We wish to introduce ourselves. We are some of Folder Fanatic family members. She herself is offline now and is not part of this discussion at this time (She is at present celebrating the New Year with her offline and real true friends of many years, not computer blimps). One of us (her brother) was reading her posts on this thread as he is very interested in her online Website series developments. He is not pleased with the tone that this topic has taken. He does believe that everyone has the right for their own opinions and our father was very involved with the 1960s civil right movement in his work place (what is now known as the US Postal Service, then as the Post Office). But this is not what we were raised to believe or expect from others. We will comment on the following:
Our FF, as you know her as, may not have the intense mechanical training (the sister she wants to buy the bike for is a Mechanical Engineer with 20+ years in the Aerospace industry) or graduated from the same college that our US President attended (her brother), but she always knows what she wants and how to research for it-and is not afraid to ask or learn from her mistakes (although in this case, under the circumstances of the initial Boardwalk's purchase, she decided to "take a chance" with a bike she did not test ride as is her habit). Because Dahon had it's global headquarters a bike ride distance from her residence, she assumed that parts for the folding mechanism could be easily had (after a couple of years, not so). Plus she needed a bike that folds right away for visiting our still living father to take care of the emergencies as they arrive-to free us to work in our respective fields. Her sacrifice of her own career in both Sociology and Education for us is noted and appreciated by us. We don't expect too much from computer blimps to understand this.
She has received her parts for her Brompton with ease with the option from ordering from many different sources from all around the US. Her Dahon dealer has already inform her that the (similar parts to the Brompton's) cannot be ordered as they are no longer made for the years 2003 or 2006 bikes she has. While she will continue to use her bikes she is very aware through her Brompton manual
http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads...lus%20pics.pdf Page 27 Section K-Routine Replacements. I (her sister) already told her that she could have that aluminum frame hinge replace if she chooses to do so by going to a machine shop and making a steel one. She chooses not to as the bike is simply not worth it to restore (I agree). I did warn her that people only read what they want to read and filter out the rest online. Here is a very good case (this is more in her field than mine). Aluminum has a finite life and should be replace well before failure. That previous idea falls within own field.
Actually she is simply being honest about her experiences with these bikes. If you read her previous post (or her own Website series as she archives them there) she simply is detailing her 6 years with Dahon, both good and bad. 2 years is about right when she noticed (too late I guess) that her own Dahon dealer broke the news to her and her own observations about the vast differences the frame latches and other folding devices even between her 2003 and the 2004 models and more so every year! It does not take an Engineering degree to know planned obsolescence in the form of "improvements' or some other bull**** being sold nowadays to people. She decided to get a Dahon for me as I am quite hard on bikes as my riding style is the opposite of her's. She does not have much money and she wanted me not to worry about the bike as theft is real big around here (right down the street from a bike thief). I told her not to worry or bother as I don't care to own or even use a bike like that and especially with the type of following that seems to be drawn to these bikes. If it was not for all the problems here in Los Angeles over unreported crime, I think she would still be very happy on her original bike:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/world-o...7594461421431/ She told me once that if things was not so crazy, she would still have Her Phillips still and perhaps in the future bought just 1 folding bike-the Brompton-for traveling. The Phillips would be worth going to the machine shop for replacement parts. But she and the rest of her family must deal with future probable trouble, and that is what our father's sole reason when he bought the Dahon Boardwalk.
We would like to end this conversation with an a few observations of our own. We know that Thor-we agree with him that this is getting rather old-is in the bike business-namely Dahons. That is well and good, but not on the expense of our sister. We think this behavior is beneath us and we don't want our sister around this enviroment just to promote some sales off her back. We rather throw the bikes away. Or perhaps we will continue to exercise the option to continue patronize a particular bike shop close to Dahon HQ that she trusts and done business with in the recent past as you suggest it is a "free" country or such nonsense. It is not "free," but more aptly described as freer than most. Perhaps it is not as big or nice as yours, but she can get any available parts or another bike within a day as Dahon HQ is only around 5 miles away (easy biking distance plus no shipping costs) and one of the mechanics are very well versed in all things Dahon and treats her as a lady as she is. Apparently others feel similar about their own Dahon experiences:
http://utilitycyclist.blogspot.com/2...1_archive.html in a rather negative way and no one takes them to task. We noticed a huge drop off of usernames like Nekohime, Puppypilgrim, werewolf, and yes even the famous Wayshrdr who seem to be no longer posting on this forum. We wish to add the direction of this particular forum has gone downhill over the last several months by just scanning the past pages that no one seems to bother to read anymore. We are not surprised at all.
But we are raised properly. So on behalf of our sister, we wish all a very happy New Year. And note that we consider the matter closed.