jur

Congrats on a great design! It makes me wish I had a Dahon so I can order one!

slickginger

Thanks! I admit I did it for myself, but hey if other people want it I'm all for selling it. If there are any adapters or problems to solve with the bikes you ride please do tell! I like solving problems, especially if a bunch of people appreciate it.

badmother

Well done! Hope you get to keep the sales for this one. Would be sad if cheap copys is all over ebay 6 months from now

Brompton sellers should be informed about this gadget. They should keep it in stock so they can sell Brompton bags to Dahon owners

What`s your next project?

Winfried

You could tweet @dahonBikes and @ternbicycles to get some customers.

slickginger

Thanks so much! I haven't sold a single one yet... maybe I should try eBay. I do have some experience with cheap chinese knockoffs, since you mentioned it... my dad's company (he made handmade copper sculptures) started getting ripped off after his sales reached a certain point. If I start getting enough sales I'll do what I can, but after seeing what happened to my dad I think it truly comes down to building a brand where people know and respect the original. Also, you have to continue to innovate and improve, otherwise people will just leave you for the better competitor. It takes honest, hard work. Good thing I love designing stuff

I'm working on a few ideas at the moment. I really like the clean and solid mechanism of the Garmin Edge quarter turn mount as well as the GoPro mount, so I've created a bunch of little products around leveraging those interfaces:
GoPro to Tern/Dahon or Brompton cargo mount (two different models, one for each bolt pattern):


GoPro to Garmin Edge quarter turn mount adapter:


iPhone case with integrated garmin mount for indoor training (those broken things in the bottom were the result of testing, they're all fixed now!):


and right now I'm working on a GoPro mount for the Brompton block, so it's super easy to mount a GoPro when you want it. I'm thinking of making a bunch of variants of this for different lights or cameras.


I don't really use twitter, I really should get on that! Just trying to solve problems and make stuff that is actually valuable first, then worry about how to market it later.

CasperG

LS,

I will order your Brompton/Dahon adapter but have a question about which material is better: the strongflex or the alumide. And what's the difference between the different alumide finishes?

thanks, Casper

wilfried

I'd be interested. I haven't been following the thread, but I have a Brompton and a Tern, so it could definitely by useful for me. I wouldn't have to switch bags every time I switch bikes. (Alas, my Tern was stolen, but I'm going to replace it soon.) How much, and how to order?

slickginger

Hey Wilfried, I'll PM you since I think posting links is against the rules.

fourknees

Do you have any customer pics? Or anyone have pics of their own bike they could post with slickginger's adapter block?
Would love to see a side profile picture with the block and bag mounted in a Dahon, tern, downtube. Any comments about use, moving cables, etc would be great.

CasperG

I'm sorry,

since I am a new member I'm not allowed to send pictures or links until I have 10 posts on this forum. If you like I can send you links to my pictures on Imgur.

Casper

duguidou

I really like this strong work on this adapter!
I have a Brompton & Dahon and would be glad to get one

desriantoandika

Brompton Front block at Dahon MUp8

kayakindude

My adapter arrived today. Looks awesome in black and fit on my Vybe perfectly. Time to order the Brompton block.

Thanks again!

slickginger

Glad you like it! That makes me over the moon knowing that someone else is enjoying this!

duguidou

Slickginger : Can you contact me by PM? I would like to order one also for my Dahon MU XL (3 holes in the frame) and since I am noob with less than 10 posts, I cannot post or contact anybody...!

kayakindude

My Brompton block is waiting for me when I get back from vacation. The Dahon only came with one screw for the hole cover. what size do I need for the other two screws? Any other hardware that I need for the installation?

badmother

Follow this link: https://www.shapeways.com/product/QL...ionId=61648886

The info you need is at the bottom left of the page.

Anybody know is Titanium bolts can take the same weight as steel for this kind of use?

Abu Mahendra

Wong RI?

badmother

My Curve look exactly the same. After digging out what needed to be remowed I used a largish glue gun (vintage gals 3D printer) to fill in empty spaces to try to strenghten the construction. Then adjusted the holes and screwed it on.

