Hi there,

I'm a newbie on the market for a new folder and these are the 3 bikes that I've narrowed it down to.

I'd mainly be using the bike for commute and the occasional long distance recreational ride maybe once a month. The city I live in is very flat and has the occasional small hill/ramp.

I'd like to get few opinions based on

1) Value for money
2) Which of the three you would pick to ride in similar terrain based on bike performance

Thanks
Fender Bender

Go read the faq sticky and come back with the answers. :-)

true ..but

couple things ..
what city you are talking about ? what country ?
Commuting .. do you have to fold ? how many times, carry the bike, how much room u have at the office, where do you store it ...

How is your fitness level.... tell us more about yourself .. male female height weight can all influence

You see some black yellow S9 from Dahon being offered.. those are actually not in the country and its false advertising, stay away from those sellers.... The older ( nothing wrong with them except a hideous color scheme ( there ..I said it )
the new ones will be much more expensive and available next month ..

Eclipse P 9 is no longer available from Tern in the US it gets replaced with Eclipse P 18 which is a little more expensive and is in the country ..i.e. I stock them in white/black

Dahon Formulas are not available to any Dahon dealer anymore. There might be some leftovers in the pipeline. If they are they should be heavily discounted as they are no longer available and for example spare replacement forks are not available from Dahon ( the forks are specific for that model ... you bend it you need a new bike ... Or upgrade with aftermarket suspesnion forks which are usually not cheap, but I am working on a solution for this.

Thor

Wow this is one of the huge stigmas Dahon has to get over, didn't the formula s18 only came out like 1-2 years ago? and now there is no oem fix once you break some parts of it. One of the reasons I went for a Tern due to their philosophy of long term support of parts.

What about replacement parts for Dahon Speed TR? I mean theones without which the bike won't ride anymore. Could you tell please?
Thanks a lot.

Apologies if I didn't follow the forum etiquette and put up all the necessary info.

Firstly Thor, thanks for the valuable insights, really much appreciated. Gives me something to think about.

I guess it just leaves the Dahon IOS S9 - black and gold, which seems like you can buy off their website for $999 but that last bit of info you provided has also put me off a little because I don't want to get something that they might just stop making in a few years.

To provide more info about myself, I'm male, 5'5, 150lbs, live in Abu Dhabi about 25min walk from my office in the UAE. The last time I rode a bike was 7 years ago and the last time I hit the gym was 6 months ago so looking to try and get fit again. Reason why I need it to fold is cos I stay in a small apartment and have a small storage space underneath my desk at the office. Definitely beats having to chain it to a pipe in the basement parking. I need it to fold/unfold at least twice a day. At the same time I'd like to be able to throw it in the back of a friend's car when we do a recreational ride once a month, so I don't have to get a bike rack.

My aim was trying to get the best recreational folder for $1000 or less. With shipping to my part of the world it almost works out to buying 2 bikes.

well.... most parts are available, just not the darn 100 mm old forks for disc brakes, but I do have options for even that, the suntour suspension fork which should arrive shortly and even a German A kilo suspension fork would work... and as long as you dont need disc brakes we have regular forks and plenty of 74 mm wheels ...
meaning we can make something work.
we also have most everything else in repair parts available, so its not a problem in general , just with a couple bikes which are different ..

Now what you need for a speed TR ?

I havent seen the new s 9 yet .... I understand that the price will be 999 but what I dont understand is that the OLD s9 is 1250 and thats a special close out price ....
something has to give here ...

Just out of curiosity,how many bikes have you seen with broken forks? In mean,no offense,but you're coming down on these because of something I can't see happening with any regularity.

none .... broken
there is a need to mod other dahons and add a disc brake for the front
that's the only reason I was after them

2013 IOS S9 is about 80% of an Eclipse in quality at about 60% of the price ON CLOSEOUT of the 2013 Dahon MY. The 2014 IOS S9 is the same frame as 2013, but just about every part is "price-down" for a reason... to have a street price just under one kilobuck. IOW, at $1250, a NOS 2013 IOS S9 is a terrific value. I have both a 2013 IOS S9 and an Eclipse S11i. The Tern is a BMW M6. The 2013 IOS is a BMW M3. The 2014 IOS is a bigger Mu. YMMV

Excuse me for interrupting in this tbread, maybe I should ask in a new one. My bike is ok now, I was worrying "in advance" as I thought any 20" part would be useful for the TR.
Thanks.

no prob Pampera .... its a very valid question ... after all you have a bit money invested in the bike and want to keep it rollin for many many years...

