osco53

My Dahon Speed P8 Is finally finished and shifts like a bike should,
Luggage rack and tail light was simple, got a good Night Rider Lumina 550 that I move from bike to bike for night rides.

I gave up on the stock derailleur and shifter, a pig is a pig no matter how much you adjust and clean it. Shifting and gear jumping made the bike unsafe.
Right when I needed power It would jump a gear, or when I needed a quick burst of speed with a downshift I had to fiddle with the horrible Indexing of the stock twist shifter.
I know many may be getting along ok with the Dahon shifter and derailleur but I expected/wanted/needed better as I ride it in city conditions with city traffic that needs to be navigated with a quick hand and a precise bike that works every time,
TANSTAAFL !

Got a proper 8 speed Shimano Derailleur and trigger shifter on the bike now and it clicks from gear to gear both up and down the cassette with perfectly accurate Indexing..

This bike Is really fun to ride,,oh I added the Ergon GP2 grips with the bar ends. They do not Hinder folding the bike but Ergon makes a model with longer bar ends that will Interfere, get the shorty set.... Love those bar ends I do




Total dollars In the bike with all add on's and hop ups is about $875

Note to potential buyers:
I am 56 years old, 5' 11" and now a very healthy 174 pounds down from 202 lbs,,,

Get the 8 speed, I ride In that 8th gear often enough that I know I would not have been happy with the seven speed.
The cost of going from 7 to 8 Involves a rear wheel/hub change.

The gear Inch range of the 7 speed would have been far too low/limited for me or IMO any rider who wants to move with other bike traffic.....

I cannot stress this enough !!!!
The 8 speed 1st gear is notably lower and the 8th gear is just the right amount above the top gear of the 7 speed.

,
Just sayin'

tds101 

Nice mini review, and I'm glad to see you've improved your health a bit. I need to swap out my shifter & derailleur as well. The gear slips & jumps drive me insane!!! Otherwise it's a fantastic ride.

bhkyte

It's great if you find folding bike navarna. I have felt like this before with my dual drive mezzo for fast commuting. Things can always improve, but satisfaction is a worthy goal that sometimes doesn't merit exceeding. I bet you right, it's fab if you are happy with it. Small details like 8 or seven speed can be important.

sunrisejack

Indeed nice work. I love it when people are passionate about the results of what they want to achieve. Great value. I too am embarking on the "perfect folder". The problem with me though is the "more money than brains" scenario! :-) What you've done makes good sense. What I'm doing makes not much sense but our objectives are the same. Folders are fun and I agree with your assessment of the number of gears.

tcs

Note: The overall gear ratio of the widest available 7-speed and 8-speed cassettes is the same, created by identical 11T & 34T cogs.

tdong

you know nice bike is only for display right ?...........Very useful bike

osco53

I reviewed the gear inch ranges of the Dahon 7spd and 8 SPD drive trains... Way before I purchased and talked to many in this forum...

The7 SPD gear inch range per the Dahon spec link was 37.2" - 74.2"
The 8 speed range was 32.6 gear inches to 86.6 gear inches...
I did test ride a 7 speed..top gear spun out too soon for my taste...
The 7 SPD's smallest cog was a 13 tooth...the 8 SPD had an 11 tooth...major difference there..

You should be able to look this up on the Dahon site under 'specifications'

tudorowen1

I do think that most Dahons in the UK with a 7 speed cassette would have an 11 to 30 cassette which would give a gear inch range of 34.6 to 94.5 with a 52 teeth chainring.I don't think the Sram derailleurs can cope with anymore....The gear range quoted above for a Dahon is for a 6 or 7 speed freewheel with 14 to 28 teeth range..giving a gear inch range of 37.2 to 74.2..with a 52 tooth chainwheel..Any freewheel with a 14 to 28 range will simply double its lower range ..ie..30 to 60 would be a 14 to 28 freewheel with a 42 teeth chainset..

Having said all that..I have had a 7 speed Dahon and an 8 Speed Dahon and the Speed P8 is indeed a sweet bike...in some ways perfect..if it had a conventional derailleur and a double chainwheel I would go as far as to say it would be as close to a perfect folding bike that you can get ..with 20 inch wheels..

osco53

Double chain rings,, Interesting Idea, Who knows maybe one day when I want to fiddle with the folder..

Seems like they use different cassette's in the UK, Didn't know that.

