Originally Posted by
Duragrouch
The big cost on the Curl would be a) testing, especially cyclic fatigue tests, assuming they do any...
Dahon is one of the few bike companies that have their own in-house certified test lab.
They test their bikes and comparison-test competitors' bikes, too.
Some other folding bike companies test their bikes. Brompton:
Strida:
Since the knock-off/clone folding bike companies never publish images/videos of testing, I'm
guessing they reverse engineer and call it good. No design staff, no computer modeling, no testing: save big money!
I think the Curl tubes may be hydroformed,
The duck comes down, you win $20.
The Curl's hydroformed frame was one of several points Dahon presented in EU court back in 2017 when Brompton sued them for...well, I'm not sure what Brompton's claim was. (Brompton got spanked in that lawsuit, BTW.)