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Dahon Boardwalk SS upgrades

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Dahon Boardwalk SS upgrades

Old 10-26-12, 08:55 AM
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Dahon Boardwalk SS upgrades

Got a potentially good deal on a 4 year-old, single-speed Boardwalk. Too good to pass up given that I can get the bike ready to ride for less than the cost the mods my Raleigh 20 needs to be reliable transport. Plus the Boardwalk looks to have a much tighter fold.

So, too good to pass up, but I still might want to make some changes. How upgradable is the Boardwalk? I built up a Sturmey 3-speed hub for the Raleigh, and was hoping I could move it over for better gearing. And I'm a little leery of those straight handlebars. On searching the forums, I seem to pick up on some grumbling about proprietary, non-replaceable, Dahon parts, but I don't know which parts to be on the lookout for and what I can and can't swap out with standard parts.

My dream is a bike that doesn't set off the oversize luggage fees on the airline, and can come along as a carry-on on the train, but is still serviceable to carry me and my touring gear around when I get to my destination. I don't get the impression that the Dahon would be a great touring rig, but it seems like with a couple of tweeks it might be a suitable travel companion for less rigorous travel, where I just use it to explore the area or fill in some transportation gaps. What do the experienced folding riders say?
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Old 10-26-12, 06:28 PM
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actually, that's a good choice for modification. boardwalk is such a basic bike, much can be done. a dahon "hon solo" is nothing but a pimped out boardwalk..

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Old 10-27-12, 01:29 PM
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Good to see all the handlebar options as the short, flat bars were my biggest concern, but I'll have to do more research to see how it's done. Now that I have the bike, it's clear that it's not a straightforward swap.
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Old 10-27-12, 03:07 PM
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iya, you will have to lop the top off of that sucker with a pipe cutter, then add your own stem. oooor, you can get a radius v stem assembly:

https://www.bicyclebuys.com/barsstems/Stems/1630410
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Old 10-29-12, 09:23 AM
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Oh, good, so there is an option for a swappable stem. I was concerned when I saw the stem and handlebars were all one piece. But I did ride it around a little and it wasn't uncomfortable, but my experience with flat bars is that comfort changes as you add on the miles. For 'round town riding, though, it might be fine as is. Although I need to try and add my 3-speed wheel for some gearing options.
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Old 10-29-12, 09:27 AM
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slow down ....... any older Boardwalk has a 1 inch or maybe a 1 1/8 steerer tube with the threads on the outside of the fork....
Radius 5 has the threads on the inside for the cap nut to hold the handlepost in place..or lets say to adjust the tension , just like an ahead set system stem on a "regular" bike ....
Yoy cannot swap the old system to the newer stem ....

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Old 10-29-12, 09:40 AM
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Originally Posted by brakemeister
slow down ....... any older Boardwalk has a 1 inch or maybe a 1 1/8 steerer tube with the threads on the outside of the fork....
Radius 5 has the threads on the inside for the cap nut to hold the handlepost in place..or lets say to adjust the tension , just like an ahead set system stem on a "regular" bike ....
Yoy cannot swap the old system to the newer stem ....

thor
Well, I'm not placing an order today, so don't worry. I'll do some compatibility checks. I'm just examining my options. That said, what's an "older Boardwalk?" According to the linked product site, the Radius V "Fits 2005 and up Dahon Folding bikes 16"-20"" According to the guy I bought my Boardwalk from, it was purchased new in 2008. I need to confirm that, but if the seller and the product page are correct, it seems like this should work on my bike, true?
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Old 10-29-12, 11:13 AM
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@Rob_E - I think you should take a look at this thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-Schwinn-Hinge

Hopefully this could work for you as well.
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Old 10-29-12, 02:07 PM
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Boardwalk is a Dahon licensed bike and although built and sold through Dahon its outside the regular Dahons .... but if you trust some stuff on the Interweb more than me.... so be it ... go ahead and buy a Radius 5 handlepost ....

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Old 10-29-12, 03:26 PM
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this is complete and descriptive documentation of a dahon boardwalk being seriously tricked out:

https://handsonbike.blogspot.com/p/da...alk-x20-r.html

although, the writer indicates he started with a dahon boardwalk d7 that originally came with a radius v handle post that he subsequently changed to a one piece handle post (mu uno style).

https://handsonbike.blogspot.com/2011...lk-part-7.html
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Old 10-29-12, 03:47 PM
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Originally Posted by brakemeister
Boardwalk is a Dahon licensed bike and although built and sold through Dahon its outside the regular Dahons .... but if you trust some stuff on the Interweb more than me.... so be it ... go ahead and buy a Radius 5 handlepost ....