Now I am worryed about the strenght of that thing since I am curently upgrading the Curve for more frequent use so I may still buy the adaptor. I am planning a "bike tower" for my folding bikes and bags so I can use the modifyed B block to hang bags off on that tower. More later on that project. I`ll edit in a link to a picture later.

kayakindude

So I picked up the screws and bolts on the list and settled in for a nice rainy day project.

It was all good until adding the second screw to the Vybe frame. So great news that the Vybe has the three hole pattern. The bad news is the third hole has no thread!

So I can only use one screw for the adapter at the moment as holes one and two are too close to each other.

Any suggestions on how to overcome this?

kayakindude

Ok I overcame the threading issue and got the block mounted. There is a little side to side wiggle and I will be curious how it handles with some weight added. Borrowing a bag for a few days to test it. Plenty of clearance from the bag handle to the handle bars. The wires are pushed against the back of the bag and it remains to be seen if that causes an issue.

kayakindude

Tested the bag with roughly half a load (about 10 pounds). Assembly loosened on the ride home, but held together. I disassembled everything again and tried to deepen the threading in the bottom hole, gaining about one more full turn. Did not want to push it because I am afraid of puncturing the hardware inside the stem ( may go one size shorter to tighten the fit more if testing shows it becoming an issue).

Took plumbers tape and wrapped up both screws and reassembled. Fit is much better and no side to side motion. For my test run into work this morning I loaded the bag (about 20 pounds) - 15 inch laptop, lunch, two full canisters (coffee and smoothie), clothes and shoes, bike tools/lock and rain coat.

A few bumps and gravel on the way in and the adapter handled perfect, no unscrewing, no looseness. I keep my bungee wrapped between the bag handle and the handlebar just as a fail-safe, but so far very impressed.

badmother

Be careful if you think your screws is too long. I once managed to destroy a front braze on thingy on a bike. It had the Dahon type lump in the front, two holes. I started screwing on a Klickfix thingy and the screws hit the head tube of the bike. Result was that the whole thing came off, it was glued not welded. Alu bike.

This made me worry about the strength of this mount on some frames. If the block you screw everything onto is glued to the bike it does not help much what weight limits are given to you from different luggage companys.

@ kayakindude: How did you overcome the problem with the three holes and why did you have to wrap plumbers tape? Was it becouse there was no threads in the third hole? Plse give us more detalils!

The big difference between this system and the Brompton system is that the B luggage block on a B frame the lump on the headtube goes innside the plastic luggage block- but not wery snug. Therefor it is possible for some of the weight of the bag to hang off the lump in the front- not just the screws. This should also provide some sideways stability.

On this system it is just hanging off the screws with no support from the lump or the head tube, but the screws are 6mm and on the B system the screws are 5mm.

kayakindude

The plumbers tape acts like a seal and so far is keeping the two screws from loosening.

Really happy so far because I was concerned about side to side stress. This bag loaded showed no signs of that.

Mine has weld marks all around it so hopefully not glued on.

Of course one downside is when I get up around 20 pounds the kickstand has a hard time keeping the bike upright!

The threading I added to hole #3 (the bottom hole) worked great and was really easy to do and I can reuse the tool for future projects.

Hole #2 (in the middle) exists only to hold on a cover plate, not sure why mine has 3 holes, when the Dahon standard is only 2 holes. Hope that comes across as less confusion than I am probably making it.

badmother

Ok, thank you for explaining. Could threadlock (or sprung washers) be used to hold screws in place or is there so much room you really need the tape? Just being curious.

The three holes: I think Dahon started off with two holes and then for some reason decided to change the standard to three- and then went back to the old standard.

I bought some Clickfix stuff some years ago for my two hole Dahon curve and it came with an adaptor to atatch it to a three hole bike (if needed).

Best solution instead of adaptors would be if a proper Brompton block to fit on a Dahon and Proper Klickfix block to fit on a Brompton was available.

I would really like to know if my reshaped B block on my Curve is a better (stronger, stiffer) solution than this adapter.