I bought a few spanners for my MuP8 - a few of the nuts need tightening - but found that none of my metric spanners fit them. The the penny dropped. Doh! Dahons are American bikes hence the nuts aren't metric, so I guess they're imperial? Is there a difference between UK and US imperial sizes or are they one and the same?

Why don't Dahon supply a few spanners or some sort of small toolkit with their bikes?

You sure? All bicycles that I have ever had, including ones from the US, were metric. Which nuts and bolts are you talking about?

Nut sizes depend on the size of the nut riding it.

The nuts that fasten the Magnetix catch adjacent to the front wheel - I have 10mm and 9mm spanners, the former is too big and the latter too small, unless the nut is a 9.5mm?

I *really* doubt dahon change the size for their magnetic parts _just for you_. Dahno aren't american bikes anymore than cervelos are canadian.

It's possible that the magnetix thingie is imperial - it's an add-on. (9.5mm is 3/8"). But all other bike-related nuts & bolts would be metric.

That would seem to be the only reasonable explanation

The size is 14.8 IW (Imperial Whatmoughs.) Divide by 8.65 to convert to AF (American Fred). These fit:

Funny that this thread should pop up again. I made a related discovery yesterday. I had decided that instead of carrying a tool kit with every tool under the sun, I'd go over my bikes and find what tools I actually needed. On the Bike Friday NWT I found that the hinge bolts for the seat post and the rear wheel use 3/8 inch bolts. I discovered it the way the OP discovered his 3/8; 9mm socket was too small and 10mm was too large.

It's not a big deal, but I do find it a bit annoying.

Looks like I do need to carry the American Fred tool.

Speedo