Dynocoaster 

I did a search and found this https://rogerzilla.blogspot.com/

chagzuki

That'd be the guy. He's written a lot of good posts on stuff like replacing the bearing in the left hand pedal, what to look out for when buying second hand bromptons, how to disassemble the rear frame, etc. I think most of it is scattered around a couple of other bicycle forums rather than on his blog.

folder fanatic

An additional +1. To elaborate further, I have a hunch that most people will simply pass on both brands until the legal messes are settled. Other bike companies are likely see more people at their doors ordering their folding bikes. Quietly "voting with their pocketbooks/wallets" is what most people really do put into practice. Not what they will simply just say online or offline.

pacificcyclist

Buy the bike you like and fits you well. Do not buy a bike based only on brand name.

If you have self-esteem issues and unable to make an adult choice of your own, buy whatever that makes others like you! It is as simple as that.

However, let's clear some B.S on Dahon and asian bikes. Very few bikes nowadays have pure domestic components, if at all possible. Any bike will have components made in Asia. Asian companies make great components as well as Anglo-saxons do, so lets not bring race into bike quality. Dahon high end bikes are as good as any high end Trek or Cervelo. My Dahon MuSL can keep up with carbon roadies, pushed it up to 22 to 25mph no problems. It was the only bike that made sense to me then and now. Tern will make better bikes at higher prices. In this economy, you need to be like Apple Inc! Innovation does not stop people from buying expensive ipads and Macbooks!

HGR3inOK

The OP has stated a "$700 price range". Of course, one could point out that the total cost of ownership might be lower with a Brompton (and with some other more expensive folders) to justify the significantly higher initial outlay.

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

Diode100

"Most people" wont even know there is a Dahon / Tern war on. When "most people" go out to buy a bicycle they look at the style, colour, the number of gears, how comfy the saddle is, the name of the company that made it may well mean nothing to them, and they are unlikely to enquire what legal actions the directors are currently involved in.

Jyyanks

This is an enlightening debate and I'm happy to hear all opinions. I was simply asking because I want to buy the best quality bike in my price range and I'm not in a rush. I looked at Bromptons but aside from the fact that they are not readily available to test out in the US, they are out of my price range. I need a bike with multiple gears as I live in an area with a lot of hills and a comparable Bromton is double the price. I went for the Dahon's because I have a Boardwalk already but am looking to upgrade and I thought I'd stay within the same family. Tern seems interesting because it sort of is in the same family as Dahon though both companies are gong though some turbulent times. I'll keep looking but I do value everyone's insight and advice. Thank you.

folder fanatic

I guess you are right at that. The bike is lucky to be used a few times by most of the buying poplation. Then pushed back into the dark recesses of the garage/shed and the owner's mind and forgotten anyway. So it does not matter at all in the end.

Dynocoaster 

If you can afford a little more go with this https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/2566914633.html

Diode100

Until x years down the road when they have a garage sale and some eagle eyed enthusiast, or just a lucky devil, catches a bargain. Didn't someone say that they got an iXi for $12 a while back ?

HGR3inOK

FWIW, listing your general location in your forum profile will likely result in more meaningful responses. If you are in New England, then traveling to NYC to purchase/test ride a bike may be an option. But if you're in Colorado, you probably want something a little closer.

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

Sheygetz

That doesn't exactly make him and his insights very accessible. The blog otoh consists of less than a dozen short posts all from July 2010. So everybody relax: You don't have to rethink your planned purchase of a Brompton as was implied on page 1.

jur

Over here at folding bike forums, we don't look kindly on 1st posters who post sarcastic comments and roll eyes especially on the first post.

Welcome to folding forums.

chagzuki

Welcome indeed. Search the keywords and you'll find a lot of very good information.

brakemeister

lots of utterly BS written here in this thread.... although a few useful posts as well....
there is lots about other peoples opinions whats best, or shortcomings or who and where the bikes are built and and and .. no sense to rehasch , thats where the search button comes in handy.

