Roegmann

I was perusing Amazon for folding bikes and low and behold the 14" Dahon Dove popped up. Just though I'd pass it along, since it seems to stir a passionate following.

There were a couple other interesting listings as well: Birdy Classic (revamped), which has my finger itching to press "buy" and something called a Savadeck Cricket 20.

ThorUSA

interesting as Dahon USA never imported them .....

bargainguy

Here's the link in case anyone is interested:

https://www.amazon.com/DAHON-Version.../dp/B075SRDPPV

Seller is listed as CJT and has no user profile yet. If CJT is not a Dahon USA dealer, there could be issues with warranty claims made within the USA. Tread carefully and ask CJT about being a Dahon USA dealer before plunking your money down to avoid trouble down the road.

Rick Imby

Specs say weight capacity is 205 pounds.
@ThorUSA do you think the weight of 15.3 pounds is correct on this bike?

ThorUSA

doubt it.... under 20 yes

edelay

That is a nice looking black Dahon Dove.

ttakata73

I highly doubt the claimed weight. My Dove is 15.5lbs and has lots of lighter parts. I doubt my added fenders and heavy saddle outweigh the lighter parts.


<img src='https://i.imgur.com/c4K5nb4.jpg' />

edelay

It is funny, I was just about to post that my Cirus Smart is very similar to a Dahon Dove and with lightweight components weighs 19 lbs, but then remembered then 2.2 lb s-rf5 hub in the back wheels.... so maybe just maybe this might be true.

edelay

That Dove would look so nice with a lightweight Brooks saddle on it. Just saying. :-)

jur

Yeah that saddle is a bit like the pig with golden nose ring... in this case the saddle is the pig. Just sayin...

ttakata73

Thanks for the suggestions. Funny thing is I have a black C17 and brown Swift saddle just sitting in boxes, but my wife likes this comfortable but ghetto $15 saddle. I stopped riding this bike because at 87kg I don't want to risk a frame fail. My wife is only 40kg so I don't think she can wreck it just riding paved parks. I even bought a Hooligan to try and sway her to get rid of this, but she likes the fit of the Dove.

L Arnold

It is a very small bike. My judgement is that it is too small for many. But it is also compact.

I personally think the Dahon EEZZ is the best bike in this general category. Wheels are a bit bigger (16" (305)) vs 14". Weight is not dissimilar.

Capacity on the Dove should generally be strong. The issue for bigger riders is more a length issue vs height. Would seem difficult to stretch out as needed.

The EEZZ is a more compact bike than many but does work through these details quite well.
I do believe, however, that the Dove is the best selling Dahon bike in China.

Schwinnsta

Why the odd fenders?

BikeLite

The fenders look like the mountain bike type that are not "form fitting" close to the tires.

ttakata73

Agreed, I'm 5'8"-173cm and my knees are close to hitting my wrists on the Dove. It's rideable but the wheelbase is so short an endo seems probable. When I built my Dove up there were no 14" circular fenders to be found online so the ones on my bike are for 16" tires. They do the job well; I just bent the bracket so they were closer to the tires. I can see why the Dove is so popular in China. It's cheap, lots of aftermarket parts, smaller people, smaller living quarters, and well paved infrastructure.

tcs

Sadder is the uncomfortable rider on a painful saddle that 'looks good'.

BromptonINrio

a live in rio de janeiro and have one pink dahon dove from china.
its a veru small whellbase and wild ride.
we mod it to 16" wheels and use roadbike caliper brakes, so we can say for sure its doable.
max tyre size is 1.35, or it will hit frame

BromptonINrio

here you go some pics of tthis tiny pieace of art:

MjolnirNZ

Hi All, it seems there is more than one model of Dahon Dove. I have one that was originally bought new in China, brought to New Zealand by an immigrant family, and then sold to me hardly used. It has a different frame to the ones in the pictures above and has an 8 speed derailleur. It came with the seat post pump. It is a China only model, and is painted in a purple shade with yerllow lining. Looks very smart and rides nicely. My wife and I took both our Dahons with us on a trip to America and Europe, with a two night stopover in Tokyo on the way home. In the US we hired campervans (RVs) for some of the time and found the bikes very useful in places like Yosemite and Grand Canyon natonal parks. In Europe of course the cities are very bicycle friendly, we used trains for long distance travel and the bikes for local exploring. We didn't do much biking in Tokyo, but it is more bicycle friendly than we thought it would be. We hope to do a longer trip there sometime and will take the bikes again.

My wifes bike is a 20 inch, dahon Eco C7. Being a bit bigger it does not pack wite so easily into an airline size bag, but we managed OK and did not get charged any excess baggage on any of the flights.

John

BromptonINrio

there is manly two brands of dahon dove: the bya412, aka dove uno, and the bya661, aka dove c6, with derrailer and multispeed.
8

MjolnirNZ

Well, mine is an SRA683, and on the frame it says Dahon Dove D8. So it is not a C6 with an upgraded cluster. I did find a site in Hong Kong advertising them, all in Chinese of course, but Google translate was able to make some sense of the text. I was going to put the link in but I am not allowed to yet. But Google should find it for you, if you search on "Dahon Dove SRA683" As you will see from the pics they apparently come in three colours.
With the wife having a 20 inch bike, it is interesting to be able to compare them. For riding, larger wheels are of course better, especially on bumpy surfaces, but for folding up into a small space the smaller wheels are great. Since we bought them with the plan to take them world travelling with us, the smaller wheels on the Dove are best for us, and I would trade in the 20 inch for another Dove if we could. Or a Brompton for that matter, but they are much more expensive. We got the Eco C7 for NZ$250, the Dove for NZ$500, while the two used Bromptons I saw for sale here recently were at NZ$1200 and NZ$1500. New they are around NZ$2000, depending of course on the level of equipment. There is a Brompton dealer in this country, but none for Dahon. I think someone is importing the Terns too. But folding bikes are not something you see in the ordinary bike shops here...unlike Tokyo, where among all the full size bikes at Bic Camera, we saw a wall with about a dozen different Dahon models on it. None like mine though, with the small wheels and multi gears, or I might have splashed out and bought another one.
John

BromptonINrio

wow, nice to know..
Its a quite litle beast this new dove model.
post photos when you can! Dont let dove topic die!

ttakata73

Maybe Dahon is capitalizing on the Dove name like how modern BMW/Mini cars are actually often large cars. Years back I had a purple SRA683 but it was called a Mantis back then because it sorta looks like a praying mantis. I recall the second top tube at the frame joint seemed to add rigidity. I thought it was a great bike but I had a superior handling Silvertip and smaller BYA Dove so the middle size Mantis had to go. I almost did an endo from dropping into a rain grating but no damage to the strong rims; narrow tires are deathtraps on public streets IMO.