A Little More about the Forte

Today I headed north along the North Canadian River Valley, my first road ride on the Forte. Three years later there is still no work done on Midwest Boulevard at the Crutcho Creek bridge. However, folks who got tired of waiting have moved the barriers just enough to make access for fishing a little easier. It also made it very easy for me to ride through the barriers on both ends.

Repeated rain storms have caused the sandbars on the North Canadian River to move quite a bit. I’ve never seen that concrete slab rubble in the middle of this image. It was previously covered by a sandbar. Now the sandbar has moved quite a bit off to one side. I’m not able to get down closer and see if there are any other changes; the foliage is too dense and loaded with biting insects this time of year.

In all of its glory, this is the Zizzo Forte 2023 parked on the turn-around point of this ride. We have this view from the NE 122nd Street bridge over the North Canadian River. Because it comes with the “pig-nose” mount built into the frame at the front, I was able to craft a way to mount the kind of bag I typically hang on all my bikes. It carries stuff like a spare tube, some tools, my camera, snacks etc. Notice the three cables hanging down from the handlebars.

Those three were originally wrapped together, but the front brake cable was already binding just a little. Once I added the bag, it was really bad, so I had to set the front brake cable free from the wrapping. You can see where it connects behind the bag. Now it works without any binding. Indeed, the brakes were the single biggest headache I had on this thing.

I had forgotten how well V-brakes could work, but they do require some knowledge of how to adjust them. In the case of the rear brake here, I had to move one of the pads around; it didn’t grab the rim squarely. But most people have no clue how to get them to center themselves. That little screw indicated with the circle is the arm spring tensioner. Turn it in to make arm pull back harder. Most V-brakes will tend to pull too hard to one side or the other coming from the factory, so you just increase the spring tension on the weak side and they should rest more or less in the center and not rub.

I have gotten used to the twist grip shifter. First, I had to remember that it’s the opposite of a motorcycle throttle, because you twist upward to go faster. Second, I had to learn how to keep a light grip to avoid bumps causing me to accidentally shift into another gear. Out on the roads I used 6th gear lot more than in urban riding, when 5th is most common. I still say the range and ratios are just about right.

I plan on ordering the travel bag into which one packs the bike for public transport, a pair of better pedals that pop completely out of the crank arms when you fold it down, and a large shopping bag made to mount on the pig-nose fitting. That pig-nose was something they got from a competitor, the very much more expensive Brompton folding bikes. Whatever fits on one fits the other; the pig-nose is becoming a standard fitting.