The 2022 Bike Friday pakiT folding bicycle

In 2022, I bought a Bike Friday pakiT folding bicycle directly from Bike Friday in Eugene, OR. The pakiT is their urban-centric, multi-modal folding bike, positioned as a competitor to Brompton’s line of folding bikes. Their marketing material promises a sub-30 second fold into a compact package. I had high expectations that it would let me incorporate a bike into my daily life in new ways, like going to the store. I’ve had bikes stolen multiple times and I put a lot of care in how I equip bikes, so I’m never comfortable leaving them locked up outside.

This was the most expensive bike I’ve purchased for myself, as I got the lighter-weight version equipped with a Gates carbon belt drive and a Shimano Alfine 11 speed hub. However, almost immediately after opening up the box and unfolding it, I was disappointed in the bike:

• The fold is not that compact, especially with the handlebars left on. I rarely pack down the handlebars because the bare steerer tube gets grease on anything it touches. And the front wheel needs to be removed to fit the bike into its custom, oversized backpack. The lack of a middle breakdown joint in the bike means the folded package will always be as long as the top-tube.

• The bike is very cumbersome to carry when folded, even though it’s the lightest bike I’ll ever own at 16 pounds. Since it can’t roll while folded (there are no wheels on the rack like a Brompton and the front wheel is free to pivot), you have to carry it at your side or put it into its backpack. The backpack requires a flat surface and takes some additional time to put together, and it looks a bit ridiculous to wear.

• The stock seat and handlebars are extremely uncomfortable to use so I switched them out almost immediately.

• There’s nowhere to mount a bag that can remain on the bike while it’s folded, unlike the Bromptons with their steerer tube locking mount.

• The bike isn’t very stable standing up on the ground while folded. There are tiny feet that meet the ground, but they’re too narrow to provide three-point stability and the mounting collar needs careful adjustment to account for any asymmetry in the bike’s folded side-to-side weight distribution.

• The bike flexes a lot during riding, but this is likely just something I’m not used to.

• Rim brakes don’t feel as crisp and responsive as the disk brakes I use on all my other bikes.

That being said, I’ve found a use for this bike as my wet weather commuter because of the following features:

• The belt drive is excellent, although I’m still dialing in the gear hub adjustments.

• The bike has great shock dampening despite no active suspension gear, probably due to its compliance.

• It does fit easily in the trunk of a car with its handlebars on.

The main benefits this bike advertised over the Bromptons were the full-size bike components^{1 1} Brompton is notorious for custom parts on their bikes, in an industry that already has fractured component options. Very few common bike supplies will work with a Brompton, with the primary exception being wheels, tires, tubes, and pedals. and a much nicer ride feel. These were accurate claims, but end up not mattering too much to me. The first is a non-issue since I work on my own bikes and don’t mind ordering special parts for bikes. And the second is less important than a bike I can use to run errands. I don’t think I’ll go on any rides longer than an hour with this bike in any case.

A few days after receiving and riding the bike, I contacted Bike Friday with these concerns and issues I was facing. They were responsive to many of the points I brought up, but didn’t offer any solutions to the fundamental problems with the bike. The bike came with some fit and finish misses that I’ve had to fix myself, too: the gear hub was wildly out of adjustment and the front fender mounting bracket wasn’t fashioned properly.

If I didn’t already own a tandem bike, I would still consider Bike Friday’s folding tandems. Owning a tandem bike is sort of like owning a boat – you need to structure the activity around the constraints of the vehicle. The main issue is that every ride on a normal tandem needs to start at my house because there’s no way to carry it in a normal car. A folding tandem avoids that limitation because it fits in the trunk of a car, like an inflatable kayak or stand-up paddleboard does for boating.

In any case, I’m still looking for the bike that I can pop in a grocery store cart or take on the train. I’ll probably buy a Brompton in 2023 to fill that role.