"snafu21 is just being a troll. probably laughing while reading this.."

Don't flatter yourself, you're not that funny. :)

The Brompton is a great bike but it is too expensive for your needs. The Downtube is a very good recommendation and the owner of the business; Yan Lyansky is very helpful. See:

http://www.downtube.com/product541.html

Anyone can find horror stories about each bike brand on the net. The fact is favourable reviews on Brompton functionality & reliability far outweigh the negative ones despite the tendency of people to post the latter as a matter of habit.

Snafu21 is outspoken for sure but calling her a troll is simplistic and inappropriate. I totally disagree with her views on Brompton but respect her knowledge of bikes otherwise, especially folders. Most of the time she is funny and engaging and save your label of 'troll' for people who really are truly obnoxious!

If you want to try an Origami just let me know. We are located in Richmond.

Paul

aaah. i was actually giving you the benefit of the doubt for being more clever than the examples you cited. ;)

it wasnt intended as an insult. i assumed she was joking..

lol .... you guys ... crack me up .. just like some of our frames of ALL folder, bikes in general...

AndyHow....
OP needs to carry stuff on his bike... some panniers... on a Pletscher carrier... :-)

The smaller you go on the bike, and the bigger the panniers are the more heelstrike you have .... Yes one can get a traveller rack for Dahons/Terns and with small mods it should fit other bikes.. OR use a 26 inch carrier to start out with and fabricate some nice attachment points... this would work especially if not folded all the times ( big fat carriers make evry folder somewhat clumsy when folded ...

OR get a 24 inch folder... a Castro DUo with automatic 2 spped hub is a very nice bike
http://www.thorusa.com/tern/castroduo.htm
or the eclipse p 9
http://www.thorusa.com/tern/eclipsep9.htm

just sayin .....
a nicely not overused Dahon Speed P 9 could be modded with a traveller and smaller panniers and it would work real nice of course as well. Keep in mind that basically all folders have gone through a lot of evolution over the past 5 years and the ride is soooo much better than old Dahons for example, which I consider nice keepers is they have a stainless frame, or very short city jumpers, or sufficient enough if you just haul them around in your rv and really never use them ... lol

Best Thor

the OP surely got more than he bargained for when he started this thread.. to make it complete, edwong needs to chime in with "perhaps you might consider a citizen miami?"

No. I got EXACTLY what I was hoping for. A lot of opinions from people who have ridden the bikes extensively.

One of the reasons I did this is because I see a lot of under $300.00 folders offered out there. Now, I'd never consider spending $300.00 on a new road bike (assuming you could get me to buy a new road bike in the first place), because I know that price range is too low to have something really quality, or at least up to the standard that I'm used to riding. I remember back in the 70's when you could buy folders for less money than a Twenty - and God help you if you were foolish enough to spend that little and still expect the bike to function as an every day cut-and-thrust commuter. I've been wondering what the low end today is that will at least give me a modern Twenty, or slightly better with absolutely no loss in reliability.

I've immediately learned that the Brompton is the Apple of folders: Not only transportation, but bordering on a religious experience. I'm somewhat familiar with them, they're absolutely gorgeous bicycles, but are complete overkill for what I need. Dahons are what got me interested in this in the first place (missing those two last year), and my ideal situation would be to either find a nice used one, or something new at the price of a used Dahon that would do the job (within my parameters) just as well.

Keep 'em coming folks. Once this thread peters out, I'm going to be printing it out for study over the next month. And thank you very much.

Oh yeah, as to mechanical ability: I've put myself thru college as a mechanic for A.R. Adams Cycle in Erie 1969-75, and have on and off been wrenching ever since. I can do anything except braze frames (someday . . . . ) and my paint work is mediocre enough that I prefer to farm that out. I've got a complete bicycle shop on the property, Syke's Cyclery, that does repairs for the locals, used bicycle refurbishing (if you've seen a bicycle on Richmond Craigslist listed as Montpelier, that's my work), and vintage restorations (the core of my interest). I've never found a bike that I can't bring back to life.

I'll be in touch. You've got me curious.

http://www.bikeforums.net/webkit-fak...20Bike%201.jpg


the handling is fine, it has quite a long wheelbase, several HPFS members have had a go on it, and were all in general quite complimentary, apart from a vicious rear brake.

the ixi lifestyle package includes everything you see in the picture, the boat, the quay, the bollard / capstan, the sea, the sky, even the bridge in the background, the lot......

The bickerton is like trying to ride a clothes dryer; the Stowaway is seperable, not a folder, and by now the joint in most of them will object to being taken apart on a regular basis.

For a vintage folder the OP would be better to look for one of the much commented Fuji full size folders, or if theu were ever sold in the states, a full size folder marketed as a Rudge in the UK.

didnt like the Downtube bike? it's pretty decent and very upgradable. for Dahons i would suggest a used one less than 10 years old. a Speed P8, a Helios P8, a Prestolite (close to brompton in ride quality and folds quite small,nice, long wheelbase), a Vitesse, Speed TR, or similar. I've either owned or ridden extensively all of those. solid bikes. for what you want, the best might be the prestolite. 16" (305) wheels, moves and handles well.

well:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2006-DAHON-P...item43b77b2d97

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dahon-Speed-...10998708078%26

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dahon-Helios...item460bc46559

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAHON-VITESS...item2c69e5e4e8

Have a look at a Giant "Expressway" My wife rides one and loves it. I bought the more expensive Giant "Halfway", but had I not got a great package price from our LBS I would go for an Expressway as well. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Pair-of-Giants

A friend of mine has a Giant folder. It felt much more like "a real bike" (in a good way) than my Greenzone.

