Interesting article on folding bike handling
10-30-06, 01:22 PM
#26
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Originally Posted by brakemeister
DONT BUY ANY CHEVROLET products as Ralph Nader has prooven that the Corsair is dangerous at all speeds... ( for the younger ..lol folks here ) The Corsair was a chevy with rear engine an attempt to copy a Karman Ghia with a Porsche, just way cheaper.. Ralp Nader did some ridicoulous "tests"with it and got notority about going against a big company and won.....
That being said...
The Forester article did concern me when I first started looking for a folder, and Dahon was at the top of my list...until I noticed the date.
For the record, I've ridden my Dahon Speed 7 all over the place with no problems. For urban commuting it's tough to beat. Ride on road...catch the train...ride some more...fold it and stow it. Love it!
__________________
Fewer Cars, more handlebars!
Fewer Cars, more handlebars!
10-30-06, 03:10 PM
#27
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Reading the article peaked my interest in "trail". It is true that increasing trail increases stability. It seems to me that it is easier to get a larger trail on larger wheel bikes. People have commented on how stable the Xootr Swift is, yet eyeballing the trail measurement based on pictures, I wouldn't think that it would be large compared to a racing bike with 700c wheels. Does anyone know if it is reasonable to compare, as a measure of stability, the trail of a 700c wheeled bike vs the trail of a 20 inch wheeled bike?
10-30-06, 04:50 PM
#28
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Originally Posted by brakemeister
this is way before my time . therefore i have only third hand info about this...
what I can say is this.....
. . .That is not the case with the Dahon story. First of all we are talking about one of the earliest Dahons from 20 plus years ago . . . He allegidly got so much disgruntled about the fact that his client lost the case, that he made his "findings"available to everyone. . . .
Yes I am a Dahon dealer ....
still this is ridicoulous at best .....
Thor
what I can say is this.....
. . .That is not the case with the Dahon story. First of all we are talking about one of the earliest Dahons from 20 plus years ago . . . He allegidly got so much disgruntled about the fact that his client lost the case, that he made his "findings"available to everyone. . . .
Yes I am a Dahon dealer ....
still this is ridicoulous at best .....
Thor
But did his client really lose the case? Forester claims that Dahon settled on the day the trial was to start. That doesn't mean that they were in the wrong, of course. They may just have paid out some money to the plaintiff to avoid the uncertainties and expense of a trial. Does anyone know the terms of the settlement?
10-30-06, 08:24 PM
#29
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Speaking of trail, the stock Raleigh Twenty is not ridable no-hands due to inadequate trail and the nylon bush used at the top of the head tube.
I can ride my R20 no-hands. I cold-set the fork, reducing the blade curvature, thereby increasing trail. I cleaned and silicone-greased the nylon bush, thereby reducing the friction. Look mom, no hands!
I can ride my R20 no-hands. I cold-set the fork, reducing the blade curvature, thereby increasing trail. I cleaned and silicone-greased the nylon bush, thereby reducing the friction. Look mom, no hands!
10-31-06, 12:56 PM
#30
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Originally Posted by Fear&Trembling
Oddly, on the derailleur model they chose not to use Capreo cassette (9-26t), and opted for a 12-27t block instead. This limits the top-end significantly, and makes little sense IMO...
H
10-31-06, 01:53 PM
#31
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My Downtube has a much wider range 25" to well in the 90"'s. The derailleur cage on the Downtube practically drags on the ground!! Especially on the low end, adding even one tooth results in the need for a significant amount of cage length to wrap the additional chain. That is the reason why on the 16" Mezzo the gearing range has to be curtailed. The designer has the choice of biasing the 40" or so of total range towards the top end or the low end i.e. 23" - 63" vs 53" - 93" either of those two ranges will need the same length of derailleur cage but the second range would only be rideable by extremely fit cyclists and the first would frustrate moderately fit (average) riders. The end result (33" -73" is the compromise). On full size 26" and 700C wheels the length of the rear derailleur is never even a consideration but on a 20" wheel it starts to become an issue and on 16" wheels is 'is' an issue.
11-01-06, 04:41 PM
#32
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lol
corvair it is of course and not corsair .... double dummy as I am in the progress of buying a corsair ( sailboat that is ) I must have thought boats when I wrote that.
Indeed the late model corvairs especially the judd version ( made in St Louis with a big turbocharged engine and vastly improoved brakes and running gear ) is a real cool car. Even the regular ones are not bad at all .... Nader got one of the very early ones where the suspension and brakes were designed for a front motor rear driven car versus the rear engine corvair... they really handled pretty bad. ( by that matter all cars from that era handled pretty bad compared to todays )
But the comparison is still pretty right on... early Dahons are not even close to todays versions
Thor
Corsair owner ( sailboat that is , i hate to burn gas on the weekends )
corvair it is of course and not corsair .... double dummy as I am in the progress of buying a corsair ( sailboat that is ) I must have thought boats when I wrote that.
Indeed the late model corvairs especially the judd version ( made in St Louis with a big turbocharged engine and vastly improoved brakes and running gear ) is a real cool car. Even the regular ones are not bad at all .... Nader got one of the very early ones where the suspension and brakes were designed for a front motor rear driven car versus the rear engine corvair... they really handled pretty bad. ( by that matter all cars from that era handled pretty bad compared to todays )
But the comparison is still pretty right on... early Dahons are not even close to todays versions
Thor
Corsair owner ( sailboat that is , i hate to burn gas on the weekends )
