Folding Bikes - Initial impressions of Dahon Mu P8 (UK spec)

I commute to work from the South Coast to London by cycling from my home to the rail station about a mile away, then fold my bike to take it on the train, arriving in London about an hour later, then cycle about 3 miles through the City to my office in north London. My findings about the bike:

Pros:


Very attractive bike and colour-scheme with carrier and mudguards as standard.

Frame feels very stiff unlike other Dahon folders like the Speed and Impulse that I tried before getting the Mu.

Quality components though I'm not sure how standard they are.

The built-in seatpost pump is a great idea and inflates the Schwalbe Marathon Racers to around 80psi very quickly (but see cons).

Very fast and nimble handling so far, particularly given my large size (6'6") and weight. On the road, the ride is firm but not uncomfortable.


Cons:


Folding can often be a pain as the telescopic handlepost, which after folding needs to be "lowered" to near it's limit to below the front hub, often sticks. A light rubbing down with fine-grade sandpaper fixes this.

The seatpost often sticks as it's being lowered, again this requires light sanding down but the problem keeps recurring. The "frosted" finish on the handlepost and seatpost don't help matters here - surely it would be better for the handlepost and seatpost to have a smoother surface finish?

When folding the handlepost, the handlepost locking handle and plastic safety catch often strike the frame, chipping the paintwork on the front-left side of the frame. There is a small rubber protective disc in this area so Dahon have obviously given some thought to this issue, but the protected area is far too small. Dahon supply a small pot of touch-up paint, so why couldn't they also supply some spare protective rubber discs which would be far more useful and reduce the need to use touch-up paint in the first place.

When unfolding, the brake cables easily snag on the Magnetix catches (which hold the folded bike together), and if you're not very careful, the brake cable retention sleeves get snapped which leaves the cables flailing about and more prone to interfering with folding/unfolding the bike in future (one of the cables now gets snagged under the front mudguard when unfolding the handlepost). I've taped the cables together for now, but again, Dahon could have done with supplying spare cable retention sleeves.

The front reflector always snags the cables when unfolding the handlepost so I've removed it. A completely pointless accessory in my opinion.

The seat-post pump often drops out onto the road whilst on the bike, particularly when riding on bumpy surfaces - this is very dangerous and unnerving when it happens. Clearly the spring-loaded retention mechanism isn't adequate for normal use. A rethink on the design is needed here I'd say.


Despite the above cons, and the fact that I've found more cons than pros, I'm pleased with the bike overall and would recommend it as a commuter bike for those who don't want/can't ride/can't afford a Brompton, though next time I buy a folder, I'll investigate UK dealers of Downtube and Xootr Swift folders as the frame and fold on these bikes seem to be better than the Dahons.

Just my ha'penny's worth.

I can't speak for the Swift which might better suit a tall person, but the fold is very large.

I can compare the Downtube NS with the Dahon Mu. In fact I replaced my downtube with the Mu. The dahon fold is infinately better, more compact and more refined. You get much better gearing and components and way better frame geometry. The downtube is not a bad bike for the price, but it is not on the same quality level as the Mu. I could never get comfortable with the geometry of the downtube and I'm 5'11", and the weight was much greater than claimed.

Most of the cons you mention are just part of getting used to the bike. I noticed them in the beginning and now I've learned how to deal with them so everything is second nature now. The secret to a good fast fold is to use reference marks at your folded and unfolded positions. I use a permanent marker, some use fingernail polish. This takes the guess work out of where things need to be and gives you a consistent fold everytime.

There is an upgrade for the seatpost pump, you must have gotten the older design. Mine is threaded into the bottom of the post which works very well and doesn't come out. Frankly, I just removed the pump, I have pumps that are lighter that work just as well.

This is USA spec. Mine didn't come with the fenders, I added some barends and the pedals are from my Curve SL which now has clipless, but everything else is stock.




This is the first bike I've had that I haven't made major modifications to in the first week.

Thanks for your detailed response and feedback.


Most of the cons you mention are just part of getting used to the bike
Yeah, I guess not many - if any - folding bikes are perfect. I don't have any positioning marks on the seatpost as I adjust it to just above the minimum insertion depth which is more or less indicated by a small hole; same with the handlepost - I position it at just above the minumum insertion depth which is clearly marked. I might add some positioning marks though, just to make things more idiot-proof for me.

I notice from your (nice) photos that the folded handlepost seems to be positioned above the rear hub with the bike folded - I can't seem to do that with my 2007 Mu P8 which can only completely fold (i.e. the Magnetix discs make contact) with the folded handlepost below the line of the rear hub. Is yours a 2008 model? It looks like it, judging by the flush frame hinge lock.

I notice from your (nice) photos that the folded handlepost seems to be positioned above the rear hub with the bike folded - I can't seem to do that with my 2007 Mu P8 which can only completely fold (i.e. the Magnetix discs make contact) with the folded handlepost below the line of the rear hub. Is yours a 2008 model? It looks like it, judging by the flush frame hinge lock.

Yes, I didn't mention this on account of your size, it's a handlebar preference issue. I found that the position of the handlebars was too high for me and my wife (this is suppose to be her bike ;) ). I debated for a long time, but finally cut the handlepost so that I could move the handlebars down further (this changes the min insertion height so someone who likes the handlebars up higher will not be able to adjust them as high).

It worked great for us. As you can see, to fold the bike now instead of moving the post all of the way out, you lower the post all of the way down so the top of the stem touches the handlepost, I rotate the handlebars and leave the quick release up a little (it won't clear if the stem quick release is closed). This is where the marks are nice to have because there is not a lot of room for variation, but when you get it worked out, It definately folds faster by doing this. When you bottom out the uncut stem you can see how much you need to remove in order for it to go all of the way down. It's about 1.5" I believe.

I don't know if this would work for you, because you might ride the bike with the handle bars higher. With the small piece removed from the bottom you can still go pretty high just not as high.

Personally, I ride the bike with the stem all of the way down, so when I fold all I have to do is rotate the handlebars, then fold the handlepost. My wife likes a more upright position so I raise the stem up for her (adds a couple seconds to the fold). If I get some time tonight, I'll post a folding video, for the fun of it.

I added some barends .

Those bar ends do look rather good, would you mind telling me what model or brand they are?

I’m hoping that the Dahon MU SL I have ordered will arrive at my dealers this Friday. Similar bike except that the stem is fixed (non adjustable) with just the handle bars rotating to give needed adjustment.


On my current folder there was a few degrees of movement left & right away from dead centre and this used to annoy me so I just set the stem to the lowest setting, centred the bars, closed the clamp, drilled a hole and put in a pop rivet to keep the bars in perfect alignment. ;)

Hello, I had those barends lying around, they are CODA (which is cannodale's house brand, I think). I haven't seen them in a while, but if you look around you should be able to find something pretty similar.

The barends on the mu are good, but I think I slightly prefer the ones on my speed pro which are just straight.

This style is very common.

I have an MU P24 which is similar except for the Dualdrive hub, and I agree with the OP on the Pros and Cons, except the seatpost sticking problem which I don't have.

And I feel the same way as Loch, this is the first bike I've had that I haven't made major modifications to in the first week. I only added fenders and rack and changed the saddle.

I like Ergon magnesium grips myself. My only unhappiness is using them makes attaching a mirror difficult.