Dahon Folding Bike vs Friday Folding Bike

I am thinking about buying a folding bike to ride mainly on bike
trails or to take with me when I am on some trips. I saw a Dahon
folding bike that I like for around $450, and the lowest priced Friday
folding bike is around $850. Any opinions about the comparison of the
two? I now ride around thrity miles per day on a regular bike, but I
would probably ride the folding bike around 15 when I would ride it.

Thanks

Tom

wrote:
I am thinking about buying a folding bike to ride mainly on bike
trails or to take with me when I am on some trips. I saw a Dahon
folding bike that I like for around $450, and the lowest priced Friday
folding bike is around $850. Any opinions about the comparison of the
two? I now ride around thrity miles per day on a regular bike, but I
would probably ride the folding bike around 15 when I would ride it.

Both companies have a wide range of models. Which Dahon were you looking at?

For example, for touring, the Dahon Speed TR at around $1040, is
comparable to the Bike Friday NW Tourist DD at $1780.

The Bike Friday is made in the U.S., the Dahon is made in China, which
accounts for a lot of the difference in cost.

Also look at the Novara Buzz FlyBy from REI,
"http://www.rei.com/product/763242" which is made by Dahon. Remember you
get a 10% dividend at REI.

If you buy a Dahon, check out "http://gaerlan.com" as he does some good
custom modifications to Dahon models.

SMS aka Steven M. Scharf wrote:
wrote:
I am thinking about buying a folding bike to ride mainly on bike
trails or to take with me when I am on some trips. I saw a Dahon
folding bike that I like for around $450, and the lowest priced Friday
folding bike is around $850. Any opinions about the comparison of the
two? I now ride around thrity miles per day on a regular bike, but I
would probably ride the folding bike around 15 when I would ride it.

Both companies have a wide range of models. Which Dahon were you looking
at?

For example, for touring, the Dahon Speed TR at around $1040, is
comparable to the Bike Friday NW Tourist DD at $1780.

The Bike Friday is made in the U.S., the Dahon is made in China, which
accounts for a lot of the difference in cost.[...]

Is there a good resource for determining the country of origin of
bicycles? I prefer to buy products made in democratic states with decent
wages (e.g. Japan, CE, US, Canada, Taiwan), even if the price is
substantially higher.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll

Look at the Downtube folders, best bike for the price also go to the
folding forum on bikeforums.net

Tom Sherman wrote:

Is there a good resource for determining the country of origin of
bicycles? I prefer to buy products made in democratic states with decent
wages (e.g. Japan, CE, US, Canada, Taiwan), even if the price is
substantially higher.

The companies selling non made-in-China bicycles tend to boast about it,
but I don't think there's any source that shows the origin.

Of course China has become just as capitalistic as any of those other
countries, while the U.S., during the past eight years, has become more
and more un-democratic.

wrote in message
...
I am thinking about buying a folding bike to ride mainly on bike
trails or to take with me when I am on some trips. I saw a Dahon
folding bike that I like for around $450, and the lowest priced Friday
folding bike is around $850. Any opinions about the comparison of the
two? I now ride around thrity miles per day on a regular bike, but I
would probably ride the folding bike around 15 when I would ride it.

Thanks

Tom

Having sold Dahon in the past, and Bike Friday presently, I can tell you
that they're very different animals. The Dahons just never quite seemed
like a finished product. Little things that wouldn't cost much to take
care of but never were, giving one the idea that they were more
concerned with saving a few pennies than quality. That said, the
difference in price is such that it would be crazy to think a Dahon
would be in the same league (in terms of quality) as a bike that costs
twice as much.

The ride is very different, with the Bike Friday feeling a lot more
stable laterally. For a smaller rider, this probably isn't a huge deal,
but it's quite noticable for bigger folk.

At 15 miles per day, I think you'd appreciate the differences. But the
best way to figure that out is to actually take them out and ride them.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
wrote in message
...
I am thinking about buying a folding bike to ride mainly on bike
trails or to take with me when I am on some trips. I saw a Dahon
folding bike that I like for around $450, and the lowest priced Friday
folding bike is around $850. Any opinions about the comparison of the
two? I now ride around thrity miles per day on a regular bike, but I
would probably ride the folding bike around 15 when I would ride it.

Thanks

Tom

Having sold Dahon in the past, and Bike Friday presently,

When did Green Gear start selling through LBS's again?

