This video (including the Princess Leia style hologram projection) is from Dahon USA, suggesting that the bike will be sold in the US. If they price this right, it could be a more affordable alternative to the Brompton G-Line and Bike Friday All-Packa, even suitable for mean city streets of the Northeast.

It's on the Dahon USA website, 'In Stock' + 'Add to Cart'.

https://usa.dahon.com/collections/bi...45074858868925



$899.

Oh wow. That's an interesting price point. They're sure to take sales from Brompton

Depends.
- How are the disc calipers? Are the discs offset 15mm inboard (as on Launch D8) so you can't replace the calipers without replacing the hubs? It says "Safety disc brakes", that usually means b@stard size offset 15mm. EDIT: GAH! Yep, video says they're offset. And usually the factory cable calipers are junk.

The higher frame main tube provides a better angle on the Deltech, a deeper triangle, that adds strength.

I'm gonna look deeper at the specs...
- Not a low enough gear, IMO.

What would they not do that you would reasonably want them to do in a $900 bike?

Replace to smaller chainring?

Geez, sometimes I feel like you look at every new folding option with the intent to pick it apart, so you don't have to buy it.

For my part, the Deltech cable is super-ugly, but maybe I could overlook that, since it is 1/4 the price of a G Line and probably rolls more efficiently too...

It's got the chunky tires, disc brakes and seemingly rugged build.

To add to John's original thoughts, it might also be a Bike Friday Diamond Llama alternative.

Deltech is one of the smarter things Dahon has invented. In actuality, "lighter than air, stronger than steel, cheaper than dirt." It really improves hinge tightness and durability. My bike didn't have it, but I fab'ed one from Kevlar line and it is a big improvement. Highly recommended for any bifold.

I don't get any joy in picking apart a design. But the brake issue is a notable flaw; I know Dahon thought they were doing good in offsetting the discs inward 15mm, but it's a compatibility issue, the calipers cannot be replaced without also replacing the hubs, as someone on here did for their new Launch D8. This would not be bad if the cable calipers worked well over time, but if they are like the ones seen on the Launch D8, the problem is easy contamination with grit into the cam and ball internals.

Now the other two new Dahons that John highlighted, those have me excited, it looks like Dahon is swinging for the fences on those. Minor quibble is that they consider those "performance", so usually mount 52/42 or 53/39 cranks; These days I like the ones with 16T drop. But that's easily replaced to a 110mm BCD crank. The carbon bike looks sharp, but so does that aluminum model, and man am I curious about the smoothness of the welds; Either they are a combined MIG/TIG puddle weld process that produces a larger molten area which gravity flattens (which requires rotating the fixtured frame while welding), or they "body finish" it, use a hardening putty over the welds. I'm seeing both used on welds in the industry, it'll be good to find out how Dahon is doing it. I think you also have a Zizzo Liberte, IIRC, the weld on top at the main tube and seat tube, was noticeably smoother than all the other welds, that might be a puddle weld, because that weld is the most critical in fatigue. (Oh no, I'm thinking of John; You have a Forte, and I think the top has a gusset and normal looking weld.)

I hope for Dahon's success. Now let's see if the two 2X bikes above make it to the USA market. I thought Zizzo would field a disc bike first, but maybe Dahon has seen the light and will bring great models at good prices to the USA.

Looking more closely at the inboard brake that Duragrouch is concerned about getting contaminated, I think they did it to better protect the brake disc during folded transport.

To me, the probability of them getting hit and bent during folded transit is more likely than it getting ruined from contamination.

Dahon engineers took their calculated risk, and most likely with more knowledge of failure mode frequency than we've got. (through warranty claims & dealer/shop conversations)

Pix on this page: https://usa.dahon.com/products/hemin...45074858868925

Hope the build quality is better than the proof reading.



(I'm pretty sure that 6'3" is taller than 4'9")

Oh no question on the motivations for mounting the disc further inboard. But to preclude needing to upgrade the calipers, they could provide ones that are decently sealed.

