Folding Bikes - downtube modding

Greetings. I am am new to folding bikes (and basically bikes in general). I just got a downtube fs a few weeks ago and don't really like the weight of it. I want to do some cheap and easy weight reduction on the bike and I would like to know if I can use standard parts for it.

I just want to upgrade the pedals, seat, handlebars for now. Most likely I will take off the rear rack as I do not use it.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Surely the handlebars are standard cheap alloy ones, I'd imagine it would be hard to find a cheap replacement that shaves off much weight. But you'd have to know the current component weights if you want to make very savvy purchases.

Most likely I will take off the rear rack as I do not use it.

Do you mean "FS" as in "full suspension" or "front suspension"?

I changed out the h/bars, stem, and brake levers on mine, because I have a disease of the mind. None of the new bits were any lighter than the originals, although I lopped 2" off the news bars for storage. Then, I added a GPs to make up for the weight loss.

The stock Downtube stuff is already quite light, unless you go for serious roadie stuff like Ultegra.

The easiest weight-ectomy is to replace the sus-forks with BMX non-sus items, but some of us like suspension.

Downtubes aren;t especially heavy for what they are, for example compared to Citizen bikes.

Taking off the rack will shed some weight, as will getting a nice carbon seatpost and lightweight ti-saddle. I recommend the MKS series of folding or detachable pedals.

FS as in front suspension- sorry for the discrepancy. Also, yes, I do not know what the actual weights of each component is, but perhaps someone here knows?

Just go for 'pretty'. You get more for your buck:

I changed out the h/bars, stem, and brake levers on mine, because I have a disease of the mind. None of the new bits were any lighter than the originals, although I lopped 2" off the news bars for storage. Then, I added a GPs to make up for the weight loss.

The stock Downtube stuff is already quite light, unless you go for serious roadie stuff like Ultegra.

The easiest weight-ectomy is to replace the sus-forks with BMX non-sus items, but some of us like suspension.



Snafu is that a universal GPS bike holder or one specific to that model? I am looking out of one for my Magellan Roadmate!

It's for a TomTom. Came from Germany.

Need one for a Magellan Roadmate 1200

Your handlebars look seriously narrow, mulleady: how wide are they & does it make any qualitative difference to the ride?

Deadpool, do you have a 2009 model?

On my Dahon I swapped the brake levers for the cheapest & lightest I could find which happened to be the Avid FR 5:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Avid_FR_5_Brake_Lever_Set/5360013158/

Lose the suspension fork:

Thanks for all the replies! That's quite a set up snafu! Very nice! I know that I will probably never get the weight down that much, but every little bit helps!

That 'pretty bike' isn't mine, have a look through the forum, I've lost the link to the thread and a credit for the owner.

Also, the parts are standard- meaning I can just get basically any parts from say Nashbar or Performance Bike and they should fit, correct?

A question for those who have switched the front suspension for rigid:
The rigid forks on the Downtube site look fairly standard, i.e. like on a normal hardtail it'll change the geometry as suspension forks need as much extra height as is necessary to accomodate the travel and rigid forks don't. No big deal in terms of the ride, but what happens to the change in frame geometry when you fold the bike? The relative heights of the wheels will change and surely the bike won't balance properly. There must be somewhere between 5 and 7 cm difference in height between a suspension fork and a rigid one.

A question for those who have switched the front suspension for rigid:
The rigid forks on the Downtube site look fairly standard, i.e. like on a normal hardtail it'll change the geometry as suspension forks need as much extra height as is necessary to accomodate the travel and rigid forks don't. No big deal in terms of the ride, but what happens to the change in frame geometry when you fold the bike? The relative heights of the wheels will change and surely the bike won't balance properly. There must be somewhere between 5 and 7 cm difference in height between a suspension fork and a rigid one.

Interesting. I would like to know this as well! I would like to keep the bike in similar geometry or at least as close as possible to the original geometry as possible.

Also, would putting on any platform pedals be feasible? fit easily?

There ought to be a sticky for cheap and lightweight component upgrades. I've ordered a digital scale which will arrive in a couple of days & I plan to do some investigating. I've seen quite a few cheap (<£15) handlebars that supposedly weigh around 150 grams or would if cut down to 56mm. But I don't as yet know how much the stock Dahon handlebars weigh.

I second the cheap sticky!! I've seen a few cheap handlebars, pedals, brake levers etc. They also seem relatively lightweight as well, but of course without knowing how much the stock parts weigh, I wouldn't know if these would be good mods.

Oh, and chagzuki, I do have a 2009.

Get some scales, man, and develop an OCD type behaviour of weighing everything.