Originally Posted by Duragrouch

Your analysis is right on the money. I wrote up similar and sent to Dahon when the first frame cracked and they blew me off, said I was too heavy and too tall, neither of which was true. The front side of the tube is loaded in tension, so susceptible to fatigue, whereas the back is loaded in compression, much less of an issue, which is why 99% of bikes put the clamp slot in back, for eons. Notably, Dahon moved the slot location to back, and changed the bushing to aluminum. I recommended they preemptively send out metal bushings to Dahon owners with plastic bushings, to perhaps prevent or delay cracking, and they had no interest in doing that.