Originally Posted by
trace
Yeah, the Mini was $400 when I bought it about a year and a half ago. I should also have mentioned that I was specifically looking for a bike with 16" wheels (for air travel as non-oversized luggage), which significantly reduces the selection. For a 20" wheel bike you will probably get a better deal from Dahon. (I considered the Origami Wasp, which has 16" wheels, but it does not have frame eyelets to mount a rear rack. I wanted to be able to carry stuff and the Downtube Mini looked more suitable for load carrying.)
I have the Origami Wasp AND the Downtube Mini. While the Downtube mini does have dedicated eyelets for a rack, the fold of the Origami Wasp is so much better. I even modded my Wasp to have a larger chainring, and swapped out the rear freewheel to really give a decent speed increase. My gripe about the Downtube Mini still stands,...as a folder it's not great at folding. I'm currently contemplating swapping the Sturmey-Archer 8 speed rear wheel from the Downtube Mini with the rear wheel on my last 16" wheeled bike,...the Dahon Curve. The 3 speed hub is the old Sturmey-Archer hub. It works, but it's in need of a speed boost.