Start with smallwheeler's list of used Dahons, on ebay or the local craigslist.

New? Hmm. Off the top of my head: Downtube Nova, Dahon Echo C7, Tern Link C7, Origami Crane, Citizen Gotham 2, Melon Slice.

I'm quite familiar with the mini-velos because my regular riding partner Poguemahone has one of the Bikes Direct models. I've ridden it a few times and just can't come to grips with the bike. I've always looked at 16 and 20" wheels as something necessary for the folding and transporting function (no, I've never gotten to ride a Moulton), so I can't really figure out why you'd want to do small wheels on what approximates a full sized road frame when the larger wheels are superior. And the length of that bike wouldn't fit into my office any better than my current 3-speed.

I can understand what you're saying about the looks of some mini-velos, I'm not a fan of the BD MV's looks either, but then I own bikes that I think are pretty yet many other people view them as ugly. However, I completely disagree with your statement that larger wheels are superior. You may like them more or they may suit your riding style better but your post, since you stated it as an absolute, is flat out wrong.

Very possibly. Keep in mind my last folder experience was forty years ago (which is why I'm here asking questions, and, as I mentioned, I've never gotten to ride a Moulton). Back then I sold my Raleigh Sports to buy the Twenty, and there were moments I wished I hadn't. In the case of my buddy's mini-velo, I definitely felt the wheels to be inferior to 700c or 650b, given the frame style. Nice bike, but nothing I'd have wanted to live with on a long term basis.

I certainly understand... it boils down to the preference of the cyclist. I've never gotten the chance to ride a Moulton either but am still hopeful that I will some day.

IMHO a lot of riders do themselves a disservice by holding dear to preconceived notions that aren't necessarily based on fact, just commonly accepted misconceptions regurgitated as truths. Humans are incredibly adaptable creatures yet we allow our mind's limitations dictate what we are capable of, what feels right or wrong, what we can or can't accomplish. For instance, most people who are used to riding big wheeled bikes get on a small wheeled bike and find it to be twitchy and unnerving. Now to me the term 'twitchy' means jittery, jerky or ****motic, a term that usually has a negative connotation, as though the bike is difficult to control. People have said that about my folding bikes after riding them yet my folders are very stable and track straight and true without holding on to the bars at 20mph... they are very stable and predictable, it's just that they don't need as much effort or input (in most cases) to steer as many larger wheeled bikes That doesn't sound twitchy to me at all. Instead I see that characteristic as quick, light or spirited handling (again, personal preference) and because of this, even my 700c wheeled 'race' bikes feel sluggish after riding my small wheeled folding bikes every day for several weeks.

Dahon Boardwalk single speed and build it up with an igh of your liking.

Regarding bicycles, tell me about it. Of the twelve road bikes I've got in the garage, six ride on sew-ups. You should see some of the looks I get at the local coffee house Saturday or Sunday when other riders notice how my bike is equipped. They can't believe that I'd possibly be willing to ride on such "troublesome" and "obsolete" technology. And what really cracks me up are the cautionary tales I get about how much trouble they are. They're the same stories I was getting back in 1971 when I announced to my mates in the Presque Isle Bicycle Club that my next bike was coming equipped with tubular wheels.

And in the past year I got my latest wake up call finally restoring a bike that had 700d wheels, and the closest replacement tyres I could find were 650b's. I'd avoided the size for years. I found out they ride really nice, were fast, and a lot plusher at the same time. One always can learn.

Even if I end up keeping the Ranger at work, I still want to get a reasonably modern folder (at least an 80's Dahon), just to see how the technology has advanced. My Twenty was bone stock (steel rims), other than a Benelux triple sprocket conversion powered by a Huret Allvit derailleur, which I used to get around the final mile and a half to work being one hell of a climb. It was heavy, probably would have been considered slow, and not exactly sporting.

That didn't stop me from riding the 1976 TOSRV on it. In a suit, bow tie, bowler hat and smoking a pipe.

Whether or not I aknowledge your cycling experience depends on whether or not you were smoking a virginia flake with a touch of cyprian latakia and perique in a pre-republic Kapp & Peterson. ;)

"I still want to get a reasonably modern folder (at least an 80's Dahon)"


.... don't....do.... it......

A 1980's Dahon is not a reasonably modern folder, whilst it has a more sophisticated fold that a Twenty, as a bike it is no real improvement over a twenty, and it lags a very very long way behind current small wheeled folding technology. The real improvements that have come though on folders are de facto the frame and folding mechanisms, and the battle to manage the compromises required to produce a good riding bike that will fold into a conveniently small package without an unreasonable weight penalty. Getting a Dahon Californian to get an inkling as to how (for instance) a Swift or a Pacific Reach stand up would be like buying an 8-track to get a feel as to how an iPod would perform.