sjanzeir

So, earlier this October I went to see what new Dahons there were at my favorite local sporting goods store. The top ones they had at that time were a pair of Mu D9s; a 2018, in black and green, for an original price of SAR2,835...



... and a 2019, in gray and red, for a whopping SAR3,965:



The guys told me at the time that I should check back in December because there was word from management that a sale was in the works. So last night I came around to checking out the place and indeed, they were running a 25-50% sale on most merchandise, with all Dahons, Fujis and Giants going for 26% off.

Somehow I knew beforehand that I was about to ride out of there with a new bike; I even took with me a saddle bag, complete with spare tube and levers, pump, multitool, and a set of lights. My original intention was to pick up the 2018 if the deal had been good enough. As it turned out, though, I had just missed out on that one; they had sold it - the last one they had - to a Filipino expat for SAR2,098 three days prior. So, I figured that my only choice now was the terrifyingly more expensive 2019 (the one that was on display on the shop floor - the exact one in the picture above.) And I was having a hard time justifying forking out nearly three thousand riyals, even with the ongoing sale!

"Oh well," I gulped, and went on to make adjustments to the bike, my intention being to ride it home.

As I was going through the bike, the especially loud freehub caught my attention and I complained to the sales manager about it. The Saudi sales lady on the floor told the both of us that there might be a second, still-boxed, Mu in the storage room, but she wasn't sure that it was identical to this one, or that it was even a Mu, for that matter.

"Let's check it out," I said.

She had me snap a picture of the bar code on the display bike and took me round the back to see the one in the storage room. When I read the code out to her, the last two digits on the box turned out to be different from the ones on the display bike (but the boxed one actually was a Mu that was identical to the one on the floor.)

She checked the system and came back a minute later to tell me that this one - the one in the box - was on sale for SAR2,009, which is even less than the 2018 would have been priced at after the discount!

"Two-zero-zero-nine, you're saying?!" I asked, wide-eyed.

"Hey, I can read, mister," she laughed, sticking the printout in my face.

"I'll take it!" I quickly said.

Clearly stumped at the pricing disparity, the manager said I probably should go ahead and pick it up now before management discovered the clerical error that they had made and changed their minds. I paid for the bike, assembled it myself on the shop floor as loads of incredulous customers watched, and rode it home. At least Gary seems to approve:



So, after all is said and done, I got this Mu with SAR1,956 off - which goes a long way to offset the outrageous money I spent to restore my old Raleigh!

The 2018 had 1.50 Schwalbe Marathon Racers, which I hated on my now-gone 2015 Mu for their anchor-pulling rolling resistance. The 2019 has 1.75 Schwalbe Citizens on slightly wider rims. They felt way better than the Racers on the ride home, but I still haven't felt them out long enough to gauge whether they're better than the good old Marathon Supreme. Also, the saddles were different between model years, and the 2019 had the newer, mountain bike-style folding pedals. Other than that, the bikes were mechanically identical.

tcs