Pacific Reach Folding Bike

AdamP

Hi,

Looking to upgrade my folder from a Dahon Speed P8.

Seen that Airnimal are starting to import these and wanted to know if anyone had any experience of these?

i.e., what are they like to ride, ease of fold, transport, etc

Thanks


Adam

SamWise72

Good review by a new owner here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.ph ... highlight=

This guy has a lot of folders, and really likes the one he bought. Worth the read.

crayons

i tried one out in velorution (www.velorution.biz), only the 'city' version, but quite good fun.

although i did end up going for a airnimal joey over it.

same level of fold as the joey (in that you need to take off the front wheel), but i just found it a bit 'spongey' and not as much like a 'real' bike as the joey.

they're nice though.

i think bikefix had one too (http://www.bikefix.co.uk)

not a lot of use if you're not in london tho...

AdamP

Thanks Crayons. I actually went to bikefix. Got a bit distracted by the Airnimals and am now picking up a lovely yellow Chameleon tonight.

Airnimal is the best riding folder, I reckon. Just need practice on folding it, as I have the handling skills of a monkey...

crayons

no problem. pleasure.

heh, i know exactly what you mean... i went in for a pacific, ended up nearly buying a joey rohloff... then calmed down.

haven't got the joey yet, but i reckon like you, i'll need a bit of practice, quite a contrast to my singlespeed surly...

Karlgw

Picked up a Reach (Road version) last week from Avon Valley Cyclery in Bath. I want it for a 22-mile commute so I specified mudguards and a rack. I also considered and test rode the Airnimal Chameleon (Performance Sport) and Joey (Explore), as well as the Pashley Moulton TSR 27 and the Birdy Touring.

The Moulton gave the best ride, but was not easy to separate/bag.

The Birdy was the best folder but I did not like the ride (the sub-20" wheels resulted in a very twitchy ride).

The Chameleon was almost as good to ride as the Moulton, and the fold was pretty good as well. Similarly, the Joey gave a surprisingly good ride, especially considering that, unlike the Chameleon, it was unsuspended.

The Reach also gave a very nice ride. It had suspension, like the Chameleon, but was priced at a similar point to the Joey. The deciding factor for me though was that, unlike the Airnimals, there is a rack available for the Reach that is compatible with folding. I also bought the bespoke bag for the Reach, which turns out to be useless as you can't simply fold the bike and bag it - you have to completely disassemble it and even then it a very tight fit. As I want the bike for commuting I also specified front and rear mudguards. Unfortunately I found out after buying it that the front mudguard isn't incompatible with folding so I have had to remove it.

My impressions of the bike so far are very favorable on the whole.

Strengths include a very plush ride thanks to front and rear suspension, a good range of gears (30-120" on the Road version), generally good quality equipment, and reasonably good fold (though no Brompton of course).

Weaknesses include inability to fold with front mudguard in place; inability to easily store in the bespoke bag.

Possibly because the manufacturer expects riders to choose their own saddle and pedals, those fitted are functional but rather cheap and nasty. The pedals are unnamed platform pedals and the saddle is a very basic 'Velo Plush'. I have replaced pedals with MKS AR-2s fitted with PowerGrips, and the saddle with the amazingly comfortable and yet also very inexpensive (if rather tacky-looking) Rido saddle.