Anyone have a Dahon or Brompton?

[uk elephant]

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.

[farrellcollie]

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.

[farrellcollie]

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

[emily_in_nc]

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

[fastdogs]

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

[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

[emily_in_nc]

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

Thanks for looking for me! I hadn't seen that one. But $39.99 BIN? 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....

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!

Emily