Originally Posted by
freebooter
I am looking for a folding bike that I can use for touring. Having just lost out on a Speed TR I am thinking of getting a D7 and adapting it for touring use. The main issue is expanding the gearing range. I don't want really high gears but would like low gearing to cope with hills and then a high enough gear to maintain a reasonable speed on the flat comfortably. Probably 15mph without spinning would be enough.
I can't afford hub gears or dual drive systems so my choice is either just putting a wider range cassette on or adding a double or triple chainset. I understand that I need an adapter to fit a front derailleur. I know these are available from Thor in the US but I don't know whether there is a UK or Europe supplier.
I am not sure how well the Neos derailleur copes with these options? What range of cassette will it cope with and does it have the range to cope with a front dual or triple chainset? From what I understand the Neos equipped Dahons won't take a standard fitting derailleur and normal long cage derailleurs have issues with ground clearance anyway.
Also I saw a post saying that it needs a new bb with a longer spindle. Is this correct?
I am sure these upgrades have been done quite often now and if someone could tell me what has been found to work that would be very helpful.
thanks
I have done this upgrade to my Dahon Mu SL and a person I know who has a D7 had done exactly the same upgrade.
Basically, most Dahons come with a double crankset. If you can remove the bolts from your crank that hold the chain ring, you will have a chain guard on the outer crankset and the actual chain ring which is usually a 52 or 53T on the inner. What you can do then is replace your 53T with either a 44T or 46T and place it where the chain guard sits now.
Then for your climbing chain ring, you would go with a 39T chain ring, since this is the smallest ring they make for 130BCD crankset and put it in place of where the 53T or 52T sits now. You will now have a 46T/39T setup. You have 2 options. You can either shift between the 2 rings using a tire lever or your finger or install the ThorUSA deraileur adapter and buying a braze-on front derailleur and a friction lever shifter. The advantage of the having a front derailleur is to keep the chain from falling. I've done all I could to prevent the chain from falling, but decided that the derailleur is the best option. Do not get the index shifter for the front on this mod. I'll tell you why.
For my Dahon Mu SL, I have a 11-34 rear cassette mated to a SRAM X9 rear derailleur so I have low gears. Not sure if Neos can take 34T, but if it does, you'll have to be sure you do not CROSS SHIFT too much.
So what's the downside?
Well there is a downside to this. You can not ride CROSS SHIFTING too often. Which means, you can not cross a big chain ring to a big cogset on this setup all too often. You have to treat the gears as a 2 by system. Due to the shorter than usual wheel base of the Dahon folding bike, you can not cross a smaller front chain ring to a small cogset (11T) without rubbing the outer big chain ring next to it. You will wear out the chain a bit faster than if you're not crossing by causing a slight bend on the chain thus no longer hitting the bigger chain ring next to it as the chain wears. With this in mind and if you plan to install a front derailleur setup you would probably be better served with a friction lever shifter so you can manually trim the derailleur without having the chain rubbing against it. Actually, I will be in the process of installing this to my Dahon soon and all I need now is to order the adapter from ThorUSA.
Having said that, having just 2 chain rings is enough to tour really. You'll just have to coast down a steep hill.
