Strida Folding Bikes, Wyatt Fixies On Sale at Fab.com

Wyatt Fixie/Single Speed w/ Rear Flip-Flop Hub $280 (was $350)

non-sale site: http://www.wyattbikes.com/

Strida 5.0 Folder $488 (was $650)

non-sale site: http://areaware.com/prodshow.asp?CatID=162

This may interest some at The Chainlink. Both Wyatt and Strida bikes are on closeout sale at a web site called Fab.com for the next few days. I've never ordered anything from this web site, so I can't vouch for their service or prices, but I find myself looking at their stuff (not just bike stuff) fairly often as it's mostly well-designed, trendy, brightly colored and shiny. Add cheap (or at least cheaper) to the mix and I'm a moth to a flame. I've never heard of Wyatt before (though I like the paint jobs shown), but the Strida is a folding bike icon. It's a radical redesign of what a bike should be for multi-modal commuting--the hop on a train for 25 miles, then ride the last 2 miles on a bike stuff that I do very often. If I had a spare $488 (I don't), I'd be very tempted to try the Strida out--I wouldn't ride it more than a few miles at a time on those tiny wheels, but so much of my riding is a mile and back to the grocery store or the last couple of miles between the Metra station and a work site; this would be perfect for that. It folds up to be an umbrella-shape, rather than the ungainly rectangle my Dahon collapses into, so I would think it would be much easier to ride on the L or a CTA bus with a Strida than with a "standard" folder.