Amuro Lee]

A-bike Plus is selling in the Netherlands.
http://www.abike-shop.nl/product_info.p ... ucts_id=44
The selling price is €274.00...

They have changed the selling price to €269 now.

[newcross]

greenbiker, longtime no see!

I gather the official launch date for Plus is 22nd June 2008, so it says on the netherland site. .... hey, that's less than a month away! yay!

[greenbiker]

I have been texting another A-biker in Toronto, he wants to distribute the A-bike in Canada. I am still stopped or receive great comments on the bike wherever I go.

The A-bike fits under any board room table and it really makes a statement riding it up and down Bay Street. For the money managers and brokers I meet who drive their Porsches to the office, my A-bike makes it clear that I work to benefit my clients not me. (I am a senior financial planner for the Public Trustee) If they don't get it we'll move the account to someone who does.

I am looking forward to the A-Bike Plus and hope that more enlightened Torontonians get on the bike.

[Binch Shin]

Oh A-bike Plus only exists in Netherlands, right?
The price of A-bike Plus, EUR 274.. (thanks Amuro)..
= KRW 433,000 = USD 423 = GBP 216

I couldn't find any traces(pics or movies or simple notes) of the A-bike Plus on Internet yet.

We need some news from Netherlands..

Anyway, good to see you greenbiker again

[newcross]

Mayhem UK told me they are expecting to have a final sample from factory in this week-ish. I bet Plus wouldn't come out till late July - early August 2008.

[Weakling.]

Seems something has taken long time to get right?
Such long delays is disaster seen from good PR.
One expect a new model to be available early in spring
so one can buy it before going on summer vacation.

[Nigel Kellett]

I visited Mayhem last Tuesday, and got speaking to David; I hope I got his name right - he was wearing the Panama at last year's picnic, and, I presumed, must be Mayhem's boss.

Anyway, it would seem that examples of the A-bike plus were to be arriving the next day, last Wednesday. Keith had already mentioned that availability might not be until late July/early August, so there must be various procedures etc. to carry out/comply with.

Having noticed the change of emphasis on the 3 points for the A-bike mark II, which then became the plus, it would appear that at least the layshaft & rear down tube would be beefed up, but that the overall appearance and structure would essentially be the same, without massive redesign, and that these improved parts may be able to upgrade the original model. They had considered redesigning the saddle, but are now going to supply a padded cover (perhaps gel?) to, hopefully, satisfy those who found the saddle uncomfortable, which, admittedly, neither I nor David had found to be a problem really.

I can't help but think that they have basically taken the correct route, keeping to the original design brief, just addressing problem areas. He also showed me the 8" fake that I had previously noticed on the internet, and made comment about here in a previous thread I started. Boy, was it heavy, ... relatively!

He asked me what I thought of the price for the plus, which I said I had noticed before the site had gone down - I was philosophical. Also, the pump will be included in the price of, I believe, £199 (perhaps 99p more?); it is an essential bit of kit really, as opposed to an option. I assume the bag will be included too, I hope.

That is all that I can think of at the moment, except that I had intended to ask about the new bag, but forgot. According to the spiel, though, the plus would have an improved sports carry bag; the original was prone to weak material & seam splitting, which I just sewed up, so stronger would be better & more useful. "Sports carry bag" could imply that it would be more like that available in Japan, if I remember correctly, which may be more of a horizontal design, perhaps without the half-rucksack option, but I am just theorizing.

So, for now, it is just a case of waiting & seeing when the site is up & running again. Sorry for the delay, but I was waiting for this site's repair.

[Hans]

Got mail from www.abikeshop.nl that production should start coming week.

Pre-ordered an a-bike plus, so looking forward to finally getting it. I never seen one in real life, so I am very curious on how it will handle and perform.

[Amuro Lee]

Someone in Hong Kong sent an e-mail to the local distributor of A-bike and got this reply:
http://www.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.ph ... d160529051

Hi, William,

FYI, we just received the following reply from our UK office:

Our Engineers will be in the factory again next week when they should be able to agree for begin production.

This means that we should have samples for you and then production by the end of this month.

We are not sure if http://www.abike-shop.nl is one of our official distributors but A-Bike Plus is definitely not available for sale yet. We will keep you updated about the stock availability. Thank you.

Yours truly,
Lewis

----- Original Message -----
From: William Wong
To: Lewis
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 11:37 AM
Subject: Re: A-bike Plus in Hong Kong???


Hi,

I thought the production has been started already and it has been launched in other place:

http://www.abike-shop.nl/product_info.p ... ucts_id=44

Rgds,

William Wong

[Francesco]

http://www.abike-shop.nl/shop.php is now showing the Plus as available Monday, 08 September, up from "August 14" as of last week.