To solve this without new hubs, I'm picturing in my mind, a 15mm thick spacer, not with thru holes for the disc bolts into the hub, but countersunk bolt holes to attach the spacer, and then between those, threaded holes to attach the disc. This might put less bending load on the bolts. Then replace with a standard, quality caliper, assuming the frame and fork mounts are normal, with the 15mm spacing all on the OEM calipers, or have a removable 15mm spacer at the caliper mount. If the latter, one would think they could just mount a different caliper, leaving the spacer in place, but I think better calipers might not clear the spokes on the inboard side; the OEM calipers are one-side actuated, only on the outboard side.

Something I appreciate about the Hemingway's design is the horizontal top tube--that should keep the bike from falling over when you stop with it between your legs and take your hands off the bars. This is an annoyance on my Bike Fridays.

It will never happen, I know I'm in the tiny minority, but I wish it had V brakes instead of discs. More robust, lighter, simpler, stops fine.

Higher top tube: It's a bit higher, not a huge amount because the head tube is the same length, but may help when stopped, I've noticed what you said, and, it will reduce the moment on the seatpost a bit, always good.

Brakes: Unless the gravel trail is always bone dry, discs should really help with rim durability on those 20" wheels; I see how you use your All-Packa, it sees a lot of mud and wet dirt. That also allows the rim sidewalls to be less thickness, and hopefully, for the same rim weight, they put that weight at the spokes holes for better fatigue resistance there, that's always how I've worn out road wheels. My cheaper Dahon rims that are doubled on each side but single thickness in the center at the spoke holes, have held up surprisingly well in that area, I think it's thicker than their double-wall rims there. However the thick sidewalls are near end of life due to rim pad wear, with road-use only.

In the video they say it has "231lbs of cargo carrying capability". Is this total weight capacity, or in ADDITION to the weight of the rider? Dahon is INTENTIONALLY playing games, trying to avoid legal responsibilities, by speaking in riddles concerning their specifications...

Yeah, I agree. The change in specs with Deltech from 300 lbs capacity to suddenly back to 231 lbs with no explanation, even saying how Deltech has *raised* the capacity to 231 lbs when that was what it was originally, really is shady. Plus there's no printed specs or warranty in with their new bikes, just a bike in a box. So people that bought based on 300 lbs and now the website says 231 lbs for the same model, have no proof of 300 lbs spec.

I'm not a fan of Dahon but I think it's a translation problem. Not much effort in quality control.... which kind of represents their bikes too.

Or they consider people cargo.

Which makes me glad they don't run an airline.

Respectfully... nah. Dahon's headquarters are in the USA, and that's who does their website. I know this because I pointed out to Dahon USA how their requirement that their bikes MUST be assembled by a Dahon dealer for warranty to be valid (even when bikes are ONLY sold direct to customers, so this can cost up to $150) was against US Code of Federal Regulations (which requires that bikes be capable of being assembled by a person of normal intellect and ability, plus the bikes arrive fully assembled except for seatpost insertion), and recent court rulings on Right to Repair, and Dahon promptly changed "MUST" to "SHOULD" in both areas on the website pertaining to warranty. Cause, effect. The 300 lb spec with Deltech had been published and touted by Dahon for YEARS (since rollout of Deltech), and then suddenly (in December 2024 I think) it was changed on their website back to what it was, 231 lbs, and, the promise that Deltech doubled the frame warranty to 10 years was also gone. Whether those who purchased before that change who have a frame issue after the normal 5 year USA warranty, have recourse, I don't know. But I have screengrabs from before and after the change. But the biggest "goof" (or not) was Dahon USA advertising the Launch D8 available for sale as with "New Jaws Hinge" (debuted for 2024 season I think), which they have videos of, touting test results of improvement over the original Jaws hinge, and then those who bought Launches from Dahon based on the online specs, found out their stock is all from 2022, with the old hinge, they have not received any with the new hinge yet. Yet they said what was sold was what was advertised. THAT was a big effing deal, and I called them on it with mountains of proof, their own PR pics and videos, and, along with the changing weight spec and warranty issues, I won the day. I seem to be the only one that pushed back hard after being blown off by them. So I think Dahon USA is fully aware of the discrepancies, and hopes no one notices.