AvenirFolder

The 2010 model of the Speed D7 came with the 11-30T cassette and the 52 teeth front ring. Gear range available was as quoted: 34ish to 94ish. Sweet! I bought two of those D7s used last year and couldn't be happier (both for a grand total of $500 CDN). With the money I saved, I could afford to splurge on upgrades like Big Apples 2.0" (front), Marathons 1.75" (back), Ergon grips, Mirrycle mirrors, Tern cargo rack, rack bag, Shimano sealed bearing BBs, MKS FD-7 pedals, etc. I reckon those bikes are a match for the spiffy P8s any day!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I also snagged a couple of colour-matching German ringy dingys from a great online site run by an upstanding fella by the name of Thor: Special Parts Dahon Tern and others (at the very bottom of page). At the time, ThorUSA had some extremely rare Dahon buffs up for sale in the Garage section of the site and I grabbed two of those as well. Now my wife and I ride in full Dahon style! (You'll see the buff down this page Garage Sale but I don't think they're available any more.) Even sweeter! I will confess that I turned to eBay for two Dahon bike storage bags. I use those to transport the folders in my van if we're going out of town.

If you look at the product description on this old page https://www.amazon.com/Dahon-Speed-F...ct_top?ie=UTF8 you'll see the better gearing mentioned for that year (or two). By 2012, the Speed D7s were being switched back to the crappier gearing, in some cases with no warning. The 2010 and 2011 D7s were the sweet spot and are worth looking for. Note, however, that the earlier models didn't come with the fancy front luggage head tube blocks like the 2012+ D7s now do. That's about the only con with the better geared bikes.

desastar

Not sure why you had to replace the rear hub, unless Dahon had cheapened the parts recently. My D7 which is below the P8 had hubs that allows you to change cassettes. When I bought a rear wheel from a P8, I ran a 10 speed cassette.

AvenirFolder

A lot of them had freewheels. Not all were blessed with cassettes like the ones I snagged. That's the problem with used Speed D7s -- you have to make sure you know what's in the rear end. Especially if you're thinking of upgrades down the track.

12boy

Both gear inch calculators I use, one of which being Sheldon's, result in 89.8 gear inches for a 20 inch wheel with 38 mm/ 1.5 inch tires, a 52 tooth chain ring and an 11 tooth cog. how do you get 94 ish gear inches?

AvenirFolder

Depends on the tire size you're running:

1.5in cheapo that came with bike (with 52T chainring): 11 cog = 89.8 ; 30 cog = 32.8
1.75in cheapo that came with bike (52T chainring) : 11 cog = 92.2 ; 30 cog = 33.7
2.0in Big Apples per usual upgrade (52T chainring) : 11 cog = 94.5 ; 30 cog = 34.6

The biggest improvement you can make to a small bike is to immediately ditch the crap OEM tires and put on some Big Apples. I use the 2in Big Apple up front and a 1.75in Marathon in rear. HUGE difference in comfort, handling and suspension: Balloonbikes - Schwalbe Professional Bike Tires .

For comparison with 12-28T freewheel:
1.5in cheapo that came with bike (with 52T chainring): 12 cog = 82.2 ; 28 cog = 35.3
1.75in cheapo that came with bike (52T chainring) : 12 cog = 84.4 ; 28 cog = 36.2

The Speed P8s came with the 2.0 Big Apples as standard equipment (once upon a time -- they no longer do). But this one looks nicely specced out and it's marked down to $599: Dahon Speed-P8 Folding Bike - Heavy Duty Commuter Bike – NYCeWheels.com . Of course, ThorUSA's September deal (no, make that steal) easily tops that at $439!!: https://www.thorusa.com/dahon/current/speedp8.htm (gulp, with free shipping in the USA!). If I was looking for a new bike, I'd snap that model up in a micro-second. Great gearing and it comes with double walled rims -- a failing on the part of the Speed D7 if you're looking for a sturdier touring rig. With the 8-speed cassette in place, it's also a breeze to upgrade further. Know in advance that you'll soon succumb to upgrades as referred to at the top of this thread. See also the review titled "Love the old version! New ones are a step down though" via this page: https://www.amazon.com/Dahon-Speed-F...ct_top?ie=UTF8 . To quote: "If you can get a new P8 for $500 or less and do these upgrades its worth it since they cost about $180."

BikeCalc.com - Bicycle Gear Inches Chart

BTW If you're stuck with a 12-28T freewheel (or worse), plug in "47" for the chainring size in the calculator above and watch how the granny gearing goes down. Those riders in hilly areas or thinking of touring under load can ditch the 52T chainring for a 47T or lower version to get the spin needed. They won't have the top range on the flats or downhill but that isn't as important as what they need on the grunts uphill.