CarryMe Upgrades

There are many things you can do to 'upgrade' your bike, even the dinky little carry me which I had posted about earlier.

In any case, this little bike is somewhat of a plaything, a social bike, a small-run bike, but also sentimental due to the nature of purchase. I have no delusions about turning it into a 'performance' bike, but there are some things that I have done to the bike, here's the what and why.

This sticker came with the Bern Watts helmet that I got from LifeCycle (the bikes too!) and I finally found some use for it. I'm really happy with this no-cost add on. It not only adds to the aesthetics of the bike, I've also gained about 10 Horsepower just by putting the sticker on (if you've been to car forums you'll get the joke :) It also gives me some street-cred, now those kids won't laugh at me when I pull some tricks at the skate park. Next year, X-Games!

To put a bottle cage on the CarryMe, you actually need to put on an adaptor (which I forgot to photograph but will hopefully update). And so I ordered this bottle cage with quick-release clamp from Bicycle Spa. Now I can put a bottle anywhere! After I had placed my order, by some fortune, Steven from Diginexx knew that I had gotten the CarryMe(s) and had very generously given me and my wife the bottle-cage adaptor and a dust cover each! Much appreciated! Now we can drink lotsa water and bring our bike around stealthily during peak hour...

Of all the things that you can do to your CarryMe, I feel that the most essential one will be to replace the stock roller wheels. I really can't explain how much better the new ones are, but rolling is butter-smooth and effortless! Here are some pics for comparison:

For a bike like the CarryMe, the original rollers really aren't that bad, but certainly can't compete with it's replacement which houses Abec7 bearings! If you do only one thing for your CarryMe, this is it!

I have other plans for this bike, nothing grand, but all fun, so stay tuned for further updates!

Disclaimer: I have not been solicited to promote nor do I gain anything from mentioning any shops or service providers in my blog. I am a paying customer and I support local businesses, big and small. 

A Tale of Two CarryMe(s)

Those who turned up for the Earth Hour Promo Ride with LCSG would have noticed that I wasn't on my Dahon MuP8 or Brompton... but rather the Pacific Cycles CarryMe!

It seems that many other folks have also taken an interest to these bikes, as you can see in the pic below.

It is somewhat of a coincidence along with the rising popularity of this particularly dinky bicycle, but I had in fact been eyeing it for a while, having also read Taiwoon's account, and trying out his bike during the LCSG Lelong at West Coast Park.

The main considerations are typical of any cyclist who is trying to justify another purchase: I know I don't really need this bike, but I like it, I can see some reasons for having it... and the list goes on.

Aesthetically, it is also a really weird bike, very comical but also very cute. So extremely uncool that it becomes cool at the same time. However, if there's one thing that won me over is that it's really quirky, and screams non-seriousness at any given time. If you ride this bike, no one will bother to race you and will probably be a little to kinder to your silly self riding on wheels smaller than your face.

Luckily for me, there came a very good (or good enough reason) to purchase this bike: Get a pair to commemorate our fourth wedding anniversary (smart right?!). The two bikes would also be a celebration of our two lovely boys :) What a way to sell the idea to your partner huh? (It works!)

In any case, she loves the bike! Here we are at Marina Bay Sands.

We also wanted to do a multi-modal test of the bikes, so what we did was loaded them up in the passenger area of our car. Two folded CarryMe bikes will fit in the space of one folded-up seat of a Honda Fit / Jazz. We still had the front seat free, two rear seats free and the whole boot!

We parked at Lavender and joined the group ride through the city to Orchard Road. We couldn't join the group for lunch as we had to pick up our boys, and to save some time, on the way back we took the train from Somerset to Lavender.

Though I love my Brompton as a complete all-around bike, after this episode, I really feel that the CarryMe might just be the perfect multi-modal bike, something for that first and last mile-or-two. Folding is non-complicated, takes up less space than a typical umbrella-fold stroller, light enough to lift using one hand, easy to roll.

I guess the best part is, at the end of it all, my wife really loves the bike.

And she has started browsing for cycling accessories.

Here is a pic of my wife with our younger boy when we picked him up after the ride. Our two bikes which you can't see, is actually on her right side. Really wonderful space-savers. Will try and grab a picture at the next opportunity.

In short, we are really enjoying these bikes. At the end of the day, it is a purchase, not really a need, but times that we get to spend together like this are priceless, especially after having our two boys.

Here's a video of the ride where you'll  get to see the CarryMe and many other wonderful bikes in action.


Earth Hour Promo Ride with LoveCyclingSG from Khairul Rahim on Vimeo.