Folding Bikes - dahon propriatary seat post/saddle difficulty with loosening bolt

I am about to get rid of my dahon speed8 - but I have to change the saddle for the person and I cannot loosen the bolt to change from the sdg saddle that came on the bike with the biologic velvet (I think - the cushier saddle). I never bothered to change the saddle once the velvets came in (and to dahons credit - they did ship them out to those of us who complained the saddle on the bike was not the one posted on their website) because I had quit riding the dahon in favor of the downtube and I couldnot loosen the bolt at the time. I have tried liquid wrench - but to no avail. I am afraid of wrecking (if I haven't already ) the bolt - any other suggestions before I take it lbs to pay them to drill it out? I was never thrilled with this bike - I always hated the propriatary seat post saddle thing and now I want to beat it with a hammer. thanks for any how to loosen the stupid bolt suggestions

whats propriatary about an allen wrench ?

having said that these are sometimes pretty tight .. just use a longer allen wrench .. they will open up without breaking anything .. its a metal screw into a metal nut... ?????


thor

whats propriatary about an allen wrench ?

having said that these are sometimes pretty tight .. just use a longer allen wrench .. they will open up without breaking anything .. its a metal screw into a metal nut... ?????


thor


A longer allen wrench is not helping - and I know the allen bolt/ wrench is not propriatary - it is just the whole bike has been a chore and a disappointment for me (I am not saying others should not like their dahons - I just didn't - it is like labrador retrievers - a lot of people like them - just not the dog for me) and this was the last straw today as I was trying to get it ready for new rider. And I have never had trrouble with any other saddle allen wrench bolt - just this one - other three bikes have all been resaddled with no difficulty ( by loosening bolt with allen wrench) - for all I knew - this was some other dahon oddity o0r perhaps something with the teeth on the saddle - so how do you loosen a too tight allen bolt regardless of whether it is on my dahon or some other thing?. (ALso - dahon did acknowledge on their website that there had been overtightening of this bolt when shipped from factory).

you know that hammer you have??? Have at it. :) Seriously a couple of light raps with the hammer while wrenching ...It's the concept behind the air impact wrench you see and hear at car shops all the time.

Also other tricks for stuck bolts. Try to tighten it a bit - some times that will break the corrosion and allow it to turn. Heat it up with a heat gun or hair dryer. longer wrenches equals more torque - maybe put the wrench in a vise and use the long seat post to turn the bolt...

Or take it to the bike shop and swallow the 4 or 5 bucks.

A longer allen wrench is not helping - and I know the allen bolt/ wrench is not propriatary - it is just the whole bike has been a chore and a disappointment for me (I am not saying others should not like their dahons - I just didn't - it is like labrador retrievers - a lot of people like them - just not the dog for me) and this was the last straw today as I was trying to get it ready for new rider. And I have never had trrouble with any other saddle allen wrench bolt - just this one - other three bikes have all been resaddled with no difficulty ( by loosening bolt with allen wrench) - for all I knew - this was some other dahon oddity o0r perhaps something with the teeth on the saddle - so how do you loosen a too tight allen bolt regardless of whether it is on my dahon or some other thing?. (ALso - dahon did acknowledge on their website that there had been overtightening of this bolt when shipped from factory).

Best thing is to obtain a shorty 6mm allen socket driver at your local Home Depot or equivalent... as Dalmore suggests, a hammer in the right hands can be useful .... SDG (Speed Defies Gravity) seats/seat posts are not proprietary to Dahon... I just installed an SDG Carbon seat/seatpost on my Chameleon... out of the 4 or 5 SDG seats I have around here, some are quite stubborn... best of luck with yours...

Bruce

...or use a cresent wrench on the hexagonal shaft of the allen wrench for more torque. Get as close to the head as possible with the wrench and be sure the allen key is fully engaged in the screw.

...and don't use cheap allen wrenches!

okay thanks to all suggestions. I realize it is not dahon's own seatpost - but it is a propriatary seatpost that dahon uses and I will never buy another bike with that sort of thing again - the ability to change saddles is a critical thing for me and I did not realize what dahon was saying when I bought the bike or I would not have bought it - it did not help that there are no folding bike carriers where I live. Again - I am not telling people that the dahon is horrible for them -but I absolutely hated it. I gave the disclaimer to the new user - I hope they like it - then it will not have been such a waste. By the time I changed / repaired everything on this bike that needed fixing, upgrading or modifying (and I still needed the different seatpost) - I could have bought a bike friday.

Just curious what repairs and mods did you end up doing?

