bendembroski

You don't need a matrix to get tough tires. Just slap on a set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus on your current bike. Tough tire. They will slow you down a bit as all that armor is heavy.

One word of warning though. If you bike enough, you will get flats. All kevlar protection does is reduce the frequency of flats. Best thing to do is get a puncture kit, learn how to fix a flat, and carry it with you. Always.

snafu21

"I'm tired of hearing myself say this, and I'm sure snafu21 is too, but I've broken two 2007 Matrix frames. "


Nah, we need opinion on this site, too. I keep chucking my Matrix downhill offroad, and so far, it's still intact. Which is more than can be said for me.

As far as Owl Meister goes, he's gotta buy the ticket and take the ride, flats or no flats. If the brief is for a folding off-roader upon which one may commute, then there are several options.

Me, I'd buy two bikes, but then, I have the lust... My g/f was probing my addiction yesterday. If I could keep only one bike which would it be?

Jeepers...

All I can say is that I'm missing my dose of 26" muddy fun, until I get the Matrix front wheel back from Bicycle Hospital. (Downhill tree/Snafu interface.)

THe rest of the bike is standing up well to being dosed in horse-poo and grit, then chucked downhill twice a week. No complaints about the componentry, and the SRAM X7 RD is sweet as a nut. Front and rear hubs are Shimano but cone-type, so may need a regrease soon.


As to flats, none of the three bikes have one yet, so I@m keeping fingers crossed. Urban riding seems to collect them though, judging by other people's tales.

jeffy1021

Aside from the rough ride due to lack of suspension, would these tires also allow for occasional off-roading at slow speeds?

snafu21

I had them on my Ridgeback Hybrid. They worked ok at up to 2mph, on singletrack, but anything too muddy or loose and wet and they slip. That's ok until you need brakes.

The most 'reasonable' dual-sport tyre for road /mud for me is the cheapest Cheng Shin 'centre raised ridge'
now sold by Raleigh. It doesn't need to be too wide for singletrack or trails, so a 26" x 1.75 keeps the weight down for road riding. Others prefer more knobbles, but these work well for me at 40 psi



No kevlar armour though. And as yet, no flats.

Moderate slow-speed off roading is ok on road tires until you hit a slope. Then the bike starts accelerating, and you find you don't got no grip if the surface is loose or wet.

Incidentally the Conti Sport Attack tires on the Matrix are bald as a coot, but do have kevlar anti-puncture protection. Off tarmac they are as much use a chocolate teapot.


If you want Schwalbe, the Marathon Cross is a dual-sport tyre, and the Marathon Plus ATB more so, but I haven't used them.

Fat Boy

If they're training for 1.5 hours at a genuine 25 mph, they're better than CAT4. Ya, that's race pace, but with 50 people sharing the load, not 2. If you want to 'hang' on a slower ride, just stay in the draft. If they're doing a hard training ride, then you've got the wrong tool for the job. I wouldn't say it bruises their ego, that's really not fair. They want to do a hard training ride. If you know this going in, then you shouldn't be surprised if they do exactly what they said they were going to do.

Having said this, I think there are some folders that can go almost as fast a road bike and plenty fast enough to keep in the draft. The Pacific Reach, Bike Friday Air Friday, Dahon Hammerhead, and others are all made with the geometry and gearing to get done what you want. Keep in mind, though, that if you have one of these bikes, you compromise other things, such as folded size and speed of fold. It's all about the compromises.

Don't worry about commuting at 25 mph. If you can get to 21, you're flying. Those couple of mph will take a year to get to. It sounds like you're doing great so far.

noteon 

After probably a thousand NYC urban miles on my Matrix, the most luck I had was with the Bontrager Hardcase line. The Big Apples kept letting me down. If I had a 26" folder now, and an urban commute, I'd put Satellite Elite Hardcase tires on it. If I had to go offroad, I'd choose a different Hardcase model like the B-Comforts currently on my Matrix.

Unfortunately, they're not available in the 20" size I'd need for the Xootr Swift I bought to replace the Matrix, so I've got Marathon Pluses on the Swift. Fingers crossed...

jur

In what way?

owlmaster08

I'm 5'7'', 140 lbs. I got a 2008 also, they may have fixed any problems

owlmaster08

Thanks for the encouragement I don't know how true this girls statements are, but that's what she said the group did...She may not really know or may have been exaggerating to scare me off. It may very well be true, as we are in the military and all are in at the minimum decent shape, the most in shape people very well could be that good.

I was kind of interested just because I wanted to see what riding in a group is all about, but I am getting plenty of miles in right now just commuting

owlmaster08

Anyways, I ordered the matrix last night, it shipped out today I didn't really need it I guess from what I learned from all you, but I think I'll like it enough to be worth it. I'll continue to use my Mariner to go to the grocery store though, as it has a rack. Thanks all again for your comments

noteon 

Flat after flat. You could tell they were stopping a lot of stuff because of how the rubber was sliced up, but enough was getting through that if memory serves, I had three flats in a week or so. This was when my commute went through an industrial area of NYC, so glass, nails, etc. were common. I did as much looking out and avoiding as I could, but obviously I missed stuff.

