Day 1
Category Archives: Travel
How to bring JZ88 on Bus?
It’s really simple, if you spot the right bus.
A while back my friend ask me what’s the best way to bring a folding bike on bus, especially during the peak hours?
I am not a bus person, so that question actually caught me unguarded. I went on to experiment on a few buses in different situations. The very old type of bus with chairs on both sides along the whole length of the bus is the worst. The only location you can leave your bike in such bus is the space on top of the left wheel. Forget about bringing your bike on bus during the peak hour, it is not yet allowed anyway.
Newer buses especially those with wheel chair access are easy. There is a big space for standing passengers and and wheel chair in the middle near the exit, here you can put your bike (folded) just against one of the walls. As seen in this recent news on Channel U clip:
Tips for old bus: make sure your bike is really secured and not moving about when you leave it on top of that platform. If the bike slip and fall it may hurt others.
Tips for new bus: open up the wheel base to gain more stability for the bike. Otherwise if the bus is crowded you can sandwish the bike between your legs and the wall to prevent it from falling.
Watch another TV news of Jz88 folding bike on MRT
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Other related posts/links:
– How to bring Jz88 on to MRT?
– Bicycle? no, it’s a shopping trolley!
– Jz88 folding bike home
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Collapsible Bikes Can Go a Long Way
a post from sfgat in 1998 regarding the emerging trend of folding bikes, it is applicable for Singapore today as more and more Singaporean discovered the advantage and flexibility of a folding bike recently.
“My (collapsible) is beautiful, and I’m really proud of it,” says Marianne Skoczek, 37, publications manager for the Peninsula Humane Society. “It’s changed my life. Now I jump onto CalTrain whether or not the bike car (which holds a limit of 24 full- size bicycles) is full. Or if I visit my family back East, I can check it as luggage and pay no surcharge (airlines usually tack one on for full-size, crated bicycles.)”
That’s the essential charm of collapsibles. Where full-size bikes often face restrictions on mass transit, folders bound past all barriers by just changing into an accessory to tuck under your arm.
Skoczek’s road to happiness is typical of many owners. She hadn’t ridden much since her bike was stolen in college. For years, she endured horrendous auto commutes. A light bulb clicked on when she found out about folders. Her bike is now a vital tool for reaching work and running errands. She also finds it strong and comfortable enough for long recreational rides. Her record, so far: 60 miles.
Jz88 featured in Reuters – Singapore fold-up bike goes against Asian tide
20 Dec 2006 13:03:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Gillian Murdoch SINGAPORE, Dec 20 (Reuters) –
JZ88 folding bike in MRT, shopping halls
Chu Wa feels the small thrill of breaking Singapore’s notoriously strict rules and getting away with it every time he wheels his pretend “shopping trolley” through a shopping mall or along a train platform.
The contraption is actually a fold-up bicycle, which Wa designed to look like a shopping cart so he could take it through the many prohibited zones in the city state.
“Singapore is absolutely not fair for cyclists,” said the 46-year old product designer.
After years of biking to work in the Netherlands, Wa gave up and bought a car when he moved to Singapore, finding its motorways and shopping malls bike-unfriendly.
“If you love cycling in Singapore, you have to accept the status of a secondary citizen, many places are ‘restricted zones’ and you are simply not welcome,” he wrote on his blog, www.jz88.com.
At the same time as European cities are back-pedalling from cars to bikes in a bid to clean the air and ease congestion, rising affluence has seen bikes ditched from Beijing to Bangkok. Bikes have been banned from parts of Shanghai as have bike rickshaws in Dhaka, and bikers in Jakarta and Bangkok have mounted protests to campaign for better facilities.
The lack of top-level support makes returning to cycling more difficult than it should be, said Wa, who had five regular bikes stolen from unguarded bike stands in Singapore.
His solution? The JZ88: a thief-proof bike that flips from shopping trolley to cycle in 8.8 seconds.
With a shopping bag strapped over its handlebar, and spokes concealed under clear plastic shields, Chu’s folding bike goes everywhere he does. Weighing nine kilograms (20 pounds), it is small enough to fit under train seats and in taxi boots.
Shoppers stare as he loads groceries into his trolley, and pedestrians sometimes laugh as his long legs pedal the little wheels. But Wa says his bike is more than a gimmick.
“My ideal is to see more Asian cities become bicycle friendly … The hurdle is so high, in terms of road safety, too much effort, or bad weather, that even the authorities can’t do much,” he said. “(But) the folding bike can be a bridge”.
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To read more:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP281228.htm
Related posts :
Bicycle? no, it’s a shopping trolley
Traveling with folding bike
3 modes of Jz88 (Bike, Trolley, Carry)
less than 1%my Taiwan cycling trip
Cycling from the west cost of Taiwan to Tai Chong. Seeing lots of rice fields, climbing up the slopes, a villege on the highland, passing through the military airport. In Tai Chong I met a friend in his èƒ¡åŒ cafe– a very nice and relax place. Highly recomeneded.
Later I took a train upto Taipei witnessed the 10-10 protest then MRT to meet my friend in Taipei.
I was taking it easy along the way, many photos and trying different local foods. All in all, a wonderful break from my normal routine 🙂
Let the picture tell the rest of the story…
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more pictures here:
http://www.jz88.com/copper/thumbnails.php?album=22