Vintage Dahon age?
 

I just found a vintage Dehon diagonal steel frame 3 speed bike with orange fenders and an orange chain guard. It has a Sun Tour internal hub and a knob on the crank arm. Can anyone tell me it's age? Decals say Hon California. Looking at photographs, it doesn't appear to be a 1982 model, but is older than 1985, I think.

post some pictures,

Is it stainless steel?

Yes, it is stainless steel. I can't post pictures until I have posted 10 messages. It has wire closure clamps, which is why I'm thinking it is older than 1985. Also the knob on the crank arm is in a different place than the 1985s I have seen. I'll post pictures asap.

Is it this model?

These are collectable.

https://www.togoparts.com/marketplac...l-folding-bike

vintage Dahon age?
 

Wow! Possibly collectible?
The one in the picture is close, but not identical.
The chain guard on mine is different. It's just a circle around the cog (right word?) that is slightly bigger in diameter than the chain and the cog.
Other than that, they look the same.
Thanks!

I just looked up dahon on Wikipedia and there was a photograph of my bike labeled 'original 1982 model". Wow!!! I had no idea it was that old. I understand the original owner rode it a lot in Europe and Asia. I'm just the second owner. I just wanted a a cool bike to ride. Now I'm almost scared to ride it- don't want to damage it.

Just ride your bike. It's not all that valuable.

Ones persons trash is another persons treasure.

I used to sell Dahon Parts to a guy in Philly who collected these stainless ones, At that time he had almost 50. But he was also trying to be the guy who would find them at garage sales for a song and not pay market price.

Check out completed sells on Ebay to get an idea for these stainless steel Dahon Mariners,.

Bill is right I suppose, they are not worth that much, BUT who doesn't like cool rare bikes.

I've noted the prices on early model SS Classics have shot up the last few years.

They have a significant following in certain parts of Asia, where they are collected, restored, hotrodded and rallied.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e97fe3f0ac.jpg

In his magnum opus on all things Sturmey-Archer, Tony Hadland reports the SunTour 3-speed hubs are actually Sturmey-Archer AWs in disguise. I don't know if there's a date code stamped on these the way Sturmeys are marked.

BTW, despite the "Hon California" labeling, the only Hon folding bikes ever manufactured in the USA were the prototypes in Dr. Hon's garage. All the early production bikes were made in Taiwan. Here's Dr. (David) Hon's brother Henry doing a random production check back in the day:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3194bb0c61.jpg