Can we all talk about something else please? I'm finding the Fixed Gear forum SO much more entertaining lately.

I agree with you James, I am finalising the upgrading of my Dahon Jetstream P8 (2003-model)

I bought a stock 2003-model in November 2005 at a 100 Euro discount at my LBS. It was standing there for 21 months, untill I dropped by.

-I changed the stock Ritchey-tires for Schwalbe Marathons
-Added a bell
-Mounted a copple of ErgoControl-barends
-SKS-rear fender
-Taped some Tesa 'anti-skidding'-tape on both pedals
-Found a great and very cheap bottle-cageholder for 5 Euro which you can clip on the seatpost
-Ordered an extended seatpost from ThorUSA
-Got a beautiful CC (Cateye Enduro8) for my birthday

And now I am all set and ready for some touring if only the weather would improve a little.
Since November I've been out riding almost every weekend, before that I had not ridden a bike for 6 years.
Thanks to this forum and thanks to all of you posting here I re-discovered cycling and I'm really into folding bikes now, where I used to think folders were poor quality and only made for on boats or on holidays, I now am convinced I will never ever buy anything else (when this one is wrecked)

Anyway, just to say not every-one who's new to folding bikes, goes for the cheaper DT. I am more into Dahon, Birdy and Swift. Maybe also BF, but they don't fold as great as the others.

Tom

So you see, I am not all over the DT-stuff.

sooooo you have one of those illustrous sks fenders ???
pictures please ( or it didnt happen...lol )

i assume you have a tire less than 20 x 2.00 as it is almost impossible to find a fender which fits the big apples on the dahons ....

thor

Thor,

I have the clip-on fender

I dont have the big-apples as my Jetstream 2003 has got this very small front-fork, and I opted for the Marathons.
No pics right now, my camera is broke. But I am sure you remember how a 2003 Jetstream looks like. It's white

I like my forums to reflect what types and brands of bikes people are really purchasing and using in their daily lives. I do so resent too much attention given to any one bike's brand name-only it's style and intended use plus the numerous ways of upgrading explored here. If you want a particular make discussed intently, the maker should have it's own website and maintain it's own forum for these fan's own discussion and enjoyment. I feel all of the bike forums should be more or less neutral-or at least attractive to all users. And it is the fourm member's responsibility to clearly identify what they are posting in the new thread's introduction title as to let everyone decide if they want to avoid that thread-or eagerly read.

Anything else wastes time and space.

Personally I disagree with most of your post. I like the fact that ALMOST ALL people talk in depth about their mods here. I hated having to go from the Dahon forum to the BF forum to ...

It is like having one stop shopping here. I can talk in depth about my DT, BF, Swift, Dahon or Brompton and have lively conversations. I think in general this forum is quite vendor neutral. Regardless of what your personal bent or preference is, it is very good that lots of people ARE buying DTs. Ultimately they will realize the shortcomings and transition to other brands as they better understand their needs. Quite a few may never move on as well.

In a way what you are advocating is censorship and I abhor almost all forms of it save those that would materially harm people. Each company has their honeymoon phase and this is sort of DTs. Next year most of you will be complaining about some other brand that is the topic du jour! Rarely have I seen such enthusiasm for a product that has such a low price relative to its competitors. It is like buying a Yugo and getting a Chevrolet at that price.

I have a many folders and the DT is probably the best bang for $$$ of any of them. Will it be my next bike? No; a titanium Brompton and a Merc will be and then another BF. Is a DT my favorite folder? No, my Swift is. One thing I can say about DT is that no one has given me better customer service in the folding bike world than Yan. Better than BF, Dahon, Brompton, Swift, etc. I have had the pleasure and at times the displeasure of dealing with some of these companies. Nobody has ever been more responsive after the sale than Yan@Downtube. Out of my current bikes I have 3 Dahons, 2 DTs (& 2 more on order), 1 BF, 1 Swift, 1 Merc on order and 2 Bromptons (& 1 more on order) so I would say I am in a pretty good position to comment on many of the different companies.

I think that the less people make this an issue, the sooner it will blow over. I know that people just getting into the folder market are often shocked at the prices for some of these. It is good that there are more inexpensive, reasonably good entry level choices other than just Dahon. It takes a great leap of faith to plunk down $650 for an entry level Brompton or $1000 for a BF. At some point I am sure there will be critical mass and people will migrate to the DT specific web site mostly due to constant bashing of their opinions here. When that happens this entire forum will lose something. From what I see the major influx of new blood here is DT buyers and that helps keeps this forum from stagnating. Ultimately they will get more curious about other brands but if you drive them away now they might never come back. How many other new owners do you see coming to these forums? It isn't like there is yet a huge demand for folders. Yes, we have seen the light but others are quite so lucky.

Generally we are very civil here and I hope it stays that way.

