Lerun Manhattan: For the budget conscious bicycle tourer

Cheap and decent..

Lerun Industries is a bicycle manufacturing company that is born and bred in Malaysia.

It's been around for a while and is now one of the big boys in distribution of branded bicycles around the country.

Recently, the company had introduced the "Manhattan" city/touring bike.

Basically, its a 700cc bicycle with a 2 x 8 drivetrain.

So, that said, you get 18-speeds on this bike that resembles a road bike from the 80s (the headset and stem is a classic reminder).

The Lerun Manhattan in a classic green frame

 Thank you globalisation!

If you think that Lerun's new city/touring bike is going to cost you your left kidney, you are in for a surprise.

China may be the source for this bike's country of manufacture, which keeps prices very competitive.

This bike is priced at RM1,250 and has all the trimmings of a classy city bike.

Just add racks and you are in business for a long-haul.

What's interesting is the fact that Lerun managed to keep its prices low for this chromoly-framed bike and at the same time, provide buyers with a decent entry-level groupset for the bike.

Lerun made this city bike very affordable

This is a no-frills bike

It's pretty basic, but is it enough?

The Manhattan is made with a set of cantilever brakes. 

These are old-school as far as a braking system is concerned. 

But, it's rather easy to adjust and tune when you are on the road. It's not as complicated as the V-brakes that you see on most trail bikes and city bikes.

To keep the cost low, Lerun uses the cheapest Shimano components for the bike.

If you intend to thrash it around, perhaps give touring a try and ditch the bike or pass it on to your younger brother, then you can consider having this bike.

Is this in any way, at par with other branded touring bikes? 

Well, let's put it this way: You are on a budget, you want to move, you don't want to sacrifice your spending, the Manhattan is just the bike for the job.

So, who should consider this bike? I'd say that if you are a first-time touring cyclist or need to travel in places that your bike is most likely to get stolen, then its definitely for you!

For a closer look, head to Rodalink stores around the Klang Valley.

But if you expect a "perfect" bike, the Manhattan may be rough around the edges.. 

Basic Folding Bicycle Touring Workshop

Leading the newcomers
After concluding the basic bicycle recovery workshop a couple of months ago, I floated the idea of conducting a basic folding bicycle touring workshop for beginners to Ed Foo of atmosphere outfitters.
He jumped at the opportunity and I got to work right away.
The first thing I did, was to inform Ruey Chan of Le Run Industries. 
Chan represents Dahon Bikes for Malaysia and had agreed to support the workshop by bringing some Dahon schwag and two sample bikes.
Ed, on the other hand, supplied drinks and light snacks.
He also convinced the building maintenance people from Subang Avenue to provide tables and chairs for the event.

Networking with the foldies
We had the Malaysian Foldie Forums which serves as an important domain for inputting a knowledge base on folding bikes.
Sadly, none of the dealers and distributors were interested in using it.
Its free anyway.
I can see the same people who are active on the forums as well as Malaysian Foldies' Facebook page participating in the programme.
The aim is to educate newcomers on the aspect of bicycle touring.
I had to make it very simple so that even those without any background on bicycle knowledge would understand the brief presentation.
 

Setting up the venue for the workshop

My regular cycling kaki Toh and television host Chris Ng

 Keeping things simple
I don't really know the level of expectation among the attendees for the workshop, so, with the assumption that most of them are new to long distance rides and being a cycling tourist, I have designed the presentation with a series of simple to understand point-form slides on the Microsoft Powerpoint software.
It took me about an hour to complete the presentation which is kept to its bare minimal. No jargons, fancy-schmancy technicalities. Just plain English and I have about 30-minutes to execute the job.

Giving introduction to the crowd at the beginning of the workshop

Making my presentation

Crowd reaction
Right from the beginning, I told Ed that I had expected no more than 30 people at the event.
And true to my anticipation, there were more than 20 people who came to listen to my talk.
I paced myself to 1 minute per slide and maintained eye-contact with the crowd.
Most of them were paying close attention to what I had to say and I managed to maintain their attention span throughout.
There was brief question and answer session at the end of the talk and I am glad that the attendees were quite cooperative.
Ed Foo took the floor after my presentation and Ruey Chan had his shot by introducing the crowd to Dahon's products.

Ed Foo explaining his products to the crowd

Posing for BaikBike.com

Summary
Both Ed and I were pleased with the crowd turnout at the workshop.
This was Malaysian Foldies' second outing and we hope to conduct more of such events in the future.
I think what's in store is a practical touring workshop for advanced cyclist and I just know where to plan the route and conduct the event.
After wrapping-up, I rode back to USJ26 with my Dahon Speed P8 and took a lunch break in USJ7 with my fellow folding bike cyclists.