Kenal0

I finally replaced tires after many flats. I tried changing rim tape but that did not solve problem over the long haul. Chain jump problems - got the little thing to put on it; changed handlebars - the post stopped being adjustable after a couple of months - lbs could not find problem and I wrote dahon who had no real advice -so I just changed handlebars to adjust fit for me; derailer /shifitng problems - took bike to lbs almost once a week for awhile - finally they did something that helped (I am not a bike mechanic); pedal broke off - changed to non folding pedals. The handlebar/folding part became quite difficult to fold - agian lbs had no idea why or how to fix it. (I did not need to fold it often - but when putting it in a car - this became a pain) Brake cable broke -lbs recabled(I think) it. Magnets to clip it together fell off/got lost while riding fairly soon after I got bike. I was not riding roughly on this bike and I am not significantly overweight (well under dahon weight limit) - just trying to use it for rides on roads under ten mile distances. Nothing as drastic as a frame failure - just a lot of little annoying things that made riding it for commuting a pain and a bit risky. There are a lot of happy dahon owners - perhaps I just got a lemon.

Yeah, I think you got a lemon. Either that or you threw it in the ocean once and forgot about it. ;)

Chain jump and bad spokes are somewhat common issues, and iirc Dahon is now adding chain guides, and I've also had issues with my Dahon's derailleur. I'm not impressed with Dahon's component quality -- but even so, it sounds like you had far more issues than I'd expect.

But I do agree that the proprietary and non-standard parts are an issue for Dahons, especially as they get older and Dahon drops those parts from their lineup. If you decide to get another folder, I recommend you make sure it has as many standard components as possible, which will make the bike far easier to fix and upgrade.

I do not believe I have had this many problems on all my bikes total in my lifetime!!
I would be really upset if all this happens to my Dahon. I do take good care of my bikes but even through normal wear and tear this stuff should not be happening. Hopefully you have it all straightened out.
Kenal0

....Again - I am not telling people that the dahon is horrible for them -but I absolutely hated it. I gave the disclaimer to the new user - I hope they like it - then it will not have been such a waste. By the time I changed / repaired everything on this bike that needed fixing, upgrading or modifying (and I still needed the different seatpost) - I could have bought a bike friday.

I finally replaced tires after many flats. I tried changing rim tape but that did not solve problem over the long haul. Chain jump problems - got the little thing to put on it; changed handlebars - the post stopped being adjustable after a couple of months - lbs could not find problem and I wrote dahon who had no real advice -so I just changed handlebars to adjust fit for me; derailer /shifitng problems - took bike to lbs almost once a week for awhile - finally they did something that helped (I am not a bike mechanic); pedal broke off - changed to non folding pedals. The handlebar/folding part became quite difficult to fold - agian lbs had no idea why or how to fix it. (I did not need to fold it often - but when putting it in a car - this became a pain) Brake cable broke -lbs recabled(I think) it. Magnets to clip it together fell off/got lost while riding fairly soon after I got bike. I was not riding roughly on this bike and I am not significantly overweight (well under dahon weight limit) - just trying to use it for rides on roads under ten mile distances. Nothing as drastic as a frame failure - just a lot of little annoying things that made riding it for commuting a pain and a bit risky. There are a lot of happy dahon owners - perhaps I just got a lemon. -farrellcollie

I felt the same with the Dahon, even though I knew I had to replace it's drivetrain with the present AW three speed hub since Dahon mostly offers a very limited range of internal hub folders for the North American market. The add-on AW hub and rear hand brake doubled the purchase price-from $200 to $400 during it's first month of ownership. The Brompton, which was purchased for all of my family, cost $700 dollars and it came with almost eveything I wanted in that bike. The cost to this point is $40 dollars for it's tune-up and $35 dollars for a new saddle for it. That's it, no hidden cost yet unlike the Boardwalk.

As for the mechanical problems, to me buying a very simple bike from Dahon eliminated the potential of problems happening. But I also feel that you got a lemon. Dahon should have taken the bike back and sent you another bike. Perhaps farrellcollie, you would have felt differently and had a different outcome in your unfortunate experience.

Chain jump and bad spokes are somewhat common issues, and iirc Dahon is now adding chain guides, and I've also had issues with my Dahon's derailleur. I'm not impressed with Dahon's component quality -- but even so, it sounds like you had far more issues than I'd expect.

But I do agree that the proprietary and non-standard parts are an issue for Dahons, especially as they get older and Dahon drops those parts from their lineup. If you decide to get another folder, I recommend you make sure it has as many standard components as possible, which will make the bike far easier to fix and upgrade. -Bacciagalupe

The simplier hub gear system has eliminated the derailleur problems inherent to these types of bikes. As for the aging problem that Dahon has built into it's line-up: obsolete bike assured within a few years, having the bike with fewer parts that could go wrong helps to cope with this surefire changes within the maker's bikes. I also recommend that you keep basic uncommon parts in your closet, garage, shed or whatever to use in case these part become uncommon or even do not exist when you want to fix that bike.

I do not believe I have had this many problems on all my bikes total in my lifetime!!
Kenal0


Me either - Aside from the dahon - I have had a total of two flats in 7 yrs. my other three bikes have needed only regular tune ups - no other problems (raleigh hybrid-used to commute a lot; downtube VIII and new scott roadbike). I am (albeit after the bike has left the stable) taking a bike mechanic class.

So did you ever get the seat bolt problem solved?? do you want to unload the p8?

Slim