Dahon Boardwalk S1 - Gearing Down??
 

Hello. New here. I have a question for anyone who can help me out.

Basically I got a Boardwalk S1 for my girlfriend, and was wondering if it is possible to gear it down to make it easier for her to climb hills.

i own a Brompton S2L (2-gear) and geared it down, by switching out the 54T chainring with a 44T. is something like this possible to do with the S1?

on my brompton, the original gear sizes were something like 74" high and 56" low, then after the mod it was 60" high and 45" low. which is perfect for me.

as for my girlfriend, when she rides my brompton, she can only ride it with the lowest gear at 45" so i am looking to re-gear her S1 to around this size (45" - 50"). i believe with the stock gearing the S1 is over 60"

any suggestions?

Check in the fixed / SS forum, since in this respect the Boardwalk ought to be the same as any other SS bike. Chances are you ought to remove a link from the chain, otherwise I can't imagine it's difficult.

If I remember correctly, my 2005 S1 is 46-14.

CORRECTION: It's actually 44-14 as other's have said. I went out into the cold garage and counted the teeth!

If you're going to get a smaller chainring, you might as well also change the cranks.

can anyone recommend specific parts that would work on the S1 (chainring, cranks, gears etc)

Bulletproof cranks are good and cheap: you can also get them in 165mm or 160mm. I prefer 165mm though I have no problems with 170mm. In a tight turn, it is possible to get pedal strike (in which the pedal hits the ground) with 170's, so the shorter your cranks, the less chance of this. The BCD (Bolt Circle Diameter) is 110 as opposed to 130.

For cheap yet serviceable chainrings, you can get Rocket rings in size 42 or 40. Vuelta also has rings in 40. Both brands fit 110 BCD.

You'll need to get single chainring bolts.

You'll need to get a crank remover if you don't already have one.

You should get some grease if you don't already have some.

A chain remover tool.

It might be easier to just get a 17t or 18t freewheel and swop.

See my Geocities site for text descriptions and the Flickr for the accomplying photos of my own Boardwalk S1's conversion. My Boardwalk probably is an older model than yours, but I did not need to change the 44t chainring to gear it down more. I can go up 99% of the hills that surround my house with ease-and I am not a strong rider for sure. I hope you find my Websites helpful (see below for links).