Hey, I feel like I can express my joy about a product. I have just joined this forum, and I get some flack for making two post about DT. Sorry, I was excited but you guys/gals(koffee) need to seriously chill.

That was the point of my post prior to yours. Enjoy your DT, I enjoy mine!

That was not the point of Koffee's post. It was that as moderator, it was evident that there were numerous posts from the same individuals under different IDs, so that it was beginning to smell an awful lot like processed ham up in this forum, for whatever reason.

I like DT threads but it's good of Koffee to let us know if something's rotten in Denmark.

Sorry for butting in, but I just had to say "Damn, Wav."


You're just missing a Birdy, Moulton, Raleigh 20, and a Strida. With those, you'd be THE complete folding bike encyclopedia. :D

Funny you should mention some of the others. I am looking at trying to get a "new" Birdy but so far all I've been able to come up with is the old version in the US and shipping is steep from Europe. I have ridden an old bird cage Moulton and it wasn't my type though I appreciate many of its design elements. As for the Raleigh I rode one and like it more than I thought I would. I spent some time on V1nce's when I was in Rotterdam for a while. I was just in DC and a guy offered to sell me his for cheap and I almost bought it. Unfortunately 2 things kept me from snapping it up right then, no way to take it home (and I was leaving that night) and I really don't need another project bike but I most likely WILL pick one up in the future. Then I'd slap on some good tires and a 8spd Nexus int. hub., Brooks springer saddle and a few other bits I have laying around. :D

As for the Strida I really thought long and hard about one but I really don't need a single speed anything bike. It would be almost worthless to me and in reality my Xootr scooter would be better for me than a Strida and darn near as fast. I also feel that by the time you option up the Strida to where it is truly usable it becomes quite spendy and with the new price increases going into effect it becomes an even worse value probably surpassing the Brompton for what I would consider the worst value. That may seem like a contradiction in some ways since I own several of them but a Brompton is pretty much a one-trick-pony but if you need that one trick they are pretty useful. So now my current project bike with begin with the Ti Brompton and I don't know exactly where it will end but I do have ideas.

Next project after that will be another DT. I plan to start with a int. hub new model DT and then add disc brakes and some other goodies to it. It might turn into a BikeForums version of "Pimp My Ride" or "Overhaulin' " when I get done.

@ Wav. Excellent and well thought out posts, i am with you all the way! And just for the record i don't even own a DT, just the aformentioned Twenty (glad you liked it Wav, from you that is high praise indeed) and a Kwikstep. That is probably all i'll say about the matter here.

One thing I like about this forum is reading the experiences of people who have used different brands of folder. After all, we can't all buy one of each, although Wavshrdr seems to be trying ;).

So I welcome people's experiences with DT, Birdy, Brompton, Swift, whatever, and don't worry if one brand seems to be getting more than its share of attention for a while. Granted, I haven't been reading most of the DT threads, lately, but I don't mind them being there. And hopefully I can share some useful knowledge on Dahon and Bike Friday from time to time.

By the way, I also have a Raleigh Twenty, which is now about 90% finished. These projects take me a while.

The new monocoque Birdy designs are beautiful. I'm a bit surprised, though, that they haven't started showing up in the U.S. since they were announced more than half a year ago.

However, I think you should stop dickering with us, cease your Ti Brompton, DT, and Raleigh 20 charade, and just get what you're destined to get anyway: a Quest - THAT would be a truly pimped ride.

Oh- but this a DT thread isn't it? ;)

If i may answer that last comment, sure as soon as i have 5600 spare Euro's i'll be getting a Quest ha ha. Not too likely, lovely machines though. But i think i would sooner buy a Greenspeed Trike or maybe a Hurricane Bent. Or, for that money, a Greenspeed, 2 DT's and 2 shopper bikes.

"Personally I disagree with most of your post. I like the fact that ALMOST ALL people talk in depth about their mods here. I hated having to go from the Dahon forum to the BF forum to ...

It is like having one stop shopping here. I can talk in depth about my DT, BF, Swift, Dahon or Brompton and have lively conversations. I think in general this forum is quite vendor neutral. Regardless of what your personal bent or preference is, it is very good that lots of people ARE buying DTs. Ultimately they will realize the shortcomings and transition to other brands as they better understand their needs. Quite a few may never move on as well.

In a way what you are advocating is censorship and I abhor almost all forms of it save those that would materially harm people. Each company has their honeymoon phase and this is sort of DTs. Next year most of you will be complaining about some other brand that is the topic du jour! Rarely have I seen such enthusiasm for a product that has such a low price relative to its competitors. It is like buying a Yugo and getting a Chevrolet at that price." -Wavshrdr

What I was trying to state was not censorship, but clarifiication of thread names when they are created as to eliminate wasting time clicking on subjects I or others have absolutely no interest in. If I do not like the topic I need information to decide it is worth my time to read or not. The only censorship that I believe in and use is self-censorship. In television, radio, reading material, movies, internet, or any other mass communication or program selections offered, there should be only one rule. If I do not like it for any reason, I can turn it off or walk away. If you are too young to do that, your parents or guardians do that for you. No fuss-no mess. Anything else is real censorship. You don't have to look very far for censorship. Look at the garbage TV, movies, the internet and others are offering. That is true no choice censorship.

