Nice work.

If you want some ideas for light weight parts take a look at my build:
Tyrell CSI build

There are still a lot of areas where you can shave weight but it gets costly quickly.

So, 2 years since I got it and the Dahon has seen some serious use.

It’s been on tour around Europe, gravel riding in Bavaria, on holiday to Cornwall, had a couple of months in Wales and recently 6 weeks commuting across London.

It’s been on buses, planes and just about every sort of German train.

The rear rack collapsed but I had a Blackburn rack ready to go on.

I have just swapped the new handlebar in. The FSA external bottom bracket is pretty short lived but I have removed the seals, cleaned and repacked it a couple of times. Easily done. Drivetrain now has a few thousand KM on it but still looks ok. New shift cables and housing, new brake pads, that’s it.

I’m very glad I went with the Magura hydraulic rim brakes as I have ridden with some serious weight on board.

All in all a great acquisition and a keeper, for sure!

What Front chainring do you run? I'm interested in the small one as the top seem a 50 something teeth.

thanks

Standard racing compact (as that’s what I had in the parts bin). 50/34, 11-30 ten speed cassette.

It’s a bit overgeared. A 13-30 cassette would be perfect.

Just got this one too for €10 - looks like a project!

Different branding but the geometry is the same.

3x7 Microshift, flat tyres, no seatpost, but should be an easy fixer upper.

All finished, rides perfectly.

So the white DLT above sold pretty much straight away for €130, which netted a nice profit, offsetting the costs of pimping the silver Dahon a bit.

I’m currently in Strasbourg and the bike is running perfectly. Newly cabled and with fresh brakes, I repacked the folding pedals as they were squeaking horribly, everything works as it should and it’s a joy to ride.

If you don’t need a particularly small fold, then I highly recommend these Dahon 26” folders. They ride exactly like a standard hybrid.

Back to pimping the Espresso: it’s about to receive a Swytch front wheel e-bike conversion.

has anyone put shock forks on the front of a D21?

What are you hoping to gain? Roger

a smoother ride I have it set up as a mountain bike. also considering a rear ewheel or middrive motor?

Hi Roger,

When I am working away, I will be able to more comfortably park and live temporarily further away from my destination and commute in.

I will hopefully save some cash. The Swytch kit works well.

is that a question for me?

I am considering neither as the front wheel Swytch conversion fulfills my requirements. It’s a decent piece of kit, although installation took a while.

I also serviced the external bottom bracket cups whilst I had the crank arm off so that took a bit of time. It’s well worth doing this if you run an external BB. They won’t be perfect afterwards but you can extend their life massively.

have any of you figured out the best way to attach an ebike battery to the frame?

You have various options.

a smaller bottle style battery on the bottle bosses under the downtube.

a rack battery on... a rear rack.

the Swytch handlebar battery is a decent solution. It’s easy to remove. There is a mild effect on the steering as it is slowed by the extra weight up there but you get used to it quickly enough.

hope this helps.

Dahon Espresso D21 electric conversion project.

How about some pics of the bike with the kit installed. I'm contemplating getting the Swytch Bike kit myself,...

• Oops apologies. I will upload photos tomorrow!

a pretty terrible photo but it’ll give you an idea.

I love my Swytch kit. Bought 2, 1st one is on a tandem. Other will go on my wife's road bike to keep up with my Chameleon

On a smaller folder their Brompton block mount would be ideal.

Crisis time!

The seat tube cracked all the way round; fortunately the guys at the theatre here in Belgium could fashion a rough and ready repair.
It looks pretty awful, but I don’t care at all, it just has to hold!
A month of Begian pavé proved too much for it!