It was the folding bicycle that first caught Mr Raymond Tan's attention, back in 2009.

The 35-year-old systems engineer was at a bus stop on his way to work when he spotted senior legal executive Lok Pei Mei, 34 - who is now his wife - cycling past.

She was headed for her office on a purple-and-white folding Brompton bicycle from Britain.

He noticed her because he, too, was a cycling enthusiast who owned a Brompton. For the past two years, he had been part of a group run by folding bicycle shop Diginexx in Lavender Street.

Not long after that, Ms Lok, by chance, joined the same group, made up of 20 to 30 people, to widen her social circle.

She says: "I thought it would be good to meet new people. I liked him a lot when I first saw him in the group."

During one of the rides, Mr Tan found out through talking to Ms Lok that she was the cyclist he had been noticing in the mornings.

The pair did not get a chance to chat much until they shared a taxi home from a group cycle one day.

Mr Tan lived in Bendemeer and Ms Lok in MacPherson. Both were single then.

On a group cycling trip to Sungai Rengit in Malaysia, they got to know each other better.

Mr Tan soon began to realise he had feelings for her. "She is very no-fuss and easy to talk to. Sometimes after work, we would let off some steam by cycling," he says.

They became a couple about four to six months after Ms Lok joined the cycling group.

Their bicycles came along for many dates. They would cycle to the cinema and park their bikes in a corner of the cinema.

They got married in 2010 and their son, Kaiyang, was born about a year later.

Ms Lok says: "I never imagined that I would meet my husband through cycling."

Cheryl Faith Wee

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