ThorUSA

That's what I am talking about

Rick Imby

Both Bike Friday and Brompton have done a good job of building a community of loyalists.

Even though Dahon has sold many more bikes worldwide they have not built a community.

The company Story of Being Built in Downtown London to Help solve London Traffic.

The BF Company Story of Custom Made for you Right here in Oregon.
Selling Direct has also been a key to success for BF. No distributor margin and no bike shop margin has allowed them to be profitable in a fairly small scale manufacturing.

Joe Remi

Yeah, but someone is going to show up and tell you his country is bigger and better and matters more, so screw England and the US. I don't know how this nationalist crap got started here, but it's quickly overrunning any coherent conversation about folding bikes.

jur

Actually, long before one guy from Indonesia showed up here, Dahon minivelos were already appreciated and used by some very prominent forumers. Remember SesameCrunch with his Dahon Hammerhead? And of course he was far from the only one. Only, these guys didn't make demeaning chauvinistic statements.

Abu Mahendra

Wrong again, mate. I am American. What you and others misconstrue for 'nationalism' or as 'chauvinistic' [sic] is simply an awareness and sensitivity, derived from having lived abroad for many years in many different places, about the proper place of my own country and an antidote to the belief of many Americans and of those of the West that the world revolves around them. We are not in Kansas anymore, Toto. It's the 21st century. In any case, this bit about prior appreciation for Dahons is a straw-man because the debate is not about lack of love for Dahons, but rather fawning, obsequious, I dare say, even religious devotion for another brand. i question your dogma, and I am on an inquisitorial rack worthy of medieval Spain.

snafu22

“The company Story of Being Built in Downtown London to Help solve London Traffic.”

We have to be careful of swallowing the jingo-istic Cult of Brompton myth, hook, line and sinker. Will Butler-Adams is a bicycle salesman. He hasn’t solved any of London’s traffic problems. The Brompton factory is 9 miles away from 'downtown London.'

His position is that Transport for London shouldn’t be investing in more Underground train services, but more cycle paths. The simple issue of cycling in London has been given the stance of militant political activism, with the Brompton elevated to a symbol of ‘freedom’ by the man who sells them.

This ignores the 7 million other Londoners for whom riding a Brompton to work would be the worst possible form of torture.

The Brompton’s saving feature is that it makes better luggage than a bicycle. Both Butler-Adams and Ritchie freely admit this. Yet everywhere, the ‘weirdos’ (quoting Butler-Adams) elevate the Brompton to some sort of apotheosis of life-style, when the reality is that it’s just a convenient bent-steel utility bike which costs three times the price of a better spec import, but fits under a desk.

The romanticised Cult of Brompton turns some people (not all) into narcissistic and elitist onanists, who judge themselves by what they’ve bought, and others by what they haven’t.

Not all of us have drunk the Butler-Adams Kool-Aid.

fietsbob

You slap the back of the saddle forward, and lift the back of the bike UP . the cable attached to the seat mast, opens that Clamp, lets the bar mast fall ,
and so.. the Bike Friday Hyper Fold Tikit was Made to be the fastest folding folding Bike ..

invisiblehand

Absolutely. I think Sheldon Brown wrote a blip on this prior to the research over the past ... 7 years or so.

invisiblehand

I think the archives completely verifies Jur's post above. It certainly matches my memory of lots of folks with Dahons, Downtubes, Birdys, and so on. There are folks of all flavors -- including levels of bias -- around here.

Anyway, I remain comfortable labelling the previous conversation as trolling. So there is little more to write, IMO.

ThorUSA

Listen guys
my personal facebook page is full of political crap. I hoped after this insane pre election debacle and the divisiveness which resulted from it, those mental posts and shares would disappear. But unfortunately they even seem to get more vicious.


We all love our foldies and this forum is the best knowledge grab anybody can find.
Please, please, forget that "new" normal and be civil with each other.


Thor

tds101 

Has anyone noticed the upcoming Dahon Speed D30? It looks like it's going to be AMAZING!!!

ExpertTools

I recently rode a Tern Verge X10, and at 21lbs it's very close in weight to some of the much more costly folders, at a small fraction of the price. I was able to keep up with a group of fairly serious riders all on carbon road bikes, so I was pretty impressed with the Tern.


So while not in line with a discussion of fastest at any price, at $1,500 it a lot of speed for the money.

12boy

I have to agree with Thor on this. I have found this forum to be very informative and useful. I have no interest in Terns, Dahons, or Bike Fridays in terms of ownership but I still find the approaches taken by the small-wheel/folder engineers from all the different companies fascinating. I do not find name calling, put downs of others or bombastic pronouncements and other egotistical behaviors interesting.

Rick Imby

That was not my point. It is kinda understandable.

All the different models are not available in different areas.

Rick Imby

I have really enjoyed looking at and learning about the different bikes.

onbike 1939

All else being equal I would have thought that the Airnimal Chameleon deserves a mention. It was specifically designed to have road bike qualities and is a popular choice of racing men when they have training camps which are abroad and they have to use air travel.

Chameleon Performance Sport | Airnimal

Diode100

Good choice, problem is the Chameleon looks as if it was designed with the intention of going fast. What is wanted here is something that looks like an old clanger / clown bike but actually goes like the wind so that you can sneak up and give road bike riders a fright.

onbike 1939

I had one for many years and I was searingly fast....at one time breaking my 12mph record.


It was a one-off but very rewarding.

invisiblehand

Really nice bike. I test rode one at College Park Bikes years ago. What killed it here are ...

(1) lack of ERTO 520 tires ... I recall seeing a Panaracer Pasela tire.

(2) the suitcase was too big for US airlines

(3) the lack of US dealers/support.

I thought that they should have dropped the caliper brakes and make it easily compatible with 507 wheels like the Joey. The selection would remain terrible; but you'd have a handful more including a Kojak and some racing BMX tires.

Rick Imby

Why 507 instead of 451? I'm just confused.

invisiblehand

I don't understand the question. Are you asking why one would use 24" wheels instead of 20"? Or are you asking why a bike designed for ERTO 520 wheels could not also use ERTO 451 wheels?

Some folks like bigger wheels for different reasons ... the feel of the bike versus simple aesthetics. It's more straightforward to get a high trail bike with a bigger wheel.

I'd think that any bike that fits 520 wheels would have pedal or bottom bracket strike issues with 451 unless the tire was wildly bigger. But there are few wide tires in 451. None that I know of to compensate for the big change in radius. As an aside, there are bikes designed for ERTO 622, 584, 559 wheels but for different width (height) tires.

Rick Imby

I am just assuming that 507 tires are really rare. I did not realize that was the 24" decimal size.

jur

There are far fewer choices in 507, that's correct. But still enough for it to be no problem.

Diode100

Good to see Dahon stepping up to the plate with some new models, I just hope they get them out and onto the shop floor so people can see, ride and hopefully buy them. Folderwise all you see in London bike shops are Brompton, with a smattering of Terns in Evans, and Dahon as rare as hens teeth. It's only the likes of Velorution and Bike Fix, and W9 Fudges, niche outlets, who have anything rarified like Arnimal, Ori, Pacific Reach, or Moulton.

Rick Imby

Folders are very unavailable in the Northwestern US also. I have never seen more than two folding bikes in a shop at the same time.

Not many shops get behind folders and push them except in some big cities. If you look at a map with all the Dahon Dealers in the US ---there are tons of shops. But it seems very few of them ever have more than one or two in stock.