These new designs from Dahon look good, and my experience is that quality is not bad; The failures I experienced were due to design defects, but quality was there because that was consistent on all the same bikes. They even had a countermeasure. But was that offered to all Dahon customers before the frames cracked (as I had suggested)? No. Dahon will advertise their folders as able to substitute for full-size, non-folding bikes, and even claim better efficiency and faster speed (Dr. Hon published a paper in the past two years touting this), but when something on the frame fails, the word is that folding bikes are not designed to be substitutes or be as durable as non-folders. So Dahon's customer service and transparency in addressing problems, specs, warranty, etc, all need vast improvement. And that's assuming the good new designs even make it to the USA.

tl;dr

On their page for the Hemingway Gravel, starting about 2/3 of the way down, they say that Loading Capacity is "up to 231 lbs." A bit further down, in the "Adaptable for most riders" section, they show "231 lb. max." next to a silhouette of a man and woman and above a weight.

In the bottom section of that page, they say: "Max rider weight: 231 lbs."

It seems pretty clear to me that this is the maximum loading of the bike, including rider, accessories and luggage that isn't included.

I think it's a bit more straightforward than what they do with motorcycles, where they have a Gross Vehicle weight, which doesn't include the weight of the bike, battery, fluids, rider, accessories and luggage.

Which makes me glad I'm not getting another Dahon...

No, definitely not straightforward, as the entire spiel was about how their folders can accommodate weight capacities of up to 300lbs. Seems like, as usual, it's another Dahon BS copout.

thank you for sharing a video for dahon's spec

I agree. And of course we'll never hear why they cut back on the weight spec from 300 to 231 lbs, though I highly suspect it is the Deltech cable attachment points. But really, it's about rider weight; The weight of my rear rack and panniers doesn't put more load into the hinge if centered over the axle fore/aft, and the way I have them mounted, completely behind the rear axle, that weight actually partly *counteracts* the bending load into the hinge from the rider weight. Rear cargo load just puts more load into the rear wheel (bearings, axle, spokes, rim) and frame dropouts, and front cargo load into the front wheel and fork in the same way. It's the rider weight near the middle of the frame, that stresses the frame in longitudinal bending, and torsion under standing climbing, that stress the frame the most. Cargo load directly over the wheels, within reasonable limits, is cake.

It's time Dahon ditched that hokey cable and make a better frame.

It just looks silly.

They've made frames with two tubes but they were more hokey IMO, the top tube ends butted up against each other, and thicker than a cable because they needed to be, you can't push on a cable.

I think Deltech is brilliant, because it works on the tension side so can be thin and light, and my fabricating a similar addition to my Speed frame works even better than I imagined, it really tightened up the hinge. Trying to do a hinge across two tubes is a lot heavier and more difficult. If the hinge were a problem, like originally on my Speed, needing adjustment about once a month and always have a bit of looseness while climbing, or when locking the front brake and rocking fore/aft, I'd agree, but my improvised Deltech solved that. Otherwise, I'd be searching for a better design with a solid beam with no hinge there.

If any problem crops up with Deltech, my guess it would be with the mounts and not the cable, plus, the cable is easily replaced at any marine shop that fabs sailboat rigging. "Can you make me one of these?" "Sure. Wait here." That's what I was going to do when the "add-on deltech" was promised but never appeared. But then I decided that a kevlar or spectra line around the head tube and bottom bracket shell, was not only cheaper and easier, but more structurally sound than small welded tabs to attach a cable to, especially with dynamic shock loading and not just static loads.

Dahon is mounting a Deltech cable on several types of frames, several types of hinge and even several frame material (the brand new carbon framed Telodon has also a Deltech cable).

So instead of being a technical feature, it could be a kind of comparative advertising that discredit the competitors bikes which have no Deltech cable?

That's a good theory! Because the white paper by the Dr. REALLY hyped Deltech and other frame stiffeners like the double ovalized diagonal tube (what they call a down tube I think), and yeah those things work, but not blowing away the rest of the industry, though the report sure sounds like it. But the biggest difference is on their own bifold hinge frames, and other clones. So I think you may be on to something, Jipe. IMO, if they rebound in the market, it'll be because of Deltech *AND* offering features that customers have been begging for *AND* at good price for the market, and oh yes, improved customer service and accurate advertising, because word travels at the speed of electrons now.

Manufacturer adds hokey cable to increase strength to hokey frame.

Lowers load limit anyway.

How bad was the load limit BEFORE the cable?