Folding Bikes - Dahon x 2 - Now we have folders we'll actually fold.

Last night I stumbled onto a sweet deal on a pair of Dahon Boardwalk D7s that had barely been used. Both fit easily into the trunk (boot) of our small car. Our R20s do fold but not small enough to be useful. I quite like that they are 4130 steel, not aluminum, the gear range suits us fine and they are, if anything, roomier than we need. I'll put sweptback bars and shorter cranks on Jane's. And of course, Brooks saddles. Not much else needs changing but I'm wondering how big a tire will fit under the fenders.

They have funky rear facing derailleurs. We keep bikes a long time, should I get spares of these and the freewheels? 11-30? How is dealing with Dahon for such things?

The rims on Jane’s are Weinman Zac 20s and are as true as if they’d been turned on a lathe. Mine has Dahon rims and they are the worst I’ve ever seen, with big bulges at the seam. Looking at the inside of the rim it is clear that the pins were not meant for a 20” wheel. Braking is very jerky. Anyone know of a good, inexpensive 28h 406 rim? Hub cones were so tight the wheel would stop after 3 revolutions. Other than that the bikes seem great. I’m taking mine on a 25 mile club ride tomorrow so I’ll know a lot more about the bike in about 15 hours.

A couple had bought them when they sold their house and started living full time in a huge motor home. Turns out pedaling a bicycle is work, (Who knew?) so they quickly bought a small car and a trailer to haul it around on. The bikes took up space in a storage compartment in the RV for a few years so they were glad to get rid of them. They claimed the bikes had been ridden 4-5 times, and had less than 25 miles. The condition of the tires confirms this. The Craig's List ad said they had gotten too old to ride bikes, so I was amazed to meet a couple who looked our age or younger.

BTW I recently did the 85 mile 3 Speed Tour of Lake Pepin http://3speedtour.com on my R20. The 1st folder to do the event.

Ha ha good story.

You should have no problem switching out the derailleur to a standard one should the oem one break.

For tires I find sticking to 1.5s is a good idea on a Dahon. Not much clearance.

I also like the Dahon for the fold.

I saw those pop up on craigslist last week and thought about picking one of them up. Congrats on doing the three speed tour on your R20. I keep meaning to do that ride one of these days. My R20 is now a 7 speed though. Hope to catch you at one of the Hiawatha rides again soon. You probably know me better by the name Chad :-)

I saw those pop up on craigslist last week and thought about picking one of them up. We are SOOOO glad you didn't snag one of them. They get down the road much better than we expected. Brooks B-67s make for a smooth ride and I put 155mm cranks and a 40t ring on Jane's. I've got about 100 miles on mine and Jane has abt. 40. We like them so much we're planning to sell the Moulton Mk III and at least one of the R20s.


Congrats on doing the three speed tour on your R20. I keep meaning to do that ride one of these days. My R20 is now a 7 speed though. Great ride this year. God's own tailwind the 1st day and gentle breezes coming back. I had a tougher time this year, but I think it was me that was out of tune not the bike. Heavy little sucker though.


Hope to catch you at one of the Hiawatha rides again soon.Thinking that there would be a bigger (ie. slower) Hiwatha Cyclery group Saturday, due to the nice weather, I rode the Boardwalk. Turns out there were only 7 of us. None of the slower riders showed & everyone else was on a Surly or a Rivendell. I figured I was S.O.L.. But I only had trouble keeping up on the biggest hills, like I always do. (The average age on the ride was about 40 and I'm 63.)

The biggest surprise was that despite my little wheels I was out coasting everyone on the downhills, by a significant margin. I topped Indian Mounds Park hill a block behind but caught the group before I turned a pedal. Those Dahon spec. Cheng Shins must be fantastic, 'cause it sure ain't the cheapo hubs making it fast.

You should have no problem switching out the derailleur to a standard one should the oem one break.

Given that the mounting hole for the SunTour is about 2" from where the mounting hole for a normal derailleur would be, doing so would be "non-trivial". Of course it could be done by modifying the dropout, but I like the way the SunTour shifts and is tucked out of harm's way.

I honestly don't see how you can mount a regular derailer to a dahon...

there'd be no B-tension adjuster because you'll have to file it off to get a proper angle when mounted to a dahon.
and when you file off the B-tension, there's nothing to keep the RD in place...

with that said, the dahon RD has the correct 2:1 cable pull for shimano shifters, so you can pop on a MTB trigger shifter or road STI and get it to index however many gears your cassette has.

you can buy a deore 11-34 9sp cassette, and mount 8 cogs, 11-30 to the freehub.

I honestly don't see how you can mount a regular derailer to a dahon...

there'd be no B-tension adjuster because you'll have to file it off to get a proper angle when mounted to a dahon.
and when you file off the B-tension, there's nothing to keep the RD in place...

with that said, the dahon RD has the correct 2:1 cable pull for shimano shifters, so you can pop on a MTB trigger shifter or road STI and get it to index however many gears your cassette has.

you can buy a deore 11-34 9sp cassette, and mount 8 cogs, 11-30 to the freehub.

hpnestly this is my problem right now. can;t figure out how to stick a shimano alivio RD. even if it's SGS long cage i can't. i went to my local LBS and bought a hanger. i will see if i can do it this weekend.

thanks
vic

I honestly don't see how you can mount a regular derailer to a dahon...I realize not everyone has a workshop as well equipped as mine, but I'd just make a new piece, mimicking the hanger on a normal dropout and weld it to the back of the existing dropout. But, I'd rather not mess up the paint and I do like the existing derailleur.


you can buy a deore 11-34 9sp cassette, and mount 8 cogs, 11-30 to the freehub.[/QUOTE]That would work for mine, but Jane's has an 11-30 freewheel. The pair have the same dark green paint scheme, which I assume means the same model year. But they have several detail differences so I think mine was made later in the year.



this is my problem right now. can;t figure out how to stick a shimano alivio RD. even if it's SGS long cage i can't. i went to my local LBS and bought a hanger. i will see if i can do it this weekend. I think a long cage unit would cause ground clearance issues. With a single chainring a Shimano RD for a road double (spec. max. 27t) will handle an 11-32 just fine if you get the chain length right.

I think a long cage unit would cause ground clearance issues. With a single chainring a Shimano RD for a road double (spec. max. 27t) will handle an 11-32 just fine if you get the chain length right.

i installed a shimano 105 52/39T on my boardwalk and that's what causing the chain slack. so i decided to get a new RD to fix the chain slack but so far not working out for me. i will try to bring it to my LBS and let them figure it out. i will let you know how it goes.

thanks,
biv

Was that your Moulton that came up on Craigslist a few days ago and went away by the time I got around to deciding another bike would be fun? I would be interested in either the moulton or your other R20 if that wasn't your moulton that had popped up. Happy to hear that the Dahons are working out well. I just found a crack on the frame of my tikit, I guess it is a known issue but it is out of commission while they send me a replacement.