Pahana

Does anybody have information on what is going on with Dahon these days. It seems like they have given up the folding bike market that they've had a hold of for years. Tern got in on the E bike market early and seems to be holding their own with a lot of new companies coming out with folding models. Dahons line of folding bikes is getting smaller and smaller. I am a Dahon owner of one of their vertical folding bikes and love it. I don't know why they gave up on the vertical fold as I have one for 3 years and no issues with it. The frame feels solid after years of hard use. I look at their current lineup and can't see much progress. Also I see Thor is going to retire soon and I'm not sure what the future holds for Dahon in the US. I can be wrong here but Dahon seems like a folding bike company going nowhere and if their current lineup is an indication of things to come I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they have gone out of business in 5 years.

Winfried

I was just looking at their USA/Europe sites today, and found nothing interesting.

tcs

Hmph?

Uh, you do understand that Dahon is an international company, right? And they manufacture bikes in several countries and offer different models in different markets of the world?

You've checked the Chinese and Japanese Dahon websites? (I counted 44 new or revised models for 2022 on the Dahon.CN site, including those you claim Dahon no longer builds.) Eurocentric much? Most of the posts on the Dahon riders' Facebook group are by riders from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.

80 years old, 48 years in the business, still innovating, still filling patent applications, still greening the world. Visionary.

tcs

Okay, so what's going on with Dahon in just the American market?

Got me, pal.

The high water mark seemed to be the year before they declared ThorUSA, who are also Tern dealers, as the Dahon national distributor and closed their West Coast design office. Since then the models offered in the NA market has been whittled down to just basic machines.

Dahon continues to innovate and create interesting bikes and show them at the Asian trade shows, Eurobike and even the Sea Otter - but they are never offered in the USA. I haven't seen a Dahon advertisement in decades. My local mega-LBS was a Dahon dealer, but they never had floor stock nor any sales personnel who even knew how to fold the bikes. Hello? Where are the district sales reps? No matter, the LBS dropped Dahon around the time the direct-to-consumer sales path was created.

So now we have news of Thor's impending retirement. (To his credit, he's always offered exemplary support for the bikes post-sale, including discontinued models.) Whither, Dahon-US?


Could be worse, I suppose. In America: Birdy - MIA. DiBlasi - MIA. Airnimal - MIA. Mobiky - out of business. Xootr - out of business. Big Fish - out of business. Giant, Trek, Breezer have all dropped their folders. The Strida Factory web page hasn't been updated since ~2018.

willydstyle

Culturally the US is just moving away from bicycle commuting (bicycle modal share has been declining since a peak in 2014), and folding bikes are a largely commuter-driven market. I am unsurprised that folding bikes are floundering in the US, and we just don't have good access to a lot of the more interesting folding bike brands at all (birdy, asian brompton clones, etc.)

tcs

Perhaps. But the extensive Dahon international catalog contains bikes that offer more than just dual-mode commuting, and there are other reasons to own a folder.

tcs

Dahon NA to end Amazon sales, focus on IBDs:

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/indu...a#.YsbWV1jML0o

jfouellette

The North American market is also more focused on larger wheel bikes. Anything less than 26 inches is for kids, so not serious…

tds101 

The North American market is interested in electric bikes AND electric scooters. The Dahon offerings are too expensive for their specs.