Duragrouch

I can do all maintenance with the bike upright and just using the kickstand (yes, it has one, it's not a racer). But for anything removing the wheels, or for truing the wheels, I need the bike lifted or inverted. I tried lifting it by just over-extending the seatpost down below ground level (It's a Dahon Speed, you can do that), and weighting the front or back to lift the other end, but it was a b!tch, it would have been much better inverted. As it is, it's still better than original, which had the Dahon "compact" rear derailleur, mounted well forward of the axle, which makes it impossible to remove the rear wheel without much manipulation of the messy chain with one hand and much swearing, whereas with a standard rear derailleur, the rear wheel just drops right out. To improve that and allow a front derailleur, I mounted a mid-length rear derailleur with a "claw mount" under the axle nut, as this early frame does not have a proper standard rear derailleur mount. And yes, whenever the rear wheel is off, that means the derailleur is hanging in mid-air by the cable. Fortunately, Dahon has converted to standard rear derailleur mounts on later frames, integral with a steel frame, and a bolt-in-place steel hanger for aluminum frames. During the transition, there were frames that had both a compact AND standard mount.

I haven't put a shooter on the aero bars, though I'm just the kind of guy able to devise one . But it has made a convenient mount for a bell, headlamp, water bottle (designed specifically for those aero bars), and a "mid-cable" front brake lever so can emergency-brake when on the aeros; Mid cable levers are all designed for road brakes so are short-pull, but it works with my (long-pull) V-brakes, provided I have the brakes well adjusted so I don't run out of lever travel. The aero bar also makes a nice hanger for a large shopping bag, one I have has handles just long enough so the bag also rests on top of the front rack, and this is good for travel and faster access versus the panniers.