Anyone have a Dahon or Brompton?

Hi ~

Just wondering if anyone here has a Dahon or Brompton folding bike? My DH and I have Bike Friday Pocket Crusoes that we love, but we have just bought a 30' sailboat and eventually hope to go on extended cruises on it. We'd like folding bikes that are even quicker and easier to fold than our Crusoes, and that fold up smaller for ease of storage on our boat and transporting in a small dinghy, so we're looking at bikes with 16" wheels rather than the 20" wheels on our Crusoes. We also don't anticipate needing a huge range of gears as we have on our Crusoes, which are touring bikes with triple cranks. It would also be nice to have a bike that doesn't get grease on our cushions, dinghy, etc. when folded. Our intended uses are mostly just to tool around towns along the way, go to the grocery store, internet cafes, and get a little exercise, not take extensively long rides. Utility bikes with flat bars is what we have in mind, with 3 to 7 speeds, probably.

Bike Friday makes a new "Tikit" model, which fits the bill but is $1100 on up. I'd rather not spend that much money on a bike that will be exposed to salty air and water, and might be more prone to being stolen in coastal areas, the islands, etc. than our careful guarded bikes here in NC. So, I'd rather get something relatively cheap that we can afford to replace if it's stolen or rusts out over time.

We've started looking at Dahons and Bromptons online, and some of their models look pretty good for our purposes, but they seem to be one size fits all, which concerns me since I am only 5'1-1/2". I ride a 44 to 46 cm road bike and need a short reach to the handlebars. I also don't want a bike that is a piece of junk (Wal-mart level), but it doesn't have to be as fine as a Bike Friday for this particular use.

I don't think there are many on this forum who ride folders other than Bike Fridays, but just thought I'd check in case someone is lurking... :rolleyes:

Any feedback on these bikes, or any brands I might have overlooked that might fit the bill, would be very helpful. Thanks!

Emily

No idea really, but here are some reviews: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/folding. :)

I don't ride one either, but I see tons of them around here so they can't be all that bad. The brompton's especially fold up very small. A friend uses his brompton to cycle from the train station to the office every day and seems happy with it.

I have a dahon 20 inch speed8 and a downtube viii. I like the downtube much better - the dahon propriatary parts is quite annoying - although I think now they have gotten rid of the stupid saddle design where you could not use a regular saddle. I don't know anything about the smaller bikes.

Also - bikeforums.net has a large folder contingency with several threads on the 16" bikes.

I'll definitely check out the review link, DirtDiva, and the bikeforums.net folders group, farrellcollie. I did see a couple of used Bromptons on ebay, and based on what they were asking ($900 and $1100 for opening bids), I'm thinking they are going to be at least as much if not more than the Bike Friday Tikits (which start around $1100, no used ones yet since it's a new model), so if we want to keep the price lower, we'll probably be looking at Dahons eventually. This is not an immediate purchase, just something for the future.

Emily

I got one of the last 2007 downtube IX FS that were being sold on ebay, around $230 with shipping. I really like it, it's 20" and I wouldn't want to have to carry it around, but it works perfectly for folding up and stowing in the back of my car.
vickie

OK, I'll admit that I don't know a THING about folding bikes, but since I look at bikes and drool on eBay just about every day (sad, I know)- I came across this one. It has 16" tires, but don't know anything else about it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-16-Uni...QQcmdZViewItem

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tri Girl

OK, I'll admit that I don't know a THING about folding bikes, but since I look at bikes and drool on eBay just about every day (sad, I know)- I came across this one. It has 16" tires, but don't know anything else about it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-16-Uni...QQcmdZViewItem

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Thanks for looking for me! I hadn't seen that one. But $39.99 BIN? :eek: I'm not trying to go quite that inexpensive. It's also heavy at 31 lbs. I need a bike I can haul into and out of a dinghy/tender to take to shore from the boat, so it needs to be a bit lighter than that (though it won't be as light as a racing bike, of course). Thanks for the pointer, though; that's the general look of what I have in mind, but I don't want to buy an off brand I've never heard of and haven't at least read positive reviews for. I expect this one is on the level of a Wal-mart bike.

The folding bike forum on bikeforums.net is fabulous, though! I read a lot of it last night and will check it out further tonight. It helped me find a model I hadn't heard of or considered, but one that gets good reviews -- a Downtube Mini. Look how cute it is:

2008 model

and last year's model is on sale...tempting.... :o

I read a post from a 5'2" female with this model who said that hers fit her well -- comforting to me since I am about that size so need to make sure I don't end up with a folder that won't fit anyone under 5'4", which is the case with some of them.

I'm still looking and researching...it's fun! :D

Emily

Hey Emily-
Found this Dahon on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dahon-folding-bi...QQcmdZViewItem

or these two:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dahon-folding-bi...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dahon-Boardwalk-...QQcmdZViewItem


He's selling two (one for you, one for DH)


Or this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/dahon-speed-d7-f...QQcmdZViewItem

Gosh- I need to quit looking at bikes on ebay...

Thanks, Trigirl, we aren't quite ready to buy since we don't need the bikes yet and will probably buy new since these are not expensive bikes compared to the higher-end bikes we normally buy, so we will probably start with bikes that at least don't need a lot of repairs from the get-go. One is also 20" tires, which is not what we're looking for (we're looking for 16" for smaller size when folded).

But I appreciate your thinking of me!

Emily