Follow the money. It's often correlates with financial interests.

Mais bien sûr! Every one knows there is just no way Dahon could ever be at fault in any way. Perish the thought! The OP is obviously covering something up. :roflmao2:

Every other Dahon of this model has not been ridden to failure. Yet.

First, Steve has said that on the Dahon forum there are a lot of bikes with this problem. So, that would indicate it is a common enough problem (and common doesn't mean that every bike is going to get this problem).

Second, not everybody rides thousands of miles on a folder.

Third, as Steve pointed out, he didn't notice it until somebody told him to look. So, for this model, that could mean that there are potentially a lot of bikes with this problem that are just currently undiagnosed.

Fourth, there can be slight differences in manufacturing that make some frames (of the supposedly exact same model) much more susceptible.

And finally, and this might be the hardest to understand for some of us, not everybody who rides a folding bike posts on this forum.

Yes, maybe Steve is really a closet curb jumper and that's what caused this problem. Or maybe he's making all of it up. Or, maybe aliens beamed down at night and all they did was slightly weaken his frame (and enough other people's frames so that there is a trail on the Dahon forum (which I've never read).

I'm willing to take Steve at his word. Doesn't mean that all Dahon's are crap. But, to me, it suggests that at least certain runs of certain models have problems (at least for guys my size).

For what it's worth, I'm not surprised that Dahon didn't replace the second frame, given that it failed after 5 years from date of purchase. I'm not pleased, but not surprised.

Cheers,
Charles

I did not realize there was a shim. That would change things.

I doubt most bikes are ridden as much as the OP has ridden the bike. Besides whatever differences there are between the OP and the rest of the Dahon owner population, there is randomness too.

So on a -what? - seven to ten year-old design, of which Dahon has built - what? - maybe 50,000 to 250,000 examples, 'a lot of bikes' and a 'common' problem would be...5,000 to 25,000 posts to the Dahon forum? Fascinating.

Indeed. Under this and Jur's (post #123) supposition, it would seem Steve's mileage is down towards the pointy end of the bell curve of Dahon folder riders worldwide.

Yes, Dahon would surely only have changed their design at some point over the last decade to prevent the cost of warranty claims and disappointed customers if these tens of thousands of common problems were posted to Bike Forums.

250 000 thousand might be a too small number...
Dahon makes roughly 500000 bikes a year and ten years ago they made around 300000 bikes , this is one of their more popular frames we are talking about....
you do the math...

Best Thor

well, well, well...... what do we have here?

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/5933/img0138yi.jpg


Thor went to bat for me and made things right with dahon. That's a new aluminum Mu frame to replace my cracked steel Speed frame. The black frame should look pretty sharp with all of the black components from my speed P8 when it's all done. I'll miss the fire engine red of my Speed frame, but the black will be wicked cool as well. so excited!



Thanks again Thor, you are THE BEST!

Congratulations (and nicely done, Thor)!

I'll be interested to know about your experience with the new frame (both does the Aluminum frame feel differently to you and how well does it stand the test of time).

Usually the frame crack on the seat tube appears when the seat post is inserted too far up. Personally, I think the minimum insert line should be higher so more of the post is inside. I had one frame returned for the same reason. I almost trashed the frame but decided to give it a try welding it. Just migged it, grind the welds and frame is up and running again. That's the beauty of the steel frames on the Speeds. CAn be repaired easier than alum. I prefer to have at least 6 to 8 inches of the post inside

If you are running your post on the high side, might be safer to extend the post. You can cut the head, measure the inside dia and buy a seatpost close to the ID. It's usually in the 26.xxmm range. Then use a 34.9mm seatpost quick release clamp to hold this seatpost. This way, more of the post can be inserted and prevent the cracked collars

The rim is probably just normal wear. AS for post, you can remove the innards of the post to remove the pump mechanism. Never really liked this integrated post. SOmetimes, simpler is better.

BTW, my folder is MuP8 is only because of Mu-Frame shape. I just dont see a piece that could be cracked in any way.