Hm. Maybe you can convince Wav you could store it for him. Tell him it'll save overseas shipping costs. ;)

OMG- a DT thread that was hijacked instead of vice versa! I will have to bookmark that as this MUST be a first.

If they made a folding Quest I might be interested. ;)

As for the Birdy's I am quite surprised that the new versions haven't shown up in the US either. I may track one down next month when I am back in Germany. The new designs are quite lovely and I wouldn't mind the Rohloff version.

My plan is to ultimately ween my fleet down to maybe 5 or 6 folders tops. They are great for my kids to ride and it is MUCH more cost effective to buy them ONE good folder than 4 or 5 GOOD normal bikes as they grow. The more time I've spent on them the more I am firmly in the camp of the internal hub. A lot less grease and grime get on your clothes, carrying bag or in my suitcase. So pretty much from this point on if I can't get it in an internal hub version or it isn't easily converted I won't buy it. Based on my usage patterns it it much better for me. So what I'll do with my Swift now is convert it to a Schlumpf High Speed Drive when I get time and my wallet recovers from the Brompton order.

The internal hub DTs that I have on order will replace my current DTs. I will sell one of my Bromptons and keep one for a backup or to travel to crappy areas. I will sell all of my Dahons. I will probably sell all of my other "normal" non-folding bikes except for my race bike and one good Bianchi I have that I use to go shopping with and also keep my recumbent. It would be much simpler if I didn't have to keep bikes for my children but they love the sport as much as I do so it is great to always have riding buddies around. :)

"So what I'll do with my Swift now is convert it to a Schlumpf High Speed Drive ..."

Wav, I have been waiting for that. I emailed Peter a week ago about Swift + Schlumpf + Rohloff 14. No answer ... must be busy.

BTW, is Yan installing the internal drives in the new DTs as part of initial purchase? I'm putting a Nexus 8 on my DT FS. My next touring bike will be a ... Swift + Schlumpf + gear hub. It seems that 2.5 overdrive Schlumpf + Rohloff would be the ticket for touring, with the Rohloff set up with about a 20 gear inch low end.

Let me know how it goes. I am doing the same (add Nexus resline 8 hub) on my FS. My LBS, that is building the wheel, is recommending highly that I do brazeons for a chain tensioner (due to the flex from the rear suspension). Others have done fine without tensioner. I may just put it on my FS without tensioners and if
it does not work ideally, I will move the wheel over to the non-FS model I have.

@maunakea - Peter is VERY slow with email but normally thorough. That is my biggest complaint with Peter as he is too busy. I had thought about the Rohloff but it much better for me to go with the Schlumpf and the Nexus 8spd Red Label that I already have and more cost effective too. I really only need a hi/low range to do most of what I need. I already did a front double chainring that gives me that but I manually move the chain.

As for DT there will be 2 models that have the SRAM internal hub as the standard gears. I am generally pretty happy with the ~300% range of the Nexus and the SRAM is about the same. A High Speed Schlumpf would be just the ticket for a HUGE range. I can't see combining with the Rohloff as it is sort of redudant, the weight goes way up AND it becomes a major target for thieves. I travel to Europe a fair amount and they definitely target bikes with Rohloffs. In the US it is still pretty unknown so not so much of a target.

@ hbob will do. I think chain slip may be a function of cog size... smaller cogs are more likely to slip.

@wavshrdr and ... the Nexus 8 is less than 15% of the cost of a Rohloff 14, and doesn't have a 7th gear that shreiks.

So what I'll do with my Swift now is convert it to a Schlumpf High Speed Drive ..."

Wav, I have been waiting for that. I emailed Peter a week ago about Swift + Schlumpf + Rohloff 14. No answer ... must be busy.


Be aware that using the Rohloff in conjunction with the Speedrive makes for some noisy gears

"As for DT there will be 2 models that have the SRAM internal hub as the standard gears."

Wavshrdr, do you know what will differentiate the two models?

Heck, I have three folders, a Raleigh 20 that I'm planning on converting to a recumbent folder, a Trek Navigater 400 folder, and yes, a Downtube. I like em and ride them all and enjoy reading everyone's comments about their different bikes, all makes and models, including a lot I have never heard of. The DT is the newest kid on the block so this explains why there is recently more chatter about it than any of the others. To have to jump from one website to another to read about different makes and models would be a pain.
I'm not computer literate enough to understand how to determine or comment on whether people were "stacking" the website with comments under different names.
Ao folder addicts, talk about anything - I'm all ears.....eeerr...eyes!