Folding bikes are generally overpriced because of the types of people who buy them.
I do not see that reflected in the financial filings of the companies making them.
I understand the point of them but I thought there were some cheaper options. Didn’t Achimha post a German one recently (update – the Birdy) that was quite a bit cheaper? The Gocycle one seems to have you paying a lot for the battery system. I will have a look today and who knows I might change my mind.
So a good trip today to the Expo. It was nice but is pretty small. I guess the the Friday is the quietest day and it seemed so. Lots of good exhibitors though. I got to sit in the TBM-850 (very nice) but didn’t buy one (or a GoCycle). The Cirrus Jet looks very nice.
I assume the German expo is a much bigger affair?
JasonC says..
‘I most certainly don’t fly a Jetprop…But an expensive plane doesn’t mean you like to pay too much for things.’
I have had 2 full size bikes in the back of the Jetprop for 6 years, there is nothing worse than stuck at some airfield
with no means of leaving. Taxis in France at some airfields are impossible, not to mention the price.
Before that had 2 folding bikes in the back of a Cherokee, saved enough money on taxi fares to buy the Jetprop!
I assume the German expo is a much bigger affair?
If you mean the AERO at Friedrichshafen (EDNY), that is about 10x the size of Sywell.
Whether it is 10x the value is open to debate. Most of EDNY is “ultralight/homebuilt” machinery, much of which doesn’t actually exist as a product you can buy. I find the best value at EDNY is as a meeting place.
I have been wondering about getting a folding bike into the TB20. While it would obviously fit through the fairly big luggage door, I think lifting 10kg to that height and then pushing it while elevated sufficiently forwards into the compartment, without chewing up the carpet there, etc, would do one’s back in. I have a normal Sunn mountain bike which weighs 8kg which is easy to carry up and down stairs at work, and lift right over stiles/fences in the countryside, but the maneuver is a very different one.
That is the one, BTW I liked the Avidyne IFD stuff – never played with a physical unit before. Garmin Pilot looks nice as well. I would also happily take a G3000 for the Meridian.
We flew in yesterday morning when the ceiling was at a little over 800ft.. At least the approach was fairly empty :/ later in the day we witnessed many a go-around and a PA46 backtracking against the runway direction after landing to exit at A with traffic in the final.. Looked quite scary from 300 yards away..
Marshallers knew their stuff and border police was very friendly and competent. Asked how we filed the GAR and were happy to hear about our pleasant experience with OnlineGAR.
Of course I teased the poor Bendix King and Avidyne folks about their boxes and that we gave up on them years ago.. Mel at Bendix King is a really nice guy and I bought his story that the government shutdown and ensueing revalidation didn’t help with their market readiness. They hope to be certified in June now while Avidyne hope to be ready towards the end of the year – I may mix that up but both are still in certification phase.. The IFD540 looks a lot more “home made” than the KSN770 but responses of both units were quite good. I liked the softkey interface of the King better than the IFD where the non-dimmed backlights of the buttons made the unit look cheap. The Avidyne guy wasn’t nearly half as friendly as the King crew about their delays but I was sympathetic.
I then had an excellent demo of Garmin Pilot who will bring their “full Europe coverage” towards the end of June. I really liked what I saw and the guy hinted at a possibility of a wireless connection from their Pilot app to my GTN via a “wireless SD card”. This would certainly lure me away from my SkyDemon which I praised at their stand. Btw their latest version makes roads and railways “optional” and shows them as “inaccurate for flying” – good enough..
My friend and CRE accompanying me and I had a good laugh at the limited JeppesenFD VFR and their 40(!)% discount of the product to AOPA members. People! Look at SD and Garmin for speed, user interface and unique selling points. Get your stuff together and then you won’t need a discount. My money is on Jeppesen scrapping their product when Garmin comes to market or else risk an Avi8or desaster. Let’s see how long they’re going to compete with the two leading products. Although hearing that SD only has one programmer doesn’t bode well against Garmin’s deep pockets. SD also have a show special..
Got to sit in the Cirrus SF50 mockup which was a tight fit with my 6’6" frame and was told that seats in the production version would be 2" lower. If I had the money that would certainly influence my decision so I wonder why they didn’t incorporate that change in their mockup. Also got to sit in the Swift mockup which looks quite sweet with the Spitfire gull wing.
Alas Craig from GoCycle remembered Markus but wasn’t able to give me the same show special.. I’ll see whether I’ll still get a GoCycle after the show. He did happily take his bag with me to the flight line and we squeezed the bike (barely and without wheels which go in separately) through the Cessna baggage door. At least there’s room for two GoCycles but then not a lot of further luggage.. The bike looks and feels excellent and I was really tempted but then there are certain rules to bartering and he really didn’t budge in view of my open wallet so no sale on this day.
We’ll leave Sywell in the morning for Wolverhampton – I did enjoy the show and had a good time. I still pity the guy with the yacht in an air show. It felt really out of place as did the various car displays. Not sure whether AeroExpo will continue their “luxurious lifestyle” theme.. At least it puts aviation into a nice environment..
Avidyne hope to be ready towards the end of the year
That’s turning a joke into another joke. They were saying “summer 2014” at EDNY.
If that company didn’t have its bought-in cash cows they would have gone bust by now.
Which are the bought-in cash cows of Avidyne? The only bought-in products I know of are the Trig transponder and the PS Engineering audio panel. I don’t think they generate substantial sales, it’s more a completeness thing.
On May 30th, the product manager posted the last update regarding the availability of the IFD540. It says their June 30th goal cannot be met due to FAA scheduling issues, he’s talking about July now. He says
It’s an interesting dialog between us and the FAA who know how important the cert date is to us and our customers and they continually repeat that if we meet our delivery dates for the cert docs/artifacts and they are in R9.3 level of quality, they are confident we’ll have approval in time to support shipping prior to Oshkosh. I believe them.
I like Avidyne’s transparency given my past experience, I am sure the product will be solid.
