Upgrading Your tikit

Pedals

Any standard bicycle pedal with a 9/16" x 20 thread can be used with the tikit. A folding pedal comes stock with the tikit. The folding option is useful because it helps keep the pedal from sticking out while rolling it in the folded position. The MKS Lambda EZY pedal is another popular option with its large footprint. While it does not fold, it does disassemble without the use of tools. This is useful when packing the tikit for airline travel.

Tires

The tikit takes the same ISO 349 tires as the Brompton and the Mezzo. Unlike the Brompton, the tikit can take much wider tires (such as 349x40). Calhoun Cycles has a fairly comprehensive list of 349 tires.

Greenspeed Scorcher.
Click for larger version.

The stock tires on the tikit are Schwalbe Marathons, which are very durable but not particularly efficient, comfortable, or grippy. A widely recommended alternative is the Greenspeed Scorcher, a wide, comfortable, fast, and grippy slick tire made by Greenspeed, a recumbent bicycle company.

Another popular tire is the Schwalbe Kojak, another slick tire which is likely as fast as the Scorcher, perhaps faster, though not as comfortable or wide.

Downgrading from a Hyperfold to a Model-T

The hyperfold assembly can be fickle. If you have grown tired of it, you can downgrade to a Model-T's twiddly knob instead of the hyperfold cable. Contact Bike Friday.

The Model-T cannot upgrade to a hyperfold cable: it is missing crucial braze-ons.

Upgrading the Gearing of a Standard tikit

The standard tikit has an 8-speed 11-28 rear cassette, a 53 tooth chainring, and Schwalbe Marathon 349-37 tires, giving roughly 31.2 to 79.4 gear inches. 79.4 may be too low for you. If so, you have a variety of options:

• Upgrading to Greenspeed Scorchers (349-40) increases slightly to 32.0 to 81.3 due to the larger wheel diameter.
• A 60T front chainring is the largest chainring the tikit can take. Upgrading to 60T, plus a 9-speed 11-32 rear cassette, plus Scorchers, yields 31.7 to 92.1. Note that unless you have a braze-on front derailleur this will require a chainring guard to keep the chain from dropping regularly, particularly if it is a 9-speed chain. Such chainguards are not cheap. 60T chainring guards are made by Toxy, made by Vuelta and sold by Greenspeed, and made by various custom builders (including Bike Friday).
• Upgrading to the Shimano Capreo (a 9-speed 9-26 rear cassette, plus a custom hub), plus Scorchers, yields a 34.4 to 99.4 with the standard (53 tooth) chainring.
• Upgrading to the SRAM DualDrive (a combination of 8-speed cassette and a 3-speed internal hub gear), plus Scorchers, yields 19.2 to 110.6 with the standard (53 tooth) chainring.
• Upgrading to a Schlumpf SpeedDrive, plus Scorchers, yields 29.1 to 131.0 with the standard (53 tooth) chainring.
• The tikit can be upgraded to a variety of internal hubs (Shimano Alfine or Nexus 8, SRAM, Rohlhoff Speedhub 14, etc.). However, the standard (base) tikit has non-adjustable vertical dropouts, and they will require a chain tensioner.

Bags for the Standard Rear Rack

The tikit's rear rack is too low to accept most standard panniers: and it does not have a catch for their lower hooks (though you can build one from a few fender washers and spacers and a bolt screwed into the rear triangle).

One particularly popular bag to install on the rear rack is the Detours Teeco, essentially an elegant shopper bag. Though Bike Friday promotes the bag for the front rack, and even shows someone shopping with the bag, the Teeco actually fits very well on the rear rack: you can attach it very far back on the rack so that it's not struck by your heels.

Wrapping the Handle

Early tikits had a comfortable foam grip on its handle that made them easy to roll about when folded. But the post-2010 tikit, with the second generation seatpost, cannot be fitted with such a grip. However the handle can be can be wrapped with a protective grip like surface. Baseball bat grip tape works well for this application.