I bought the 600th Bike Friday, a New World Tourist, in 1993.

Over the years I've upgraded the crank, derailleurs and shifters. The original had Suntour and Sakae components and I now have Shimano Ultegra integrated shift-brake levers and Ultegra/105 crank/derailleurs.

I ordered the bike with 451 rims to get a racier ride on the 100 psi tires. I'm not really sure if that was a great decision because of the easier availability of 406 tires, but I've had no problems and enjoyed the quick ride.

Through many folds and travels, including shipping by airmail, it's continued to function, although once I opened the case to find my rear valve sheared off at the rim, probably by something that shifted -- the suitcase was also cracked.

One small problem is that the front derailleur often needs adjustment after folding and travel. I would love to have a NuVinci and drive belt system to fix that, plus eliminate the grease stains.

Although the bike is heavy by 21st century standards, it's still fast. I flew to France with it in 2011 and traveled around Avignon and Tours with no problems, towing the trailer.

In 2012 I will take it to the northern coast of France and into Belgium: Calais-Dunkerque-Oostend-Bruges-Gent.

Back in 1993-94, my wife and I toured Mallorca with our New World Tourists and reported on it in the BF newsletter. Later we flew to Hamburg and then rode on to Copenhagen using the travel system.

Overall, my Bike Friday has functioned as advertised for a long time, and the service from Green Gear has been courteous and efficient.

After 15 years away from biking, at our 45th college reunion in 2009 my former roomate, a very experienced bike tourer and early adopter of the New World Tourist, urged me back to the saddle with visions of European adventures together.

After I suffered thru the logistical nightmare of schlepping my full-size Specialized Tri Cross to and from Germany last summer, he sent me off to Eugene and Bike Friday.

I love everything about the bike, the business, and the staff. There is almost no place left where you can get this kind of personal attention coupled with technical expertise.

I have a perfectly fitted, tricked out custom New World Tourist that has already made three flying trips: at 38 pounds with case ( I skip the packing materials provided and use clothes), I have room left for gear and no bag fees.

Mine is geared to climb with weight, and boy does it do that, but also cruises just fine. On really bumpy or high speed roads, one does occasionally pine for the 27" wheel ride, but the overall performance makes up for it.

In tight medieval cities and jumping on and off for photo opportunities, you really come to love the handiness. It may look like a toy -- mine is screaming yellow for visibility -- but is a serious, big time touring machine. The intimate experience of biking on it in new places is the best travel experience of my life. My Bike Friday draws a wonderstruck and admiring crowd wherever I take it.

We ordered two NWTs for our tour in Cuba for August 1. When we originally ordered them from the sales rep at BF we were not sure if the 3.5 weeks lead time would be sufficient to get our bikes delivered, but were assured they would be.

These are not custom fit bikes and would be shipped very quickly. Our Bike Fridays arrived on time. Packed beautifully.

After much anticipation we assembled my wife's NWT and enjoyed the detail the folks at Bike Friday provided. They even painstakingly labeled the plastic containers so we could have a good chance of folding it all back together.

Little screws were present for future accessories we started dreaming of. Now it was my bike's turn for assembly and sadly it turned out that the handlebars were not appropriate for a medium size frame bicycle.

They didn't fit together very well at all and measured substantially shorter than my wife's small frame NWT. Imagine how your wrists would feel when riding a bicycle where your hands almost touch one another. The handlebar length is more suited to a child's bike, I think.

I immediately called in as we are on tight deadlines for our upcoming vacation and needed to rectify or find another bike fast ... and spoke with a friendly gentleman named Tim in the service department who recommended sending a new handlebar bar over but that it would take a week to arrive.

In the meantime he recommended to cut out some of the grip material and reposition the shifters. I appreciate the time he took to help and did follow his instructions but the bike is still not ready to use: when I use the bike it forces my wrists to an unergonomic retracted angle that aches after a few minutes.

I was so excited to get my Bike Friday, dreaming of all the new upgrades and miles we'd add on... but at this point regret buying this bicycle. Shipment was on time as promised but I sincerely wish that the bike would have been checked out for rideability prior to shipping.