Hi, my name is Mike. It's been 16 years since my last bike ride.

I am looking at folders. I'm figuring on $600-plus for a budget and have been trying to read up on the current lineup of manufacturers and equipment. I've been to two LBS and have ridden a Dahon Vitesse i7. The other one I've ridden seems to be a little outside of the usual here, a Giant Expressway 1.

I thought the Giant to be generally on par with the Dahon, with a couple of nicer features that I really liked at the price point. It has a 130 BCD crankset, the cables run along the frame exposed where they can, it's setup with brazed fittings to accommodate a front derailleur as examples. I think the tires on the Dahon were nicer. I don't know anymore about the 7-speed hub than what a quick look at Sheldon Brown's page tells me. However, I can't say I'm current on all the nuances here. Giant is clearly not a "big player" in folders (sorry, couldn't resist saying that). However, I'm under the impression that they are a decent brand.

So, I'd like to hear from folks that have seen / heard of / or actually had a Giant Folder, particularly an Expressway. Or any other illumination to cast more light here.

I had the predecessor to the Expressway, the Halfway. I really wanted to like it but wound up selling it, for a bunch of reasons.

On the plus side, the fold was relatively quick, the monotube fork was cool, and it was reasonably priced.

On the minus side, the weight was centered so far over the rear wheel that I kept doing unintentional wheelies. Really. I'm a bike mechanic, and it's the only bike I've owned that did this. Sometimes I'd forget, and roll away from a stop sign with my front wheel in the air. Whoops.

Also, kinda heavy - 32 lb. give or take - and parts were relatively low-rent. Add to that, Giant doesn't have the best reputation for stocking proprietary parts on all of their bikes, much less folders - meaning if you need a proprietary part at some point, you might be out of luck. A friend had a Halfway and needed a chainguard - no luck there, Giant dealers couldn't help him, and he was chainguard-less last I heard.

I'm sure there are some folks here happy with their Giant folders, but honestly, I think there are better choices out there.

I had a Giant Halfway for several years and liked it a lot. A very cool bike, got lots of admiring comments. Had some handling quirks and not quite enough top end but I didn't think those things were really the point. Anyway the frame failed one day and as Halfway's were no longer in production Giant honored their warranty by substituting an Expressway 1. They actually wanted to give me an Expressway 2, but I had friends in high places and an Expressway 1 is a much better deal than an Expressway 2. It is actually an 8sp, not 7 like the Exp1. It also has fenders and a (nice) rack that the 2 does not have. I haven't changed a thing on mine, not even the seat. Oh I did change the tires, but only because I had some newish Schwalbe Marathons on my old 1/2way that the dealer swapped over. I let them keep whatever came with the Expressway.

Thank you for posting. Everything that I read here helps.

By the way, the prospective use is primarily recreational for about 25 to 100 miles per week half the year. I live among and will also visit some pretty hilly terrain. I anticipate riding primarily on paved roads and trails, with an occasional gravel road thrown in, maybe hauling a maximum of 20 lbs of gear or groceries.

I am spending quite a bit of time reading here and elsewhere, getting up to speed on several decades of evolution since I was riding and building bikes (more) seriously in the 70's. ...like learning about cassette clusters and freehubs; who would have thought?

While nothing is forever, I would like to get a bike that will facilitate replacing worn or damaged parts and/or a bit of part swapping; dare I even say upgrading over time? Evaluating the ability to change out hubs, wheels, brakes, clusters, derailleurs, chain rings and cranksets seems like it will be "relatively" straight forward if I understand frame and bracket spacing and put some time into evaluating each item.

On the other hand, if I were to damage the handlebar stem and/or quick release and the manufacturer came up dry for a replacement part, or I just wanted to change the factory handlebar stem out for a different one, is there any standard whereby the fork tube might readily accommodate a different unit?
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Yes.