Dahon is the biggest folding bike manufacturer in the world, by a landslide. While companys like Trek or Specialized have a handful of company owned stores around the world, Dahon has hundreds in China alone. They have Distribution in place in every major market, have a Eurpean assembly plant, and use modern and up to date components.

Tern has all the suppliers behind them, supplier and Tern managment worked together in the last 20 years. Tern is not the usual start up as it has huge knowledge and experience in their team of 60 employees. They have designed and built folding bikes for the last 20 years and are utterly aware of the pitfalls and shortcommings. They have a team of close technical consultants around the world and they have all had imput in what a Tern bike should and will be.
No its not the lightest, or the smallest, nor the cheapest, its the best riding bike. And its the one with very little maintenance will last the longest, and its repairable .... and and and ...

Both companies will survive and both companies will grow their marketshare, the comptetitors are noticable shaky in their boots.... ( as evident in some of the postings here and other places, nuff said. )

Now.

for all who like to put oil on the flames and come up with suggestions to wait. ( for some behind the wall legaleze....)
This is bad advice indeed.

I just heard from Dahon that prices will go up SIGNIFICANTLY during the show in Vegas 2 weeks away. That is for the existing models, which are available currently. And all new bikes will be quite a bit higher than some of you ( me included ) are suspecting.
The folks who tell you that its wise to wait, wont pay the 200 dlr per bike difference to you later !

People on the fence are again going to miss out.

thor

CSG

In this economy they're going to have a significant price increase?

Diode100

In the UK the price of Dahon bikes has gone up by 20-25% in the last two years or so, and whilst they used to be a common sight on the floor of bike shops, I would say as of recently, they are quite rare.

brakemeister

would be interesting to find out what you mean with that. Did your paycheck got cut ? You lost your job ?
Lets forget for a second what you hear on the tv news...

Prices do go up all over the place, for raw material, tires for example are skyrocketing due to rubber ... Dahon claims in their letter that they have not raised the prices in the last 2 years ( which is not correct, they raised the prices every year )
but why should Dahon not raise the prices when everybody else is doing just that as well.

pacificcyclist

Don't pay too much attention on the legal issues with Dahon and Tern as this is normal operation even in other companies as well. We are living in difficult economic times and there are people out there who abuse the innovations that others made by just simply copying to make it cheaper. Just look at Apple Inc. and their continual fight against intellectual property infringements and how far they are willing to go to stop their competitors from even copying some of their designs. You see Apple Inc. floundering even against their fight with Samsung?!? You see Samsung struggling?

Do not be fooled by hearsay and opinions from the web. They come from individual opinions which are hardly facts! Listen to those who work in the industry and they will say the truth, even though it is a little difficult to swallow at times.

Unfortunately for you and for a lot of us, prices for many things like bikes and most electronic items are going to go anywhere but UP and UP and UP, no thanks to the over usage of governments use of quantitative easing initiatives. In this day and age, waiting is not a good game to play unless of course you are in Las Vegas or Florida, waiting for home prices to drop even more. It's depressing to see homes in Vegas going no where but down. Shara has closed and on liquidation sale, except the only thing you'll see on Interbike is prices are not going the way of Las Vegas homes; well at least most of them. If you are expecting hot prices, well expect hot temperature of 106 to 109 F at noon at Vegas now to Sept would be a better bet!

Having said that. Let's clear up some B.S about folding bikes in general. There are a lot of general classification on folding bikes, but roughly they can be differentiated into 3 class.

1, Compact fold
2, Quick fold
3, Travel fold

The Brompton falls more on the compact fold, whereas the Dahon on the Quick fold and the Bike Friday as well as the Xootr Swift on the travel fold end. They all have pros and cons, which were the reasons they were created. To serve a purpose, your propose!
Most folding bikes suffer a similar problem. Design a bike to fold nicely, but suffer some on ride quality. Design a folding bike that rides really nice but suffer some on the ease and quickness of the fold.
Notice I didn't list Tern in there?