I can't recall ever having a flat with the Hardcases. Could be selective memory, but I don't think it's happened yet.

noteon 

My guess is you'll be fine. Probabilities get wacky when you're way out on the boondocks of the bell curve.

snafu21

You'll have fun fun fun....

owlmaster08

Nice picture, I haven't seen one that big! I still don't see how they call this "Moss Green" though. Coming Tuesday!

snafu21

<drool>


Get yer spanners out:

Suntour fork manuals.

Disk brake manual

Your new forum name is 'Biggles'.

Sixty Fiver

I ridie more than a few fixed gear and ss bikes (my folder is also fixed) and my main gearing on these is in the mid to high 70's as I can happily spin that gearing at 90-95 rpm... if the bike has a flip flop the second gearing tends to be in the high 60's or low 70's.

This lets me cruise pretty comfortably in the high 20's and low 30's (kmh) and I can maintain a fairly high cadence all day... and I am no racer.

snafu21

"cruise pretty comfortably in the high 20's"

Ve hope der Adler-Meister is going to make der many speedink tickets on der ritzy Matrix.

owlmaster08

Hehe, that would be nice, though the speed limit on my commute route is 45 MPH (72 Kmh). I am more likely to violate the minimum speed limit! (If there was one)

Talking about speed, I broke my record today by a whole minute and a half! I only hit 3 stop lights! Being Saturday night, traffic was light...Made my 8 miles (i think maybe its only 7.9) in 29 minutes! Trying to hunch over on my Mariner to go this fast to reduce air resistance hasn't been good on my back though, lol.

noteon 

Wait--what is that? The image is named "dahon-matrix-08.jpg," but here's a 2008 Dahon Matrix from the Dahon site:


Similar, but not identical. Any idea why?

owlmaster08

Hum, i do notice that bar on the main rail on the one but not on the other. That's odd..Maybe there are different versions for different countries.

owlmaster08

HOLY FREAK ::

So after visiting UPS's warehouse twice (since they didn't deliver to my apartment >:0 ), I finally got my new toy (2008 Matrix)! After taking a couple hours to unpackage, make adjustments, etc, I took it out for a test ride to make sure all the systems worked and the adjusments were valid. It was amazing! So fast! (or maybe it only seemed fast because it was night?) Even if it only seemed fast, the riding style/posture seemed a lot better! Anyways, I need to get to bed as I have to get up in like 5 hours, and I want to get at least a little sleep before I get up in the morning to do my bike commute

I'll deliver another report tomorrow evening (US time). Thanks again for everyones comments and help!

snafu21

Ve vait mit baited breff..


"What is the Matrix?
Trinity: The answer is out there, Owlmaster, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to."

owlmaster08

Ok...So I rode my Matrix to work and back today. Before today, I did (on my mariner) one 29 minute ride in, and one 30.5 minute ride in. For third a had a bunch about 31 minutes. Yesterday, a bunch of us played Ultimate Frisbee for over an hour in the 90 something degree F weather, so this morning as I hope on the Matrix my legs felt rubbery and week. I also had all my stuff in my backpack, as the Matrix doesn't' come stock with a rack like the Mariner. This backpack felt SO heavy. Even with there working against me, I made it in 31 minutes in! Coming home, similar situtation, but now I had a head wind!! It was pretty demoralizing, so I didn't really try extremely hard. I put a lot of effort in, but no real motivation like I have in the past. Even with these conditions, it was still made in 29 minutes! While these times aren't extremely awesome differences and only a small sample, I think it's safe to say the Matrix is a better bike speedwise (or maybe jsut acceleration wise?). I will have to hook my new speedometer once it comes, which will help, and do a few more days to see how things pan out.

An awesome thing abotu the Matrix is the railroad tracks and other bumps were like nothing when compared to the Mariner! The gear shifting is awesome too. So many more choices instead of just Gear 5 and Gear 6. One thing I noticed is the Matrix doesn't have a kickstand. Is this a common thing for higher level bikes (becasue it adds weight?)? It's not a big deal at all, but a little annoying Well, this is what I have so far!

snafu21

Well done, Team Matrix. A seatpost rack will get the weight off your back, you can fit a standard el cheapo kickstand to the bike, too. (Put pvc tape over the paintwork to protect it first).

The SRAM gears are extremely pleasant and accurate on my bike , X7 is at the upper end of SRAM's quality range and they haven't needed any attention yet, despite being used offroad in vile conditions.

I don't know if the manual makes it clear, but the fork lockout shouldn't be used on rough terrain according to Suntour, or it can cause 'problems'. But it sounds like yours is left unlocked. The only real mod I've made to my Matrix is a suspension seatpost for offroad, and a gel saddle. I twiddled with the fork preload setting on the left fork top and its screwed down about 2/3rds of the way in.

I have a zip tie round the fork tube to check travel - I'm using about 2/3rds of it, which SunTour seem to think is 'about right'.

Is the Matrix quicker because of wider gear range, or suspension which lets you traverse rough bits faster? Ifind mine quicker than my DOwntube, but I think it's probably the frame design is less compromised by the need for a compact fold.

mulleady

Nice bike congrats. i test rode the Dahon Cadenza 08 with the Shimano alpine hubs 2 weeks ago, seriously lovely bike that was, amazingly silent and effortless gear shift. Dahon make some lovely large wheel folders, good luck with yours!

I'll be adding a Dahon to my collection soon lol.