RosedaleForge

Rode 20 miles or so with the latch not quite secure. Beat the tapered hole that secures the assembly out of round. As far as I can tell the frame is toast.

I'm open to suggestions on replacing the frame. The drivetrain/wheels have been upgraded. I might just buy another Nova but it seems a terrible waste as I'll be tossing all the parts that come on the stock bike.

I store my bike in the passenger foot well of my big rig. So a similar aluminum frame will be a good idea. It will get knocked around quite a bit as I unfold daily for my ride.

Thoughts?

mirfi

Facebook, Craigslist

Nyah

Fnhon makes a good chromoly frame called the Storm aka "kc2018". Unfortunately most of the places selling it don't do Paypal or English. A purchasing agent working with Taobao, that does offer Paypal is ParcelUp. For instance, here you can get this frame from a Taobao seller via ParcelUp. I am not affiliated with Taobao (the company nor sellers on it), nor ParcelUp, nor Fnhon, nor Paypal. I just like to recommend dependable bicycle frames.

Edit: If your front hub is 100mm then you won't be able to use the Fnhon fork. The Fnhon fork uses the same lame 74mm standard that Dahon and Brompton keep trying to push on everyone. If you could use your Nova fork with the Fnhon frame, though, you'd be up and running again.

Bonzo Banana

Looking at a picture of the Downtube Nova the bike looks like a very generic Chinese folding bike, nothing proprietary. You probably could replace it very easily with any similar 20" folding bike frame and forks. In fact there is a good chance you wouldn't even have to change the forks it really depends if the steerer is threaded or threadless. I'd probably look for something cheap with very low spec components. I've seen such bikes locally here in the UK go for as low as £15 as spares or repair. In my experience steel folding bike frames aren't much different in weight. Seems like aluminium has to be more overbuilt for folding use so I personally wouldn't care if it was steel or aluminium. In fact I might have a slight preference for steel. Also aluminium typically has a shorter working life and is more effected by fatigue so if it was an older folding bike again steel would be my preference.

Fentuz

I'd buy a cheap unloved 2nd hand bike that needs to be refurbished and transfer the good bit from the broken bike to the one in need of refurbishment...
you could always get a dahon frame too. or a vintage folder and restomod it using the bits from the broken bike...

Nyah

If the Nova fork steerer is 1 & 1/8" threadless, it should work with frames by Fnhon, Dahon, Crius and many others that aren't using a threaded steering system.

If your front wheel has a 100mm hub width, you will probably have to use your existing Nova fork with it, unless your new frameset is by KHS or Downtube, which both use the 100mm standard for their forks.

stevel610 

Don't have any suggestions as far as your bike goes. I love that you take it with you and your truck and get some exercise out there on the road.

Used to drive a freightliner oil tanker local. I've been thinking about heading back to driving as I'm about to lose my job to the vaccine mandates.

RosedaleForge

The responses are more or less what I gathered from years of lurking. Thankfully I'm on an extended leave if absence so I don't have to rush into anything.

RosedaleForge

The responses are more or less what I gathered from years of lurking. Thankfully I'm on an extended leave of absence so I don't have to rush into anything.

Doc_Wui

I'd probably buy a Zizzo if I bent up my Nova, but the prices are so high because of supply issues. that I'd wait and ride something else. .

I came across this folder. Taken by the disk brakes and rear suspension. I know in my heart the suspension will wobble wobble wobble, but it is steel.
https://www.amazon.com/Folding-Folda...2&sr=8-15&th=1

Bonzo Banana

Very interesting frame design but I would never go for rear suspension on such cheap folding bikes. I think when you are buying a cheap bike keep it simple. So much to go wrong with suspension, not just the rear suspension unit but the pivot points.

ghwachter

Do Not Buy this bike

guarantee is worthless

I’ve owned several downtube nova’s, Yan has been helpful and friendly in the past, but something has changed. I purchased a new one, and after putting it together I had a very hard time folding and unfolding it. I was ready to return it. Yan said not to return it, he would send me new latch mechanism, it would be easy to put on, and this would solve problem. Also that he would ‘certainly’ take it back if this didn’t work. It took several weeks for the new mechanism to arrive. It was not so easy to put it on bike, but I figured it out, and it was a bit better, not as good as my older bike. I then took the bike on a short trip, folded it to put into someones car and then could not open the latch to open the bike. I got many people to try to help me, and finally had to go to a hardware store and buy a screwdriver to pry it open. Then it would not close until I had to push very hard. I called Yan, and said I’d like to either return the bike as he promised I could, with him paying shipping, or take it to a bike store and let him pay for repairs. He said he would do neither! He blamed the problem on ‘user’ error, saying somehow I had bent both latches. Once again, I’ve owned several of these bikes, all with same latch, and have never had this problem before. We argued for a long time, and ended the call with him not offering any solution. I thought I was stuck with a $600+ bike that I could not fold. So I took it to my local bike store, which after some work figured out that the frame was poorly made so the latch mechanism, including the spring, would not work. We solved the problem by filing the holes a bit bigger and removing the spring. Now it works, but without the spring so I have to pull it open a bit. Better than having a folding bike that does not fold.

So again, DO NOT BUY this bike.