I've had the bike now for about a year and have ridden about 260 miles since new.
- no flats, although the tires are showing some wear, but are still in good shape
- no more creaking since last posted about

Some observations on the bike (that probably apply to most other folders too):
- The shorter wheel base has been nice in several situations. During some of my commutes, there is no need to collapse the bike completely and I still feel like I'm taking up less space.
Folding pedals:
1. They are nice to have when walking with the bike and voiding hitting your shin/calf.
2. The pedals on this bike are 100% plastic and I treat them gingerly and always try to make sure my feet are nearest the crank arm to hopefully avoid breakage.
- Low step over is nice for easy on/off.
- When I unfold the bike and start to ride, I do need to adjust the gearing one click on the grip shifter. I'm assuming the folding pulls on the cable and pulls it slightly out of the gear setting.
- I do notice the bike isn't as happy (by sound) when in the highest or lowest gear as the chainline is on a more severe angle than when in the middle gears of the freewheel.
- With this style of frame fold, I do always lay the bike on the non-derailleur side in the trunk. In general I have had to watch the derailleur to make sure it doesn't get knocked out of alignment (such as on the commuter train or even pulling it in/out of car trunk)
- I've been regularly inspecting the stem and frame latch areas. The frame latch screws have remained in place since the lochtite was added. I did slightly tighten the frame latch. There is some wear on the parts of the frame that come together on in the frame hinge.
- Both latches can be annoying when folded and placing in a car/transporting. The frame latch isn't too bad, because you can put it back against the frame. However the stem latch flaps around and doesn't sit flat against either surface it's connected to when the bike is folded. While I haven't had a problem with it yet, I do wish it had a latch that screwed down like a Brompton or a BF Tikit. This does appear to be a weaker design of the bike. I did see a newer model Durban recently and it looked like this may have been beefed up a bit.
- Compact size recently allowed me to put this bike and a 16 inch wheeled kids bike in the trunk of our compact car.
- I could use less gear inches on the low end (currently about 34.7 gear inches), but the times I've needed them has been short in distance and easy to walk. High-end gearing has been fine for me (69.4 gear inches).

The picture of the bike on the commuter train shows that you could fit this next to a full-size bike that would be hanging vertically on a hook. To the left of my bike is a black trough where the other wheel from the hanging full-size bike would be placed.

Overall still very pleased with the bike and the versatility of the folder...I'm already day dreaming ahead for the next bike, although this one is doing just fine.

Durban_on_MAX.jpg