dolt

Hi-
After not riding a bike in maybe 30 years, two years ago, I was gifted an ancient 1980s Dahon that was falling apart; it was impossible to ride but it sold me on the concept of folding bikes. After six months, I bought a Dahon Speed D7 Street and over the last 18 months, I've put maybe about 250 miles on it. I changed the seat but otherwise the whole thing is stock. I don't know anyone who rides, haven't read anything online and just joined this forum 30 seconds ago, so basically even though I've been riding the bike regularly, I am a complete noob when it comes to knowing anything about it—or about riding in general.

My main problem/question is that I can't ride for more than 10-15 miles without my wrists aching and parts of my hands going numb. My guess is that it's because the Speed D7 Street has a fixed handlepost and at 6' with most of my height in my legs, I'm really bent over to reach the handlebars, putting a lot of body weight on my hands as a result. So the question is, are there mods I can do or third-party replacement handleposts that would be taller or which can telescope like the one on my 1980s Dahon?

Alternately, like I said, I know nothing about riding, so maybe the handlepost is fine and I'm doing something wrong?

Also, what else could I do to make this bike more comfortable/ride-able? The longest ride I've done on it is 23 miles; I'd love to attempt something longer, but want to find a way to make the bike easier to work with first. Any recommendations?

Schwinnsta

It sounds like your analysis is correct. Too much weight on your hands. There are devices like this as well as low and mid rise handlebars. You may or may not need to replace cables to use them.

Reddleman

I’m most of six foot and found that my shoulders ached after similar length rides on a similar size folder. My solution was to install Soma Sparrow bars which provided a little bit of rise and angled my hands better while not adding hugely to the folded size and enabling me to keep the existing cables intact. Depending on how your handlebars are fitted to the handlepost, you might need one of those thingies by LitePro or similar linked to above too to fit a non-straight bar to your bike.

Bonzo Banana

Assuming you can change the handlebars do that for a design that allows you to move the hand grip position by angling the handlebars but if you the handlebars are welded to the top stem then you could consider looking on aliexpress or ebay for a whole new stem but you need to know if its a threaded or threadless mounting of the stem. They aren't too expensive and your existing stem may have some resale value. Make sure you match the height and angle to your existing stem. Lots of options to get the perfect hand position for you.

https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesa...ebar-stem.html

3speedslow

Welcome to the folding subthread!

All good suggestions so far. You may want to check out the Dahon distributor here in USA. ThorUSA google and you will find his site.

Love to see pics of your folder when you get your count up! I have 3 Dahon now.

Bostonwheeler

Also bar grips such as Ergon GP3 can help by spreading contact pressure and enabling alternate hand positions.

tds101 

I purchased this for 1 of my Dahon folders. I'm 5'11", and it made a world of difference. Dahon Radius 3 adjustable Handlepost
Check here as well: Handlebars, Extenders & Bar Ends

dolt

I took the plunge and ordered that adjustable handlepost, and installed it yesterday. While I haven't ridden more than a mile or two with it so far, it made a world of difference. Thanks for the tip!

dukeiii

Great to know about the fix, out of curiosity, what's the height of the original handlepost? There were several options from 29cm to 40cm+. like this one I chosed for my daughter's bike is a 37cm.


One piece design is alwasy cleaner stronger and weigh less.

bikebikebike

Wrists don't like to be part of the suspension. Ulnar and carpal tunnels and hand pressure are addressable.
I spent the first half of my life fitting myself to bikes. Having bikes fit me was better
Everyone is a bit different so grips bars risers gloves all get a market solution
Same with seats.
It's why you buy your own shoes.