I can tell you
that they're very different animals. The Dahons just never quite seemed
like a finished product. Little things that wouldn't cost much to take
care of but never were, giving one the idea that they were more
concerned with saving a few pennies than quality. That said, the
difference in price is such that it would be crazy to think a Dahon
would be in the same league (in terms of quality) as a bike that costs
twice as much.

The ride is very different, with the Bike Friday feeling a lot more
stable laterally. For a smaller rider, this probably isn't a huge deal,
but it's quite noticable for bigger folk.

At 15 miles per day, I think you'd appreciate the differences. But the
best way to figure that out is to actually take them out and ride them.

Reportedly, except for the Tikit, most of the Bike Friday models do not
fold that quickly or compactly, compared to a bike such as the Bromptom
or some of the Dahon models? Is this a fair assessment?

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll

Having sold Dahon in the past, and Bike Friday presently,

When did Green Gear start selling through LBS's again?

Fairly recently. We came on board about two months ago, and have done
very well with them.

Reportedly, except for the Tikit, most of the Bike Friday models do
not fold that quickly or compactly, compared to a bike such as the
Bromptom or some of the Dahon models? Is this a fair assessment?

Probably, be the higher-end Bike Fridays are meant to mimic, as much as
possible, the ride qualities of a full-sized bike. The Brompton and
Dahon clearly do not try to accomplish that.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
wrote in message
...
I am thinking about buying a folding bike to ride mainly on bike
trails or to take with me when I am on some trips. I saw a Dahon
folding bike that I like for around $450, and the lowest priced
Friday
folding bike is around $850. Any opinions about the comparison of
the
two? I now ride around thrity miles per day on a regular bike, but I
would probably ride the folding bike around 15 when I would ride it.

Thanks

Tom

Having sold Dahon in the past, and Bike Friday presently,

When did Green Gear start selling through LBS's again?

I can tell you that they're very different animals. The Dahons just
never quite seemed like a finished product. Little things that
wouldn't cost much to take care of but never were, giving one the
idea that they were more concerned with saving a few pennies than
quality. That said, the difference in price is such that it would be
crazy to think a Dahon would be in the same league (in terms of
quality) as a bike that costs twice as much.

The ride is very different, with the Bike Friday feeling a lot more
stable laterally. For a smaller rider, this probably isn't a huge
deal, but it's quite noticable for bigger folk.

At 15 miles per day, I think you'd appreciate the differences. But
the best way to figure that out is to actually take them out and ride
them.

Reportedly, except for the Tikit, most of the Bike Friday models do
not fold that quickly or compactly, compared to a bike such as the
Bromptom or some of the Dahon models? Is this a fair assessment?

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

Having sold Dahon in the past, and Bike Friday presently, I can tell you
that they're very different animals. The Dahons just never quite seemed
like a finished product. Little things that wouldn't cost much to take
care of but never were, giving one the idea that they were more
concerned with saving a few pennies than quality. That said, the
difference in price is such that it would be crazy to think a Dahon
would be in the same league (in terms of quality) as a bike that costs
twice as much.

The ride is very different, with the Bike Friday feeling a lot more
stable laterally. For a smaller rider, this probably isn't a huge deal,
but it's quite noticable for bigger folk.

At 15 miles per day, I think you'd appreciate the differences. But the
best way to figure that out is to actually take them out and ride them.

How long ago were you selling Dahon? The Dahon's of today are very very
different than the Dahon's of even just five years ago, and a world
apart from the first Dahons.

Alas, you can spend as much on some Dahon models these days as a Bike
Friday. Did you stop by Dahon's booth at Interbike? They had a
carbon-fiber model for $3000. They also had their full size model with
the Ritchey frame.

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
Having sold Dahon in the past, and Bike Friday presently,
When did Green Gear start selling through LBS's again?

Fairly recently. We came on board about two months ago, and have done
very well with them.

Reportedly, except for the Tikit, most of the Bike Friday models do
not fold that quickly or compactly, compared to a bike such as the
Bromptom or some of the Dahon models? Is this a fair assessment?

Probably, be the higher-end Bike Fridays are meant to mimic, as much as
possible, the ride qualities of a full-sized bike. The Brompton and
Dahon clearly do not try to accomplish that.

This Dahon does, "http://www.dahon.com/us/tournado.htm".