seqiro

Hello!

I am looking into buying my first "real" bike, a Dahon Jack D7 folder. I can't tell from the Dahon website if it supports mounting a rear rack that I could use for trips to the grocery store and library.

If anyone has put a rear rack on this bike and/or could provide links or pics it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

snafu21

It does. There are M5 tapped bosses on the frame. If you're not using panniers most of the 'universal fit' racks will be fine. If you are, ask for more info.

Standalone 

I have a Dahon Espresso, which is the same frame as the jack as far as I know.

I have a topeak kiddie seat and hop off the train one stop early to pick up my son at preschool. My wife leaves the seat part there. Works like a champ. 40 pound kid, 7 mile ride.

Any rack that's not too exotic should work, as all racks that I've seen in the last 10 years seem to be pretty radically adjustable, unlike the old ones I used to put on my "10 speeds" in the '80's-- I never did figure out what that big spring clamp thing was for on those...

snafu21

The 'mousetrap' spring is for carrying baguettes back from the boulangerie. In order to prevent crushing, the baguette must be wrapped in a copy of 'Paris Match'. At worst, the Herald Tribune may be substituted, but never the British 'Daily Telegraph.' It marks one out as a cad, and a bounder.

badrad

most standard size racks will fit. just make sure it's not a rack for disc brake bikes, else the width will not fit. otherwise you should be fine with any selection.

seqiro

Great, thanks for the replies everyone!

I'm new at this, so I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions along the way.

badrad

btw - depending on the jack size that you get (sm, med, lg) the rack may need to have a longer front mounting bracket. when i mount my rack that was setup for my jack onto my wife's jack (which is the small frame size) using the same mounting bracket the rack sits at and angle rather than horizontal. this is not a big deal for her, but it does just looks a bit odd with the tilt forward. i hadn't bothered to get a longer front bracket for her bike.
P1100639..jpg

seqiro

Thanks! I went to my local bike store today and they are a Dahon dealer however they didn't have any in stock. They will have some in within a week though so assuming the test drive goes well I should have the bike very soon. They picked out a rack for me and they are throwing in the El Bolso carry bag for free.

I'll update after I've tried it out and possibly purchased it.

randya

Dahon sells racks for their 16" and 20" bikes.

https://www.dahon.com/accessories/2004/arclite-rack

Standalone 

Sacre bleu! Est-ce que je peux fumer mes Gauloises aussi?

seqiro

Ok, it was a long time between updates because my bike order kept getting delayed. I finally have it.

Overall, I really like it. However, three things disappointed me in Dahon as a company.

1. According to the specs page, the 2010 Jack D7 comes with "Suntour folding, non-slip" pedals. This was not the case and when the guy at the store called Dahon, they told him this will never be the case.

2. According to the specs page, the 2010 Jack D7 comes with the "Dahon Axis, patented InfiniteAdjust technology" stem. This was also not the case, it came with the same stem as the 2009 model. On the same phone call, we were told that they don't have the Axis stem yet so they are shipping the 2010 models with the 2009 stem. They did not know when bikes with the new, advertised stem would be shipping and would not be doing anything for people who get bikes with the old stem.

3. When told that maybe they ought to change the specs on the web page, they said "we can't do anything about that, that's Dahon Global and we are Dahon USA."


Those things really rubbed me the wrong way. But I needed a bike now and the test drive was great. The store where I purchased the bike is actually going out of its way to accommodate me by ordering folding pedals for me and just swapping for mine and will also do the same when the Dahon Axis stem comes out, which they totally didn't have to do since it's not their fault that Dahon's web page is deceptive.

There were heavy thunderstorms here today so I have not taken a real ride on it yet, but I did install front and rear lights and took a couple of short test drives and despite not having features I thought it would have, I am otherwise very pleased with the ride and portability of the Jack D7.

snafu21

The Suntour folding pedals come in three or four slightly different flavours, all labelled Suntour, but they are generic items, made by a contract company. If you didn't get any pedals then they've been removed at the dealers, or not packed at assembly/ despatch. They are often sent in the box loose, not fitted to the bike. You should have got your service manual, user manual and a wee pot of touch-up paint, plus the pants-strap thing.

The 2009 specs listed for UK bikes are for standard MTB platform pedals, as came on my Matrix. The 2009 stem is pretty pleasant, again, specs differ in Europe and the USA, and some bikes get different kit if there are shortages during assembly. It rarely affects the overall spec of the bike, and many of the manufacturers do it at some point.

The Jack is a pretty nice bike, it's vey versatile, old stem or new stem. Enjoy.

seqiro

Hello!

It did come with standard pedals, but not folding pedals as indicated on their web page. This is minor, but since they told my dealer that the Jack will NEVER have folding pedals, that should be changed on their website.

However, the stem is kind of a big deal. The stem as advertised is the Dahon Axis stem which has adjustable reach as well as the capability to fold out of the way without having to remove the handlebars for storage. In my opinion, that DOES affect the overall spec of the bike since the 2009 stem does not have either of those features.

Again, I do like the bike a lot. The parts it came with are quality parts, but they aren't the parts they advertised. Still I am looking forward to my first ride.

snafu21

My spies tell me the Uk 2010 Jacks are arriving with the Axis stem, now, I see it's pivoted, so take your point. Yeah, get out there and ride. Jacks are a lot of fodling fun.
As it happens I've just put a pair of fodling pedals on my MTB, they are useful if you have to schlep bikes around in the car.

congrats on the bike, you'll enjoy it.

Azreal911

We have a Jack (2008) also but use it to throw in the boot of the car instead of riding it on the train. Due to the size of the bike the folding pedals really save very little if any. The pedal on the inside of the fold make little or no difference since you position it under the wheel during the fold. While the outside one would at most save you 3-4 centimeters. I've removed folding pedals on both my wifes jack and my strida cause it just doesn't feel as sturdy when standing on them, I have this feeling that they flex under load. But that new axis stem is pretty neat for folding which my model doesn't have. Wonder if you can bug dahon to do an upgrade for it since you did buy the 2010 model. I just checked the "Dahon USA" site and even the 2010 Jack there is supposed to come with an AXIS STEM. So I don't know what's dahon's excuse that they are Dahon USA.