Info from Dahon Europe:

"The Curl will be distributed in France, first with a four-speed Sturmey-Archer gear hub, and later a Shimano Nexus 7. Even later with a Nexus 8."

Exactly that was intended with opening this thread.

100% correct - and thanks for the additional hints in this matter.


Ah you noticed that too...something seems odd with the gaps, yes.


It is bent inwards and not slightly, the "peak" of the curve about one chain width high plus 2 or 3 mm.
Maybe intended to be that way for saving room in folded position?
I mean - there are no signs of violence visible at the the tensioner and it would need some force to be bend like that :foo:

Regarding the rack wheels I cannot follow completely, but let me hook in here:

Fully correct - BUT the center of gravity is very, very close to an imaginary line between wheel 1 and 2!
And yes again, that should work like the Brompton outrigger, just not retractable.
I think to know already how to improve that at this Curl.

Yes it does.
Was just too lazy at the first pics to pull out the saddle.

Many thanks again for all the advice, it is highly appreciated :thumb:

I'm indeed happy to read that!

Absolutely correct.

Will ask dealer for confirmation or denial - they must know.

Below I'll try to explain and show the chain thing more comprehensible.

Note that the chain line of the tight strand is totally straight, one can identify the trouser guard and the chain guide (blue circle left).
The red line, nearby parallel to the upper chain line, meets also the most rear nut of the chain tensioner (green arrow).
This part of the tensioner is straight and the nut was placed accidentally perfect to match to the chain line.

But the red arrowed roller axle nuts do not match - would the chain's slack strand be guided straight then had these nuts to be very close to the position of the green rectangles!

For those sharp-eyed who are missing the gravity slack of the chain: Picture was taken with bike standing.

Well, that's fine - and what does that tell us?
Btw, Dahon.eu is not accessible for me :foo:

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_27.jpg

Well, it's interesting to know that the Curl will be sold with different transmissions depending on markets.

From Austria? :foo: DAHON Folding Bicycles by DAHON: Home

[MENTION=258041]Winfried[/MENTION]
Ok, got it now, thanks.
The access issue was just temporary!

Looks like the screws will hit the spoke! Is it possible to reverse the screws?

With regards to the wheel rack, I just don't understand. What's the problem with slapping the same size wheels on the rack? We're not riding it in physics labs issit? :D

No way - that really just looks like, caused by the perspective.
Seems possible, but it is in fact not required.
Maybe you can imagine better with the pic below.

There is no problem - just wait for it and you will see :p
We don't - but physics in labs and on the road are equal.
I thought to have understood at least some laws of physics...but they are different at Dahon carriers...


http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_24.jpg

Well from the pic, it seems that the chain is too close to everything. :eek: In 3D real life, probably not. You're saying the chain tensioner pulley should be in line with the rear sprocket? And its not?

For the higher speed models, Dahon will go for higher speed hubs instead of two sprokets as per Brompton? So the chain tensioner will be the same for all models?

It was my question if it should be NOT in line at a Curl.

I mean at all bikes should the tensioner pulley in line with the (chosen) rear sprocket - am I wrong?
(Excluding the gear shifting process of course.)

That's what I desperately try to explain and illustrate - obviously with questionable success...

Another one; note that the trouser guard is looking exactly into the viewers eye.
One can see the chain bend starting at the right crank/bottom bracket area, increasing until it reaches the pulley of the longer tensioner lever.
From there on, it is decreasing to the rear sprocket.
The bike is standing upside down this time - no gravity slack can be visible.

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_28.jpg

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_29.jpg

It seems there is something wrong with the chain tensioner, it is bent. Is it plastic? My Brompton tensioner came with the wheels not coplanar causing extra noise, but some heating with a hair dryer and bending and cooling like that under cold water fixed it. Shouldn't be like that but plastic isn't always perfect.

Besides that and with all the other rather glaring errors, yours should have either never been sold or been a 50% discount sale. That is inexcusable. I would return it.

Pre-production prototype? Not with the huge development cycle.

I could not tell without having/seeing reference.
Partially; the part with the shorter lever seems to be plastic and the longer lever steel.
You may refer to these pics which were intended to show the plastic hook for the fork which is also part of the tensioner.

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_21.jpg

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_22.jpg

My guess is that the steel stamped part is bent out of proper shape.
[edit] in fact it is plain that this is the problem from the pic further up. I can see the axis of the last jockey wheel is not coplanar. The last portion of the steel part must be parallel to the chain line.

Possibly, but it is odd that both levers are out of shape.

And there is another thing which you can see at this one - the fork and the longer tensioner lever are touching each other in folded position already! So, simply bending it outwards will lead to folding problems. Yes I know that the fork hook is adjustable via the two small Philips screws.
(To be honest - I'm afraid this is intended by Dahon to save folding space only.)

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_16.jpg

Ah so sorry. I am a bit slow in trying to imagine things in 3D :eek: Also I was not brave enough to tell you to go ahead and bend the plate. :twitchy: Thank god for jur. :p But seriously, I see some slots where the screw are nope, strike all that!!, perhaps you can try to loosen them and move it slightly to see if it improves. Or maybe try some shim before you use brute force on the plate. .

Perhaps the shipping box was crushed, bending both hanger and the last linkage. If the last linkage would interfere with the fork, perhaps the chain is too long?

I think I`ll stick to Brompton for now... ;)

It was shipped in the original Dahon box and arrived in very good condition.

Possibly, but I will wait a while to collect information before touching anything at this bike.

Meanwhile was the price lowered - for overwhelming six Euros - and the link changed:
https://www.faltradxxs.de/dahon-curl...lieferbar.html

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_30.jpg

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/x...20I3/I3_31.jpg

Right now I wholeheartedly concur,...this is definitely not up to speed on the build quality.:(

The small wheel is to "lean" the folded bike enough to the side that the weight of the handlebar does not tip it over. I don't know if that is how the kickstarter bikes also came. It was that way on the pro-production.

Washer offset is just strange. I wonder if someone disassembled and reassembled for some reason.

Cable routing was an issue on pre-production but I understand had been addressed. In every situation definitely you want to keep the cables away from both the hinge and the chainwheel.

Dahon EU production is in Taiwan and best likely to work with them directly re the EU bikes.

It is always recommended you have an experienced mechanic assemble and tune your new bike.

There is that hard edge folding bike manufacturers live on----Most bike shops have no interest in folders----Most bikes should be assembled by experienced mechanics. There are always little things that need to be touched up when a bike comes out of the box. There are huge sections of the US and world that do not have shops stocking folding bikes.

Bike Friday and Dahon are both trying to sell through bike shops but not a lot of shops are willing to carry them.

Dahon only builds some bikes in Bulgaria, although it's likely the Curl is made in Taiwan/China since it's a new product:

Folding Bikes by DAHON Dahon Bikes Now Made in Europe ? Folding Bikes by DAHON
Dahon relocates their European production to Bulgaria | MAXCOM

Mine lines up fine and folds fine. BTW, the chain tensioner arms are not infinitely rigid.

The upper tensioner pulley needs to be in line. There is some leeway in where the lower pulley is located.

Yes; yes.

My shipping carton is marked 'Made in China'; I see in post 41 that Blackstrida's carton is marked 'Made in Taiwan'. Hmph. You've authenticated the holographic label, of course.

Attachment 582247

A full diameter wheel #4 will not improve that in the least. It might even exacerbate the folded stability issue.

are you actually suggesting that, although this bike hasn't even been fully distributed yet, it's possible that it's already been counterfeited?