Folding Bikes - Recommendation

So I'm going to tour across either Italy or New Zealand (leaning towards the former), and have decided to take a folding bike.

Now, the ones I'm looking at are actually "urban" bikes from Dahon, but they seem to be pretty nice nonetheless.
So you think any of these would withstand a cross-country trip?

http://www.dahon.com/us/marinerd7.htm

http://www.dahon.com/us/speedd7.htm

http://www.dahon.com/us/espresso.htm

I'm currently thinking the Speed D7 would be the best for a 45-day tour.


Your opinions?

For Dahon specifically, there's also
http://www.dahon.com/us/speedtr.htm (much pricier though)
and
http://www.dahon.com/forum/index.php

The selected price range is favoring the mid to low end models that you listed. So let's concentrate on size first. Mariner and Speed are both 20 inchers. Expresso is a 26 inch wheel size. The Mariner and Speed are more compact than the 26 inch ones. The Mariner is intended for the boating crowd or use near a salty coast. Speed is similar in size and construction and would go well most anywhere. Expressos are not as compact as the other two and might be a bigger-and more expensive-problem either shipping or taking it abourd a commercial flight. But it is a "full size" bike with little or no compromises in handling or riding. I have a 20 inch size bike (a Boardwalk) and I find very little differance in comparison with my past and present larger wheeled bikes (at 26" or 27" wheel diameter). So I recommend that you try all three bikes before you decide.

The Speed was the first bike I saw on the website, but I've really been hoping to go cheaper than that. So, I guess I will just have to play around with the three bikes in-store.

Thanks!

let us get this right you are planning for a tour of 45 days in one of these locales ......
45 days boys and girls !!! Thats a month and a half while we are all working our butts off ..
dont give him any good advice ( I am kidding)

in all seriousness though 45 days on a wrong bike will be murder... get a litle better than the lower end models a speed tr is a good choice ....

thor

Thats a month and a half while we are all working our butts off ..
dont give him any good advice ( I am kidding)
Hahaha!


Well, you can go ahead and keep working your butt off. My butt will be sitting on a bike seat come next year. :D
(although it has worked quite hard for over 3 years by the time my trips rolls [no pun intended] around....yeah, this'll be fun.)

Thanks the help...I think I'm going to stop being so cheap and just buy the Speed TR. I'll be cheap in other areas. :p

your butt will thank me .... thanks to the suspension seatrpost and you will be able to climb every hill as well ....

:-)
thor

p.s
And I am not saying that because I have a new 2005 speed tr for sale ... !!!!

You could also check out Downtubes, they're in a similar price range.

"...I think I'm going to stop being so cheap and just buy the Speed TR. I'll be cheap in other areas..."-ibimus

Smart move on your part!