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MANY VISITORS to the Bike Friday factory take advantage of a tour to see exactly how a phone call or email leads, 6 weeks later, to a neatly packed suitcase landing on their doorstep. What makes Bike Friday tick? Take a factory tour inside the mind and machinations of co-founder Alan Scholz, because nobody says it or does it better than he!
MOVIE CLIPS
Download free Quicktime 7 player for Mac | Windows). Clips were shot by Lynette Chiang using a Canon Digital Elph camera.
The Tour Group Link to the article and movie "Bike Gurus: the Owner, the Loaner, the Skeptic" who comprised the tour group for this video
Part 1 (3.9 Mb) | Sound only (248 Kb) Employee garage, break room, showroom
Part 2 (4.2 Mb) | Sound only (152 Kb) Pre-owned bikes, Historical Fridays
Part 3 (6.9 Mb) | Sound only (204 kb) Prototyping, Special parts, inventory, Folding bike development
Part 4 (6.5 Mb) | Sound only (188 Kb) Shipping, Just In Time process, Production Line
Part 5 (4.6 Mb) | Sound only (148 Kb) Why use steel, Petite Fridays, sneak peak at the new recumbent
* (For the tech heads: I unfortunately used Apple imovie rather than Quicktime Pro to make web streaming versions of these movies, and it does not seem to offer a 'fast start' option when you compress it, as at Jan 2006).
OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST
Company history The condensed version
Bike Friday Boosters Patrons who helped (and continue to help) get Bike Friday rolling
A peek behind the swinging door Photo gallery of production line and some intriguing employee profiles
The Three Scholz Bros hear, speak and see no evil in small wheels! From left: Hanz, co-founder/Bike Friday principle designer (Pocket bikes, air bikes, recumbent, tandems); Ian, owner of Bikerev.com, which makes the BF TravelTrailer, and Alan, CEO/co-founder/designer (tandems, Crusoe, Petites). For more information, follow this link http://www.bikefriday.com/bf/production.