A little diversion: Mezzo d9 folding bicycle

A little off topic this one, but hey why not. I just purchased a Mezzo D9 folding bicycle. List price £725, bought via eBay bid for just less than £400. It’s 5 years old (the spec hasn’t changed since then as far as I can tell) and is in excellent condition.

Although nothing to do with the Raspberry Pi (although I’m toying with the idea of somehow wiring in a counter to count the number of times I fold & unfold it) it is very similar to the Pi in one respect: a very well thought out and cleverly engineered machine. The folding mechanism uses self-locking clasps and quick release mechanisms throughout, meaning one doesn’t have to twist, twist and twist again some bolt or other during the folding process. Also the main cross bar is solid with no folding joins. This gives the bicycle a certain degree of rigidity I’ve not seen on other bikes. It rides well, albeit with a lowish top speed as it only has 9 gears with the ratio of each being quite close in each case.

And to top it off it has 16 inch wheels so Mr Railway is A-OK with the bicycle (First Great Western define a folding bicycle as having 18 inch wheels or less. Amusingly their T&C of carriage do not require that a folding bicycle actually... ahem... folds. They’re a bit fixated on how embiggenned your wheels are).

A couple of pics:
Mezzo D9Mezzo D9 folded
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