Hi, everybody.

I'm in need of a budget folding bike for sort of casual/recreational free-ride across the city once a week. And by "across" I mean literally, what means it won't always be pavement, or a good pavement at least. Please also note that roads we have here, in Eastern Europe, aren't that good as you enjoy in its western part Depending on location, you may sometimes expect an almost real off-road experience without leaving your city.

I've selected Dahon Espresso D24 as the one which seem to fit my requirements ideally, but the fact its folding mechanism is located right at the middle of its bearing beam bothers me. This design is known for its unreliability (I adore Montague's solution to this problem, but their good bikes (NOT Express modification, for example) are too expensive and a bit hard to get around here). It has an additional supporting bar above it, but I'm still in doubt. Will it survive this mild abuse I'm planning to put it through? May be somebody could share their experience?

Just for a reference, here is what I see as "free-ride": you start at a wide street with a good pavement, turn into some small avenue with worn out pavement, then at whim you move out of streets into courtyards or some park, bunnyhop over a couple of high curbs (we rarely enjoy bike-friendly environment here, curbs often are pretty high), find yourself on top of some mild slope without any track or pavement, and run down the slope, then leave the yards heading back to a street and continue riding a good pavement.

Not something I would attempt on a Dahon if I wanted it to last. They even specifically warn you against it. Dahons are built lightweight, for you to be able to fold and carry them, not like mountain bikes.