New foldie!

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   After a month of waiting, I finally have a pseudo-new folding bike. It's a surplus (hence, "pseudo") folding bike that I got from a good and known seller here in Cebu. It's actually quite funny because Stephen, the guy who sold me the bike, sent me a text that he had new stocks. I giddily replied that I will buy one on the weekend since I don't have the time. I did not get a reply from him after sending the text. I was worried sick because since then, his bikes would sell out like ice melting on a desert. 

   When weekend finally came, visiting the shop was in my priority list. I was pessimistic at first, thinking that there were no bikes left for me. Fortunately the gods at that time were in my favor. Stephen already reserved the bike I wanted-- a beautiful one at that. He had a lot of bikes but the one he reserved for me was one of the "good" condition bikes. It was exactly what I needed. A front suspension, fenders, a kickstand, and most importantly-- v-brakes! At long last! I bid farewell to thee, ye old caliper brakes.

3rd foldie :)

    In the past, all I had to do is look at the bike, and if it looks good then I'll take it. Not this time. If there is one thing I've learned from buying surplus or used stuff is that you have to check it-- thoroughly if you should. This would give you less headaches and troubles in fixing your bike in the future. First thing I checked was the seatpost( if the bike had a quill type stem it would the first thing that I would check). The stem and the seatpost are the number one culprits of headache-inducing problems, for me at least. These are the parts that usually get stuck because of corrosion. Thus, making it hard to adjust it according to what you deem fit. Depending on the age and material of these parts, It can be hard to get them unstuck. I had this problem with my previous folding bike which had an aluminum frame and a steel fork. I was really a nightmare to get it unstuck. I tried every suggestion found on the internet but to no avail, it just didn't want to be separated.

Simple yet effective mechanism

  Okay, back to the checking. Next thing you need to look at is the folding mechanism. Though most folding bikes have probably different mechanism, it's best to check how the bike looks when it folds by, well... folding it. Sometimes it can require a good amount of effort and other times the mechanism gets stuck, too. But usually it just needs a good bit of lubrication to get it to fold again. Sometimes they are just a bit hard to fold but they do fold, most of the time. Finally, you have to check the rims, hubs, spokes, and fenders(if there are any) for cracks or misalignment. You don't want to be riding a bike that is wiggly and all. 

    Finally, if you feel like riding your pseudo-new-surplus-in-good-condition-folding-bike home, then I would suggest you would check the brakes out and make sure the pads have a good grip and the levers are good enough for you to squeeze. You don't want to get into accidents and brake (see what I did there? :D) your bones.

   That ends my rant on checking out a surplus/used bike. After I checked everything and made sure everything was good. I paid Stephen the amount and pedaled all the way from Carbon to my home via North Reclamation >> 1st Lapu-Lapu Mandaue Bridge. This was a good time for me to also check how the bike feels and know whether I need to change or adjust some parts of the bike. 

   Overall, I came home happy with my purchase and was gasping for every inch of air-- I can't believe it was that long since I rode a long distance. For now, this will be my ride until I can afford other bikes (A fixie, mtb, rb, mv, vintage bike perhaps?). I hope to ride this bike in places too.

Fenders! and v-brakes! woot!

Folded