Thor
As I said, I'm seeking information, not rushing out to make ill-advised purchases. You mentioned an "older Boardwalk" and I am just wondering if you have an idea of what years that would cover. I am on a fact-finding mission, but I do have a bike at home I can look at for verification. After all, bikeforums also qualifies as "some stuff on the interweb."

If the radius 5 is not compatible, I wonder if there are options other than hacking up my existing bars.
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Old 10-29-12, 07:10 PM
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Originally Posted by brakemeister
Boardwalk is a Dahon licensed bike and although built and sold through Dahon its outside the regular Dahons ....
Does this apply to the Boardwalk SS, the Boardwalk D8, or both?
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Old 10-30-12, 12:33 PM
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rob make me a picture of the headtube and the stem you have now ( when its folded open ) and I can possible tell you what fits and whats not

thor

p.s. Monti ..its a grey area, for years Dahon didnt list the boardwalk in their dealer pricelist, they have started to list it since about 2 years now .... Its a political marketing strategy at the time, its always was a real dahon , just their entry level model
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Old 10-31-12, 08:44 AM
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Headset pics.



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Old 10-31-12, 07:12 PM
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^^

Don't think that will fit a Radius V. Completely different design IMHO.

Wait for Thor for the authoritative statement.
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Old 11-01-12, 08:48 AM
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The hinge is a different design, but the hinge gets replaced with the new stem. The attachment method looks to be similar, but I might have to dismantle it to verify the measurements and threading. I got the impression from what Thor said that the deal breaker would have been some sort of nut/wedge assembly like a threaded headset, but maybe I understood that wrong. We will see what he says.
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Old 11-01-12, 09:01 AM
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hehe..
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Old 11-01-12, 09:43 AM
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Go towards the bottom of this page and this appears to be the same
https://www.thorusa.com/accessories/handlebar.htm
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Old 11-01-12, 09:46 AM
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weird .... its inbetween ... but I still think it doesnt work ...
https://www.thorusa.com/dahon/technical/recall.pdf
page 3 ... look at the cap bolt ( 8mm allen wrench) The Radius have the thread INSIDE the fork
By the way the Radius V is hard to find much more common is the Fusion version .. works the same way than the 5 ...I have some of both but not always the correct one if it gets specific ..like jetstream or silver or black or or or ...

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Old 11-01-12, 10:08 AM
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I would recommend one of these.
https://www.thorusa.com/tern/linkuno.htm
Dahon Speed Uno
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Old 11-01-12, 10:50 AM
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tune in next week when the OP buys an allen key set!
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Old 11-01-12, 10:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Rob_E
Headset pics.



@Brakemeister - Wouldn't the handlepost from the Dahon Eco series work?
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Old 11-01-12, 11:06 AM
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Yeah, I'll have to open it up and see how it goes together, see if the fork stem is threaded internally and if enough is showing to add a different stem.

As for the Uno, it looks nice, but if I were buying new, I'd be looking for a gear hub model. But a new folder isn't in my immediate future. That's why I jumped at the chance to buy a cheap, 2nd hand one that I could improve (hopefully) over time. I have the 3 speed wheel I built for my old 20-inch bike, so I'll try and install that for now. I'd like to upgrade to 8 speeds at some point, but I need to poke at this frame some more and see if the rear dropouts will handle an 8 speed with coaster brake or if adding a rear rim brake is an option.

And, yes, a larger set of allen keys may be in my future. I haven't checked yet to see if the largest in my current set will fit this bike. Also I need a little alone time in the apartment to fiddle with this bike because my wife isn't down with the whole "N + 1" theory, so I haven't figured out yet how to introduce her to the latest addition. ;-)
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Old 11-01-12, 05:37 PM
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Originally Posted by smallwheeler
tune in next week when the OP buys an allen key set!
I've done that already! Bought an Allen key set and opened mine up to see if it was like the picture, out of curiosity!

Put it all back together but I think I've over-tightened something so OP be careful, LOL!
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Old 11-05-12, 09:20 AM
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Well, I took the headset off this weekend, and the results looked promising to me. Of course I have never seen the replacement part in person, so it's all guesswork, but the headset was held together exactly as specified in the documentation: the upper, handlebar-part of the stem bolted down on outside of the fork stem, and it was all held tight by the compression nut which was threaded into the inner part of the fork stem.






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