Birdy with Magura Hydraulic Rim Brakes

The Birdy is a fully-functional folder and is made by riese und müller in Germany (the frame is made in Taiwan).

My Birdy was Birdy Black Bj. 2001 and weighting only 9.8kg it’s the lightest version of all Birdys. The Shimano XT 9-Speed derailleur with a SRAM shifter is working very well on a bike used most of the time within an urban area.

I replaced the standard Avid V-Brakes with Magura HS33 hydraulic-brakes. Additionally there is a VDO Cytec C10 bike-computer with a wireless sensor fitted to my little black beauty.

The Magura hydraulic rim brakes will only fit on the Birdy, because Magura in 2002 released a Stahlflex-tubing kit. The normal tubing will not work for a long time on the Birdy because the folding puts too much stress on the tubes.
The Magura brakes offer two major advantages over the normal V-brakes. First is the better control of the brake-power and the second is that the brake is maintenance free. Last but not least I like the look of the red Maguras on the black Birdy.

The VDO bike-computer works very well with the wireless sensor in spite of the large distance between the handlebar and the sensor on a Birdy. The sensor is easily fixed to the front brace of the fork.

The folding of the Birdy is not affected by the modifications in any way.

P.S.:

This is a historical entry now. I don’t own the Birdy anymore. Beside my Moulton AM I use a Brompton as my day to day commuter. The reason to change the bike: the Birdy offers the better driving experience – it feels faster, more like a full size bike, speedy.

But the Brompton has one big advantage over the Birdy: folding is much easier, faster and cleaner. Compared IMHO this is the better option for the way I use my folding bike.

And I don’t like the new Birdy frame – it looks somehow cheap, to much like a mass production frame.