Because with Tern, they are providing the best of both worlds. Being able to fold quickly PLUS providing the stiffness ratio that yields the ride quality that may perhaps surpasses current generation folding bikes that does not fold that nice and quick.
Do you see why the competitors are nervous? Do you see why Apple Inc. succeed where others fail.
In this current economy, the market demands to own the best of the best at a fair price. It's going to be expensive, but if Tern can replace 2 to 3 folding bikes with just 1 bike, that person will be willing to part with a significant amount of cash outlay to buy that and amortize it over the years, it will prove itself to be cost effective in the end. Apple Inc. proved it very nicely as their used products can still command a higher price than typical PC laptops. I believe Tern can do this.

So what to do now for the original poster. Well, determine what you need from a bike. If you need more speeds than what you've got, there are a number of options available from Dahon now, but options are limited as most items are already sold out.
I think it would be wise to wait for Tern if you are willing to accept the unique value that Tern provides. But if you are looking solely to save money and upgrade from your Boardwalk, The Dahon Speed P8 or the Mu P8 are a good start if you can find one in stock. A good online dealer that provides exceptional service on this forum can lend assistance to your needs.

Hope this helps.

pacificcyclist

It is called inflation. It is because governments all over the world like to increase the usage of debt and with that, the material resources that are consumed in countries like China, India and the like, we are competing with them. Even food and fuel prices these days are up.

But even in this economy, even significant price increases do not stop people from overpaying. Just visit any high end 5 to 6 star hotel and see how many people are wheeling Rimowa Topas suitcases around and you'll see, that as long as the quality is there, people will pay a premium.

By the way, a Rimowa Topas aluminum suitcase 30" jumbo size retails around the same price as a top end Dahons, which is like $1300 US. Just in case you're wondering if people in this economy are only wheeling around suitcases you buy from Target or Ross Dress For Less.

To succeed in this tough economy, you need to convince people that you have the best product out there that few tops; that's how you charge a premium. Works for Apple Inc.

chagzuki

It's not a given that raw material costs will be rising and should market speculators view a global recession on the cards commodity prices will drop massively. Oil has come down a long way recently. So inflation isn't happening accross the board. But far eastern labour costs will keep rising. . . perhaps Tern's manufacturing base being in Eastern Europe is a good move.

bjorke

Is there intelligent life on other planets? Let's take a poll of USA Today readers and find out!

brakemeister

I like those post Pacific Cyclist .... true on so many points.... one more thing about the Tern bikes .... they are designed to be used and last a very long time. Yes the new hinge is significantly more expensive with the bearings and all.... there are other advantageous little small detail, but the real point is. Its rather easily replaceable !
Apple is in a way a good example and also a bad example.... as we all know apple stuff is here today and get replaces with a newer version tomorrow ( like I phone 3 and 4 and now there is talk about the 5 )
Tern bikes will stay for a minimum of 3 years without any major changes .... and than a new model will be replacing the least successful older version....
This has a few important caveats .... No 1 the dealer can buy a bike at any given time, without fear its old stock anytime soon. There will be no end of the season fire sales where you have to give away the store, just to make room for new different models, spare parts will be available to fit more models over a very much longer period of time .... that will encourage more dealers to actually keep some in stock ... prices will stay more stable..... the Tern engineers do not have to re invent the wheel every 12 months but can leave good alone and concentrate on a few models, but than make them exceptional .... and and and
thor

Diode100

Lets save the purple prose till they get something in the stockroom and on the shop floor with a price tag on it - when it comes to innovative design there is many a heartbreak between conception and the first ching of the cash register.

kamtsa

Interesting reading, and I naively believed that Dahon bikes were already perfect, long lasting, stiff and with plenty of spare parts available.

The wind clearly changed direction ;-)