devinfan

Long term review: 200km+ or my daily 20km round trip commute, still my go-to and favourite rider. I’ve ridden my brother’s Brompton super-light that he got after being inspired by riding this bike, but I still enjoy riding this one more. Bought my daughter a Mezzo, which is a great bike, but again still like the Classic more. If you’re new to these, you’ll want to immediately change the saddle, crankset, brakes and tires. Do that and you’ll have an amazing and relatively light bike.

devinfan

26.0 lbs on the nose as pictured

Ron Damon

305 wheels, I take it? What's the wheelbase?

devinfan

Ron the wheelbase is exactly 3’ and the wheels are 16 x 1.75

Ron Damon

I ride an similar pony, with essentially the same wheelbase and same tire size, though it is a bit lighter at around 20lbs. I reckon the reason that you enjoy this bike a lot is similar to my mine: the wheelbase (91-92cm) coupled with the small wheels makes it extremely agile and nimble with a bat-out-of-hell acceleration off the line, leading to a high fun factor. Not the fastest, not the cushiest, but very fun.

devinfan

Yes agile and nimble describes it perfectly. It may not be the fastest on the road but I did keep up with a spandex-clad roadie on a carbon Colnago all the way home, shaved legs and all. Maybe he was having a bad day! 😂 20lbs is very impressive for your Pony, I will have to take another look!🧐

3speedslow

Great to read that some of the early Dahons are getting ridden and a shout out! What crankset did you start with since you have a steel one piece on there now?

Reddleman

There is a stainless steel one currently on my local auction website/eBay knockoff with the buyer asking silly numbers for it, albeit for one that appears to be good condition. Tempting but ouch, my wallet! Lovely looking bike though, although I don’t know how practical it would be for my current use and I don’t exactly have vast amounts of storage for N+1.

Ron Damon

This SSteel one is for sale in a local Dahon group. Asking price is under $600. You gotta really want one at that price for you can build yourself a Gust for that much.

Reddleman

The one for sale here is priced at accepting starting bids over 900 usd, so surprisingly no one has bidded yet…

tcs

Just 4~5 years ago in my local market, you could pick up a SS for under $150USD and a garden variety Classic III for under $100 easy. Like all things cycling since COVID, prices have shot up.




Relatively heavy, but after 40 years the fold is still impressive:



In East Asia there are entire owners' clubs devoted to this bike.

devinfan

I started with the Dahon folding one piece steel crank, which literally weighs 5lbs on its own. It’s unbelievable. I replaced it with my favourite one piece crank of all time, an SR Tubular (hollow) Cr-Mo crank. It’s very light and I just love the way it looks. You can use a converter on these bikes but it means removing some of the seat-tube, which I’m not really into.

devinfan

The fold is not as stylish as the Brompton, my brother is able to fold his with a flourish while mine takes a little fiddling. It also has a larger footprint, but I’ve gotten to the point where I can fold it with my eyes closed, just from practice. Here they are side by side:

devinfan

That’s a lot of jingle, I paid $100 for mine when I bought it. The one pictured is all original, with the seasickness-inducing saddle and boat-anchor crank. It’s a shame Dahon didn’t spec this bike with a few different parts, because the frame is double-butted stainless steel and actually really beautiful. Even the bolts, seatoost, and handlebar are stainless and lightweight, the parts don’t live up to it at all. When I rode the stock bike after purchasing it I didn’t think I’d be able to ride it at all, it was terrible. However, if you just make the right changes and (critically) re-pack all the bearings and adjust all the hinges it completely transforms.

tds101 

Maybe not the correct color, and still a bit high priced, but $250 for a fixer upper is doable,...https://www.ebay.com/itm/12510010504...IAAOSwxYxh4Y-D

These are still wonderful bikes, and historically important.

tcs

What are the style point scores for the two bikes?

Will the Classic fly 'airline legal'? Yep! And in a standard rectangular suitcase, too.

tcs

Dahon has offered some 'minimally folding' bikes over the years, because not everybody in the world needs or wants the smallest fold possible. These are mostly 'thin' folders for stowing in apartments/flats, hallways, etc.

Their latest minimal folding bike, the D-Zero, is styled as a homage to the 40-year-old Classic:

tcs

tcs

tcs

Schwinnsta

I had a chance about five years ago to buy a stainless steel one for $100. I knew better.

tds101 

If only this was available in North America,...

devinfan

Didn’t know this existed! I like it!

devinfan

Just looked it up. The D-Zero costs $1300 and weighs exactly the same (26 lbs) as my stainless. I don’t quite understand that with modern parts, especially since it doesn’t fold…

tds101 

It was the equivalent of about $700 in Japan when released. $1300 is scalping at it's finest.