Originally Posted by
Joe Remi
You need to get this bike to a shop that knows what they're doing. It's not ready for the road, and certainly not ready to be reviewed on a cycling forum.
Well, this is what Dahon delivers to end users. As far as I know this bike was bought from an official dahon dealer who got it from the official German distributor who has the same postal address as Dahon.eu. Can't imagine something more official. Certainly a bike bought this way IS ready to be reviewed on a cycling forum.
If a bike that is bought through the official channels is not ready for purpose this is an important lesson to know. This means customers buying Dahons over the internet are at risk and have to take the bike to a shop for maintenance before riding the consequence is that this will add cost and therefor the bike is more expensive than the price paid upfront. And it shows very clearly that Dahon seems to have a problem with quality control if not with constructing and manufacturing bicycles. And a problem with their dealership and with their distribution as well. Not good.
I thinks we would agree that this level of quality is totally inacceptable, the more for a bike that costs 1000 € and is supposed to cost something like 1500 €.
It is astonishing that this is the result of years and years trying to clone the Brompton - this is not a bike that has been build in a shed within a week from spare parts by a hobbyist - it is a bike that has been built by the world's biggest folding bike company after years of reasearch and fiddllng around and prototyping an it is sold at a premium price and advertized by Dahon as far better alternative to the Brompton in every aspect and a premium model, showing the knowlege and experience of the brand for their 35th birthday. At least this bike looks more like a cheap copy, bulit by people who have no idea what they are doing. It should put Dahon at shame. The more after all the swanky advertizing.
It would be very interesting to compare the bike with other Curls that have been officially sold or delivered to end-users. It was not sold as "prototype" or "second choice" though it looks like one. I'm interested to see if this bike is an exception or the normal level delivered.