maybe you feel the need to have a rant not because of something someone may have said months ago about this bike, but possibly because you made yourself the defacto representative for the genesis folding bike company and the complaints are rolling in steadily on this thread and you feel obliged to solve the issues? you even encouraged others to run out and buy one - "they are on sale, how can you afford not to to buy one?"

that aside, it would probably be beneficial and more transparent to those who are not so knowledgeable as yourself, to actually list all the upgrades you made and how much they will cost them. that would give the potential buyer a more realistic idea about how viable this bike is as a "budget" folding bike. it's possible there may be some hidden costs in all these neat-o upgrades that the average reader may not be aware of.

maybe you could make this list in the style of one of those about.com diy pages?

changing cassette:

you will need:

new cassette: $20-40
chain whip and cassette lockring tool: $25-50 (make sure you buy the right tools!)

new crankset:

you will need:

new crankset: $40-80

crank puller tool: $20-40 (make sure you buy the right one!)

new bottom bracket:

sealed bearing bottom bracket: $20-40 (make sure it matches your new cranks and is the correct width!)

bottom bracket tool: $20-30 (make sure you buy the right one!)

new tires: $40-80

tire tool: $3

pedals $40, pedal wrench $10-20, bullhorn bars $35-50, bartape $10-25... etc. and so on.



you see i included the costs for all the tools as well. you wouldn't think to include those costs in upgrading this bike because you already have most if not all of these tools plus more, i'm sure.

most people don't have any of these tools.

the alternative for most people would be taking the bike in to a legit bike shop to have have all these upgrades performed. so, that's parts plus $40-60 an hour labor. caveat: some bike shops will not work on department store bikes.

even if the potential owner doesn't want to do the above mentioned upgrades, as you mentioned, he or she certainly would have benefited from a bike shop "pre-ride checkout". but, you don't get that kind of treatment from a walmart $200 bike.

there are certain realities that should be acknowledged about a folding bike at this price point.

this bike cost about $35-50 to manufacture. it is mass-produced in a large factory using as much automation as possible. the parts are at the lowest possible passable specifications. even the amount of grease applied to bearings is carefully calculated to be the least amount necessary for passable function. for speed of assembly, pneumatic tools are used. this means that there is a high likelihood that every part with threads will be ridiculously over-tightened - this includes cone lock-nuts, axle bolts, loose-bearing bottom bracket, etc. under-greased and over-tightened = early part death.

so, after all the upgrades and changing virtually every part we're approaching the $400 price point. what's left untouched is the platform. the frame.

this genesis folding bike is a copy of the dahon mu frame design. an important point to keep in mind about that is, when a company like dahon designs a bike it is also engineered concurrently. which is to say, the material composition of the bike frame has a lot to do with the way the finished design can look. that's why the frame of a dahon mu can have this characteristic shape - in dahon literature they make a point of stating that the frames are designed and engineered using "dahon patented triple-butted sonus tubing".

do you think the genesis bike company uses the highest grade aluminum alloys and triple-butted tubes in the construction of these copy-frames?



this is why i always advocate buying a used bike that was manufactured at a higher spec rather than buying a new bike made at low spec and trying to add upgrade parts at retail costs. it's a losing proposition from the start.