Does anyone know any of the background to these bikes (Ecosmo). A budget end Dahon from what I can gather made in China, a quick google and it seems they were still being marketed by Dahon/ Ecosmo 2011.

The original Ecosmo website has long disappeared https://web.archive.org/web/201104010...osmo-bike.com/

They are very much still around though it appears... https://www.8funbike.com/store.asp/d=5/c=37

However I'm not sure what the situation is with spare parts (xref. this thread https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...mo-spare-parts ) [Edit] Having said that (being somewhat a newby) it appears parts are standard.

lower quality line from Dahon why you wanna know ?

fold in half Dahon like ones seem the most common design type.. clones ,

ship cosmetic blems out the back loading dock? IDK.

I wondered if they might be clones, there do not seem to be any labels to indicate model, etc. The one I have does indeed have a cosmetic blemish though, right on the top of the handle bar chrome.

I'm interested more than anything I would guess on account of there largely being a black hole in the Internet where these bikes should be - when were they first manufactured, when/ why did they stop making them, manuals, cycle magazine reviews, etc. Were they a success? If not why not? How did they evolve, how many models were built and for what markets? Why alll of a sudden did they apparently disappear off the planet!

I'm not marketing BTW, I think this is largely a US board anyway, you are hardly likely to nip over from the States to Birmingham UK for an iffy Dahon brand no matter how cheap. There is an element of mystery here though, or does this happen to bikes all the time? (Even from the big name manufacturers.)

no mystery... Mr Dahon wanted to create an offbrand, which he could sell to big box stores toys are us or walmart or similar... in order not to upset the dealers he created this brand. In the meantime th3e chinese market exploded and Dahon could ( and can even today ) sell almost all bikes they make in their own chinese flaggship stores. So interest in the ecosmo wained ...

at least thats my take on it

thor

There exist some Dahon licensed bike lines that are meant for the internal Chinese market and maybe surrounding. I think I saw some of those bikes advertised for Russia. To the extent that I can tell, they buy some critical parts, such as hinges, from Dahon and manufacture the rest themselves or buy in the open market. There are presumably several of those licensed second-hand manufacturers. The quality is lower than of Dahon, but the bikes are ridable.

Dahon Technologies LTD. Dahon Technologies,LTD.

There still seem to be a few Ecosmos in their range.

"ECOSMO (ECOSystem MOdel)"
ECOSMO, a coupled ecosystem model of the North Sea and Baltic Sea: Part II. Spatial-seasonal characteristics in the North Sea as revealed by EOF analysis | Corinna schrum - Academia.edu

I wonder (paper is dated 2004).