Late lunch with the gang...

 

Thick-skulled people

Text messages are impersonal..
Nowadays, people get fired with a simple text message.
Some months back, I stated my stand on moving away from the folding bike scene.
I've shunned the K2 Asia people for being morons.
First, for taking advantage of their customers and secondly, blaming the user for a faulty handlebar latch.
I also predicted a surge in trend, especially on Tern bicycles. They did well.
Don't get me wrong, Tern is a good brand, they are committed to their customers.
But when you have a non-bicycle guy running the show here in Malaysia, I doubt that the brand would go far.
Little has been done to promote the brand. 
Customers alone, cannot be taken advantage of to sell the bikes.
I don't think I will ever get a Tern bike.
Why? Because I am very happy with my Dahons. They are serving me very well.
Well, getting back on track, I received a text message that read: "Hi, long time no see, we should catch up."
I asked the guy, what I can do for him? 
His reply was: "I just came back from Taiwan and had a meeting with Tern, there are some new things.."
Really? Do I give a fuck about the 'new things' at all? No.
Like I said earlier, I am pretty much done with buying folding bikes.
No Tern for me. Never.
Very politely, I told the K2 Asia guy that I had no time at all.
Truth to be told, I am really busy.
Till I run out of things to write, I will maintain my work on other stuff. Not Tern or Dahon. 
I think they are good enough on their own.
Even the guy who is in charge of Dahon is not interested in any help rendered, so, why the fuck should I bother?

So, what now?
I hope that there is some continuity from elsewhere for the sake of K2 Asia and Le Run Industries.
They need some publicity. But they are not getting any from me.
The Dahon Folding Bike Club was a failure. The Dahon Video contest too was a spectacular failure.
Its just bad marketing.
If the guys can see this, they need to do more. Not sit on their ass and take advantage of their customer or make their customers 'associates' so that they can wipe their ass.
With such obvious weaknesses, I think both brands will continue to be stale unless something really exciting pops out.. 

Selle Royal's Premium E-bike saddle

For folding and electric bikes: the Premium saddle

I caught a posting on Facebook by MyDahon on Selle Royal's Premium line of bike saddles.
Pricing-wise its gonna go for RM170 retail at Rodalink's stores throughout the Klang Valley.
To get the low-down, I contacted Le Run Industries' Ruey Chan (product executive for Dahon, Selle Royal) and was told that the new saddle was meant for electric bikes.
Upon closer examination, I learned that this product is not even listed in Selle Royal's 2011 catalog.
So, Ruey gave me the first dibs to try out the saddle for short, medium and long-distance rides.
Hopefully, I would be able to do so on Saturday at the Broga Ride.

The best of Rodalink stores

Rodalink's new outlet in Tmn Botanic, Klang

I've been a Rodalink bicycle store customer for two years.
Bought two Dahon folding bikes from them and although their prices may be higher than the usual dealer, they have a good team of mechanics who doubles up as customer service agents.
Having said that, I've never had any issues dealing with them as some of the guys are really friendly.
I guess I'll have to eat my words when I went to one of their older branches in Jalan Bangsar today.
There, the Dash P18 mini road bike was previewed and since it was lunch hour, the store was quite busy.
I saw a whole new range of Biologic accessories on sale and asked about the new Biologic Arx grip.
So, I asked Jimmy, one of the familiar guys there what was the difference between the 100mm and 130mm grips.
Just as he was about to answer, this bald bony ass faggot with tattoos on his legs shouted an order: "Hey Jimmy! Go help the customer.."
I think the guy is from Le Run Industries HQ in Puchong and from his looks, I don't think he gave a fuck about other customers in the store.
There was a family there who bought a road bike. They were with their son. Obviously, this was the big fish in the ponds.
Minnows like me, well, are not worth a second look.
I don't know what got into that skinhead faggot's mind, he might have woken up on the wrong side of the bed or got fisted in the ass by a bunch of angry mountain bikers. Fuck him!
My point is simple: If you front retards like these in a service environment, your store is going to get a bad name. Period.
That said, the saving grace is the fact that Rodalink has a few good staff holding fort.
I would rate the store in Sri Hartamas, Putrajaya and Klang as the tops.
Bangsar, well sorry Jimmy, that skinhead faggot just fucked it up for you. Maybe he's your boss, but his attitude sucks. Big time.