TiRed acquires another folding bike. The sixth variety I’ve owned. This one was designed by Whyte of course to be a Brompton killer. Ride is better, fold not bad. Also lighter. I last rode a Mezzo at the bike show in about 2007 after acquiring my Brompton. And the one I bought is a former ATB Sales demo bike for £150. Will add some folding pedals later.
That makes the list
Airframe - clown bike rigidity!
Brompton L6 - sold on
Airnimal Rhino - stolen
Tactic Panache - now fixed wheel
Btwin 150 - also fixed wheel
Mezzo - welcome to the fold.
Good God! What happened to it?!
Jon Whyte didn’t half design some hideous products. Hope it rides better than the Marins and Whytes of his era did.
Rides great. Very rigid and much nicer than a Brompton. Just been up and down the road on it. Was a £600 bike in 2005.
Bromptons do ride horribly - for a while in mid-2000s I was moved to the Edinburgh branch of the company I worked for despite living in Glasgow. Boss bought me a folder and a season ticket on the train. Tried a Brompton and it was awful - ended up with a Birdy which is almost as ugly as the Mezzo, but rode OK. Linkage fork on steep Edinburgh cobbled hill descents was a bit unnerving though!
looks better folded 🤣 The catches and mechanisms are top notch. Could lose some weight with carbon seatpost and bars, and some Schwalbe One tyres. Could also lose the boat anchor hub gear too if needed. But for 10% of a Brompton price, it delivers. there about £250-400 on EBay and a S9 derailleur option was available. For a while there was a custom bag for the rack, but that won’t happen
