youngalistai

sorry this must come up time and time again but there are lots of folding bikes out there and most are commuter bikes and not used for fun and adventure ive whittled my list down to dahon,tern dahon i think just wins out tern have taken a beating from disgruntled owners and have some serious falling apart issues on some models but on dahon there seems to be the seat post into the frame issue? also in some instances cracking right off im currently looking at dahon boardwalk d7 as my first test machine to buy used its cheap has 7 gears and has cromolly frame with rack..but amoungst other things non adjustable handlebar stem and is more a family type bike ........ any other used bikes in the £200-£400 price range that have steel frame that you can vouch for would be much appreciated thanks

ThorUSA

oh mei ...
Tern ... well they had a handfull frames broken and they all got replaced plus thousands more which had no problems ... they had some folks getting new bikes and in some cases even more than that .. while it was a problem it all solved now .. lotsa work for almost nothing, but they want to make it right .. and if you the person with a broken frame its not really about nothing but very important of course ...
They had some issues with lagging dealer support in the UK during this change of frames or new bikes or or but I think that more that huge dealers problem than Terns

Dahons what the seatpost in frame sticking problem ?

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having said that you are looking at the very lowest quality Dahon bike there is ... they all have steel frames by the way .. they are ok but nothing really all THAT wonderful if you compare them with newer more pricey models...

Whats that steel thing all about ? somebody old you that alloy doesnt hold up ? Does that same somebody has only steel frames to sell ? or is just plain very old and never made it out of the seventies * when this argument was indeed correct )
:-)

Fire proof outfit on

Thor

HGR3inOK

youngalistai - Where are you located? This is a worldwide forum. (One might assume you are in England based on your currency reference.)

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

youngalistai

i am in england dahon defiantly has a design a with cracking around sleeve on the seat post does not go low enough in frame with so much pressure on on it from all sizes of body somethings got to give! leading to in some cases sleeve on frame snapping off or cracking ive seen a a TR a much more expensive dahon model on e-bay with cracking problems and have read many complaints on forums.. as far as tern goes new yes frames were offered by tern but warranty didnt cover labour charges the forum i read the guy had to pay $120.00. steel frame tends to give more than alloy for distance and yes i am old person they also can be welded/brazed easily in most far off countries when seat post snaps

dezzie

It also depends where the frame hinges, frame in the middle designs usually tend to have more flex although some dahons etc have nice stiff frames, I bought a xootr, lifetime frame warranty, handle like a proper fixed frame bike, fast and very customiseable, selling mine on ebay uk at the minute with lots of mods, bought it over all the scaremongering of the other makes and how dahon etc change there designs often and parts etc have a limited shelf life before they stop selling them. REad about the xootrs, you can get them new on ebay for 650 quid, or buy mine for a bit more with 100s spent on some nice mods!

fietsbob

Why Repeat all the time ?. Did you find any prior times others asked the same question, and read them, first? see "archive" in the corner below?


Decathalon seems a low end source over there..

ThorUSA

First : Everything on the Interweb is ALWAYS true....
Second : I can speak mainly for the US market only , but have insight in International comings and goings

Tern ..warranty replacement .. you might be talking aboy the guy who after thousands of miles was suggested to replace a few things on his bike. There was and is no cost to the consumer to either get a new bike for a very very good upgrade deal , and no cost to have the frame replaced under warranty. Its a huge pain for the dealer who works for a handout from Tern, but its free to the consumer. Also it seems to me that the large chain of dealers in the UK are not that much interested in following Tern explicite instructions and do a good service for their customers. ( looks to me that the decision to drop selling Terns didnt help their efforts either )
Here in the US nobody has been waiting for a new frame longer than a couple days due to shipping times to the dealer for example.

Dahon Speed TR ( steel frame by the way ..lol ) had a few cracked frames, mainly because people didnt observe the minimum insertion of the standard seatpost, or maximum weight which includes all the camping and touring gear people hang of the carriers. To my best knowledge these have been replaced at no charge some 5 or longer years ago. Keep in mind that Dahon makes about half a million bikes every year and hence the complaints are more visible due to the sheer amount of bikes out on the street .

Much luck with a welder who doesnt know anything about bicycles to fix anything on a frame.

Steel is NOT better than alloy in durability. The numbers just dont back this up.

Having said this, you do have all the right in the world about your opinion and taste, and your points are well taken, many others agree with you on steel versus alloy for example. Just let me give you my opinion as well and make sure that statements are not just sitting here forever and forever and dont get cleared up, or at least discussed.
There is after all a real world out there, besides the Internet.

Thor