Folding Bikes - Mu SL with TT bars

Taking a cue from WorldPax, I decided to make my own "franken-folder". :) Added some Nitto TT bars to my Mu SL. Note the upside-down brake levers. I've gotta adjust the levers a bit so they sit closer to the bars.

http://stang99.w1.com/biking/img/ttbars01.jpg

http://stang99.w1.com/biking/img/ttbars02.jpg

Sweet. What do you do with the bars when you fold it?

Just curious ... what do you think of the low-spoke count wheels?

Oops, sorry I didn't reply to this. I don't notice any difference with the lower number of spokes--I just assume that Dahon has done their homework to make this combination reliable and usable. 14 on the front, 16 on the rear. There are plenty of rough patches along my commute and I haven't come across any problems. But then again, I just don't know enough about bikes to provide a knowledgeable review.

The TT bars add a good 6 inches to the width when folded down, but I still don't have any problems on the train (or transporting it in the car, storing it in the office, etc.)

The combination of smaller wheels and narrower bars took a sec to get used to balance-wise, but now I like the little bit of push I can generate by really leaning into it, especially for starts or uphills. I'd be interested in trimming the handlepost down a bit more.

Not sure what option you have to get that fixed height handlepost lower.

If you replaced it with the adjustable height handlepost then you can obviously drop the upper section quite a bit lower. If the lowest position "out of the box" is not low enough, then you just cut some of the length off the bottom of the upper piece and voila, it goes in further and thus you have significantly lower handlebars. You could get REALLY low that way if you cut off quite a lot. For example if you were really really short, or you were some crazy TT guy. Hey wait...

i.e. you could get the bars down to the height where they would be just above the height of the lower handlepost section.
That's really darn low. Obviously you might not choose to be so extreme in your setup.

Not sure what option you have to get that fixed height handlepost lower.

If you replaced it with the adjustable height handlepost then you can obviously drop the upper section quite a bit lower. If the lowest position "out of the box" is not low enough, then you just cut some of the length off the bottom of the upper piece and voila, it goes in further and thus you have significantly lower handlebars. You could get REALLY low that way if you cut off quite a lot. For example if you were really really short, or you were some crazy TT guy. Hey wait...

i.e. you could get the bars down to the height where they would be just above the height of the lower handlepost section.
That's really darn low. Obviously you might not choose to be so extreme in your setup. I'm not sure if you can swap out the non-adjustable with the adjustable. From what I can tell, the adjustable handlepost folds down between the wheels. The Speed Pro TT handlepost looks like it might be a couple inches shorter and it folds out so that's an option.

I'm not sure if you can swap out the non-adjustable with the adjustable. From what I can tell, the adjustable handlepost folds down between the wheels. The Speed Pro TT handlepost looks like it might be a couple inches shorter and it folds out so that's an option.

You should be able to, I'm pretty sure that others have done it.

Good luck acquiring a fixed height handle posts though... rumour has it that Thor and Gaerlan have them, but neither has them advertised on their websites. I hunted for a few months last year and then gave up. I even considered buying a donor bike. But I'm glad it didn't work out, I like my setup now. I would honestly be surprised if the TT post is a couple of inches shorter as you say... doing some measuring on-screen doesn't lead me to think it is much shorter if at all, and I would be surprised if Dahon maintained an extra part in their inventory like that. I think the difference may just be the anodize, but I would love to be corrected. Now the handlepost for the Jetstream model, THAT is shorter I'm quite sure. What I am not sure about is if that model can be swapped over to a non-Jetstream, and you're going to have to have a fairy god-mother to find one...

I would honestly be surprised if the TT post is a couple of inches shorter as you say... doing some measuring on-screen doesn't lead me to think it is much shorter if at all, and I would be surprised if Dahon maintained an extra part in their inventory like that. Yeah, I'm just totally eyeballing it on the web so I could be totally off. I'll have to track one down...