You have the speed frame .... and the radius 3 handlepost ... those are basically the only bits which are not interchangeable with other bike stuff, more or less available anywhere ...

Meaning if that makes u feel better, I would invest into a spare latch for the frame .... and a couple of the white nylon blocks inside the handlebar ...

take your time finding them as they are not usually all over the place, as they hardly ever break there is no need for the regular dealer to stock them ...

Best Thor

Fender B. I'm in the same boat as you and I have narrowed down to ios s9 and eclipse p9 as well. I test rode the 20" vector p8 and 24" node d8 at the local store. 24" definitely gave me a more solid feel when I went over the bumps. I did a lot of research on the the 2013 black orange spec. Even on Dahon website there are 2 version. 2 different weight. one seems to have the seat post bump.
V1:DAHON Bikes ??:*Ios S9*
V2:DAHON Bikes ??:*Ios S9*
The only thing I like about the 2014 black gold ios s9 is the light weight 21lb, the 2013 version are a lot heavier.
I like the eclipse p9 as well. The build quality seems better and there are more add ons. P9 feels more like a commuter bike then a speed bike. But I really like the white/red color. In my area they still have some p9 left with tax the price is the same as 2013 ios s9.
I still can't decide, and not sure if it helps, just sharing my thoughts good luck

The big differences in the IOSs:
2013 IOS S9: Avid Elixir hydraulic disc brakes, FSA Gossamer crankset and BB, SRAM X9 shifter and RD.
2014 IOS S9: brand X mechanical disc brakes, brand X crankset and BB, Dahon Neos shifter and RD
The difference in weight is the weight of the better components. The frame is the same, but the 2013 feels tighter overall.

The Dahon Flatpak handlebar stem is mickeymouse. The "tensioner" is a plastic shim over a weak spring, so the bars wiggle (roll, and yaw, in aviation terms). I corrrected this with two layers of duct tape on the bottom half of the h/bar clamp, with a cutout for the tensioner. The handlepost has flex.

The closer comparison in the 2014 MY is the Dahon IOS vs. the Tern Node. The Eclipse is simply in a different league. The Andros h/bar stem: rock solid. The Physis handlepost joint: rock solid. No flex. Tern obviously cares about every detail, and the ride and handling reflect that. The Andros stem and Physis joint are in the Dura-Ace/Record/Red level of engineering.... only the parts are specific to folders, and aren't cheap.

If I had no folder, I would be happy (as in ride 50 km) with any Tern, but only certain Dahons. In the past, the Dahon gems were the 2008-2011 Cadenzas, the Jetstream, and the high end Mus. The 2014 Dahon IOS S9 is not a gem, but the 2013 was. If your riding profile is more utilitarian, not high performance, you may not even notice the brand or model year difference.

Thank you maunakea for the detail comparison , I totally agree with you I will pick the 2103 ios over the 2014. Does your ios seat post converted to a post pump is there position marker on the post? did you put any kinda of fender on yours? How is the shifting? If the eclipse s11 is M6 and 03 ios is M3, what model will you say the eclipse P9 is? lol sorry for all these questions, but it's hard get a hold with an ios owner, hope you don't mind

Eclipse P9 is a BMW M5.
The seat post on the S9 has position markings (very convenient) and the tube surface is microgrooved. No creeping down in the seattube while riding. A feature I think Tern should adopt.
The S9 seatpost is 33.9 mm, but is not a seat post pump (which the Eclipse has, and is a great feature).
THE PERFECT FENDER for the IOS (better than the OEM IOS fenders of years past, since the OEM fender stays get bent in intermodal use) is the SKS Rowdy. It's even orange and black, so it looks "stock" on the 2013 orange/black paint scheme.

Both the S11i and the S9 (curious convergence in naming) have Avid Elixir3 hydraulic brakes. Your bike on delivery will probably have one or both discs rubbing. THE FIX: loosen the QR skewer, reseat the wheel in the dropout, tighten, loosen the 4 mounting bolts on the disc brake caliper assembly that hold it to the frame or fork blade, and that orient it (do NOT loosen the bolts that hold the calipers together), squeeze the relevant brake lever, and while the lever is squeezed, tighten the mounting bolts in round-about fashion. There is no other adjustment. If there is still rubbing, it is probably a slight disc warp. Dahon is famous for having inadequate packaging. My IOS arrived with NO packaging, rattling around in a big Dahon box, with the handlepost retainer broken. The dealer make good, however.

Thanks again, maunakea! I think I'm gonning for S9 hope it will come undamaged!

Isn't the Formula S20 supposed to be coming out at some point in the "near" future? It looks like it ought to have the same fork as the S18.