Ok,this is a little long, but I can sure listen to some advice from you folks.
I'm 183cm (around 6 feet?) and my weight is about 95 kg / 210 pounds. (And on my way to loose about 10 more pounds.)
My commute ride will be about 5-8 km (each way) through a very rough non-bike friendly rainy 3rd world urban chaos. That means, a lot of smoking buses, angry drivers, FAST irresponsible motorcylists, crazy pedestrians and unmaintained potholes and craters all over the road.
Most of my route will be flat, but there are a couple of steep hills.
I'm not even sure If I can do this route on daily basis, since it's kind of dangerous, but I'm surely going to try it. If I fail, I'll still have a bike to ride on weekends and when I get out of town.
What I need:
- Folding bike that cand handle my size and weight.
- Speeds (non single speed).
- Fenders
- Comfortable upright position
What I would like but not a must:
- IGH
- Rack
- Adjustable stem and / or handle bars.
The catch:
- I cannot find any bike shop that sells folding bikes down here. And If I could, I'd probably have to pay 3 or 4 times what it would cost in the US.
- I only have $400 for this. (I won't go into details, but it's the result of living in a pseudo-communist country.)
- I have to order it blindly without test rides, online from the US, (Shipping to Florida, I will have my brother bring it to me).
- Since no one carries folding bikes around here, I'm concerned that parts are as standard or easily available as possible. For example I don't want to be stranded for months, because the rim size is a strange dahon propietary only available in the US and UK.
The contenders:
- Downtube 8H
($401 shipped, if the coupons are still available when I pull the trigger).
This one doesn't have fenders. I'm not sure if I can fit locally available ones to this bike.
This one has IGH.
- Dahon Eco
($342 at thor's).
This one has fenders and rack, and with what I have left, I could buy some lights or maybe a horn.
- Downtube Nova
($311)
No fenders, although probably enough leftover money to buy fenders that fit directly in the US.
I've read I might be too big for this bike?
- Dahon boardwalk
($150 at thor's garage sale + $60 for a Utahtrike 3sp IGH wheel kit - I can get the rear brake locally).
This one has fenders and rack.
But I'm not sure I'm up for the task of fitting the wheel on the frame.
If it was just a "screw, unscrew, job" task, I'd do it, but If I have to widen/bend or cut stuff to the rear fork, the wheel or hub, I'm not sure I'd risk it.
I've searched during weeks, but the rest of bikes I can afford are less known brands that everyone around here seems to not reccomend, (tobukaeru, Galvin, etc.) and then are the Citizens, which I kind of like, but reviews are very mixed, and negative ones scare me.
Anything else out there that I don't know about?
Should I wait for a winter closeout sale on a Dahon Speed D7 (or a Vitesse D7HG)?