Folding Bikes - Dahon Speed TR drop bar mod +

It used to be that my Dahon Speed TR was the bike I started on everything. After about 3000 miles, I figured I wanted to try something a little better suited for distance (about 30 miles per day). Ended up getting Scott Addict and just loving it. Upgradities got me and now the Addict is totally souped up. And there are a lot of left over parts from it. Took a moment to think and decided, hell... might as well make Speed TR back in circulation (the reason I don't use it too often is the handlebar position being too high for my taste now that I am used to drop). Now on to good stuff.

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Shimano 5703 105 shifter 3 speed on left, 10 sped on right. I had to get 3 speed shifter on left as mine was 2 speed... oh well... Not so surprisingly, the 3 speed shifter works just fine with the sram dual drive 3 speed hub :) (All SRAM and shimano front derailleur shifters do have same travel)

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The travel agent for front. Works pretty good. Supernova E3 Pro for lighting things up. Salmon Pad for stopping power.
Travel agent on the back was hitting the rack. I had to put some spacers to make sure it didn't do that. (nothing functional... just getting rid of potential chatter and thunk every time I let go of brake).

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Drive train. 105 derailleur, 10 speed 105 cassette (11-28), 105 chain (still usable), Sugino chain guard (plastic one disintegrated long time ago...), home made acrylic inner chain guard. Hey Thor.... when do you think you will have the inner chainguard back in stock?
I do have 105 crankset and it would work perfect. Just haven't bothered yet...

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About 3 inch wider fold... I don't fold it often enough any more as I can cover full distance unlike I used to when I started... and having it as an option is always nice :)

If I can lower the handlebar area by another inch or so, it would be perfect but oh well...
Gave it quick whirl today and yes... it definitely is more fun this way for me :love:

Looks great, very inspirational. Now I need to figure out how to do this on my DaHon Curve SL. I like the fold though! And I'm sure I'd like the drop bars better than the straight bars I have now.

Did your bars always fold to the outside? My bars currently fold to the inside, i.e. between the frame halves.

Rick / OCRR

that is a NICE upgrades....bored 117 - you're the person i need to talk to. i have a dahon speed tr also that i plan on putting a shimano sti (3x8). i am planning on putting a bullhorn, shimano sora 3x8, travel agent, new cables. i have a shimano 105 double crankset 52/39. is your shimano 105 sti a drop in replacement for your sram shifter ? was it hard when you changed it ? any challenges ? anything i need to know? would appreciate any inputs.

this is how my TR look like right now

Rick - Yes my bar always folded outside. I would imagine it would be just matter of swapping handle post to different model in your case. Why don't you check with Thor ? :)

Vic - Been a while chatting with you :) I see your super light modified TR is doing well. There really wasn't any difficulty when I started. There was couple of uncertainty which did worry me a little. Such as pull rate of front derailleur (I knew it was supposed to be same... but still...), the hub on rear being able to take 10 speed cassette or not (and chain line having enough space)... and length of bottom of drop interfering with fold. And geometry with drop vs. my road bike. At the end of it, there really wasn't much to it. If you want, I could send you my shopping list for this conversion I went through.

If you want, I could send you my shopping list for this conversion I went through.

yes. please i would appreciate any info. was there any issue when you installed your left sti on your sram dd ? was the adjustment pretty simple. this worries me so my initial reaction is to not remove the left 3 speed IGH shifter and just put it on my new handlebar. can you tell me how you manage to do this.

thanks,
vic

hmm, it never occured to me that SRAM DD would work perfectly with a shimano road triple shifter.
One thing that is upsetting about dahons are the very fat seat tubes, which don't allow a FD to actuate a double with the thor adapter. I had to use a triple to get the rings to sit out far enough and even then, it's still only a double.


I should look into getting a sram DD.

I just went through some deduction to give it a shot.

1. SRAM DD works with SRAM MTB shifter. In fact it's standard MTB shifter.
2. SRAM ROAD and MTB system is interchangeable.
3. SRAM/Shimano front derailleur shifters are compatible. (Know it first hand as I was upgrading my Scott addict in piece by piece manner...)

As for right side (rear derailleur), since I swapped it out to compatible Shimano one, no issues. It really is straightforward conversion.

one thing that looks a bit troubling is the rear travel agent and the cable route required.
How well does it work without binding?
I used an inline and it's not exactly the smoothest.

I see you also used a bunch of spacers to get the rack arm to sit out far enough. :)

It might be due to picture but the cable route for travel agent isn't really any different from stock. It certainly is less angle than cable coming straight out derailleur to rest of bar. Nothing to worry about. (no binding)
I've heard people using travel agent feeling mushy brake... I don't really feel any "mushiness" in brakes... (well it feels less precise than my SRAM red set... but... different components to begin with).
I can lock up the wheels fine :P
One thing I did to make sure was to get the brake cables tight at start so it bends to proper place inside the travel agent. (Squeezing the brakes rear hard multiple times before final adjustment) I can see how it can feel a little lose if you don't do that with travel agent as the cable entering/exiting to circumference of travel agent wheel does have rather sharp angle and can have play if you don't make it sit tight.
One thing about rear brake line... every time you squeeze on the brake... as travel agent sits closer to frame than the stock noodle, the housing WILL hit the frame. I thought about doing something but... nah.. not worth the bother yet :)

I have a similar question reguarding the sti shifters. I actually want to put a drop bar on my dahon hammerhead, would a shimano sti shifter work with an sram x9 deraileur?

I have a similar question reguarding the sti shifters. I actually want to put a drop bar on my dahon hammerhead, would a shimano sti shifter work with an sram x9 deraileur?

Nope, you get to change the rear derailleur to a Shimano or other with a 2:1 actuation ratio.. the X9 uses 1:1 ..

Nope, you get to change the rear derailleur to a Shimano or other with a 2:1 actuation ratio.. the X9 uses 1:1 ..

I forgot, you could use your X9 with the STI setup if you installed an additional Adapter Pulley (http://jtekengineering.com/shiftmate_straight.htm) .. these allow for mismatched components to work together...

I forgot, you could use your X9 with the STI setup if you installed an additional Adapter Pulley (http://jtekengineering.com/shiftmate_straight.htm) .. these allow for mismatched components to work together...

brucemetras - does this mean that i need to get this adapter pulley for my brifter upgrade ? my TR has shimano HyperGlide 8 speed and sram RD. all this time, i thought that the Right STI shifter is compatible and drop in replacement.

thanks,
vic

brucemetras - does this mean that i need to get this adapter pulley for my brifter upgrade ? my TR has shimano HyperGlide 8 speed and sram RD. all this time, i thought that the Right STI shifter is compatible and drop in replacement.

thanks,
vic

Hey Vic, if you have a SRAM "X" series rear derailleur, it will have a 1:1 actuation pull ratio and will not be compatible with the 2:1 Shimano STI shifters... you will need to either change the rear D to Shimano compatible, or add an adapter product that will allow the mis-match ..

Few options for you Vic:

1) Shimano STI shifter + Shimano derailleur.
2) Shimano STI shifter + j-tek shiftmate + current derailleur
3) Sram STI shifter + new cassette (10 spd most likely)

Good luck.

thanks brucemetras and bored117 - since i have a long cage shimano RD lying around i will try that.