DAHON HELIOS--better than Brompton?
David Wood
Brompton. Seems to be cheaper and lighter!
Just zis Guy, you know?
person known to the court as "David Wood" <jdwo...@spaml.com> made a
statement (<ddlhhv$rsc$1...@nwrdmz02.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com> in Your
Honour's bundle) to the following effect:
>Anyone have experience of the Dahon folding bike & how does it compare with
>Brompton. Seems to be cheaper and lighter!
I have never seen a Dahon that folds as well as the Brom. Or feels as
strong.
Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken
Tony W
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <u...@ftc.gov> wrote in message
news:huisf1t7eq1n8bmjq...@4ax.com...
>
> >Anyone have experience of the Dahon folding bike & how does it compare
with
> >Brompton. Seems to be cheaper and lighter!
>
> I have never seen a Dahon that folds as well as the Brom. Or feels as
> strong.
And what do you know about Brommies?
:~)
arellcat
>>Anyone have experience of the Dahon folding bike & how does it compare
>>with
>>Brompton. Seems to be cheaper and lighter!
>
> I have never seen a Dahon that folds as well as the Brom. Or feels as
> strong.
They don't, and some don't. My Helios SL weighs nothing and is lovely for
riding quickly, and it folds "small enough I suppose", small enough to take
occasionally on a bus. The bike is however a wee bit bendy when you're
pressing on, though I would expect that a Brompton would also flex under
similar conditions. The Dahon bikes are perhaps a little better for
performance riding or 'leisure' riding, the Brompton for commuting. (Of
course, I'll commute on just about anything at least once.)
The point I would make is that the Brompton, since its inception, has been
more or less a single model, subject to many incremental upgrades and
development over the years. So it's now an exceptionally good design that
works about as well as it can do. The Dahon range by contrast is huge, and
seems to change year on year. The raft of New, Fantastic, Patented
Technologies is quite impressive but speaking from personal experience as a
Dahon owner and as someone with a Masters in mechanical engineering, some of
these technologies would benefit from a few years' tweaking and re-testing.
Becky
David Wood
"a bit too large for daily commuting on train..." &
"Would consider swapping for a Brompton in similar condition"
---I guess that's why people would prefer the Brom.
I agree it is true that this technology ought to become more developed: it
addresses very current problems:-
-makes public transport work
-keeps you fit
-lessens pollution, green house gases etc.
"arellcat" <clan...@hotmail.removethisbit.com> wrote in message
news:h9tLe.3630$P....@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
Just zis Guy, you know?
known to the court as "arellcat" <clan...@hotmail.removethisbit.com>
made a statement (<h9tLe.3630$P....@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk> in Your
Honour's bundle) to the following effect:
>> I have never seen a Dahon that folds as well as the Brom. Or feels as
>> strong.
>They don't, and some don't. My Helios SL weighs nothing and is lovely for
>riding quickly, and it folds "small enough I suppose", small enough to take
>occasionally on a bus. The bike is however a wee bit bendy when you're
>pressing on, though I would expect that a Brompton would also flex under
>similar conditions.
You're about my height, I'm not sure whether you are stronger than me
or not, but I find the Brom is pretty rigid. Slight flex in the
handlebars, but the frame is gratifyingly rigid, no worse than my old
Dalesman audax bike.
Tony Raven
> I did notice someone on Ebay selling one because:
> "a bit too large for daily commuting on train..." &
> "Would consider swapping for a Brompton in similar condition"
> ---I guess that's why people would prefer the Brom.
>
Designed for different markets. Bromptons are designed for UK commuters
so they can be folded up and go with them. Dahons are designed to fold
up to be stored in a small apartment. In the Far East which is their
main markets people ride Dahons and clones to the station and lock them
up unfolded at the station to catch the train whereas the Brits take
their Broms on the train with them. Once you understand the different
markets each is designed to serve it becomes clear why each is designed
as it is.
--
Tony
"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon
Peter Clinch
> You're about my height, I'm not sure whether you are stronger than me
> or not, but I find the Brom is pretty rigid. Slight flex in the
> handlebars
That's if you're sat down and not pulling on them. If you're an
out of the saddle heave on the bars type then a Brom's handlebar
stem is an interesting exercise in elasticity! Of course, the bike
isn't designed for that sort of use so it's not a bug, but Dahon's
range indludes some pretty respectable sports machines on which you
can push them for fast times.
Horses == Courses, as usual. so the OP's question has the Classic
Usenet Answer: "it depends".
> but the frame is gratifyingly rigid, no worse than my old
> Dalesman audax bike.
Though the Birdy main fram is probably more rigid, partly as one of
the main design points is quite sepcifically no hinges in the main
tube.
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.c...@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
Just zis Guy, you know?
known to the court as Peter Clinch <p.j.c...@dundee.ac.uk> made a
statement (<3m8il7F...@individual.net> in Your Honour's bundle)
to the following effect:
>> You're about my height, I'm not sure whether you are stronger than me
>> or not, but I find the Brom is pretty rigid. Slight flex in the
>> handlebars
>That's if you're sat down and not pulling on them. If you're an
>out of the saddle heave on the bars type then a Brom's handlebar
>stem is an interesting exercise in elasticity!
What is this "out of the saddle" of which you speak? I've not ridden
up anything over about 1 in 8 on the Brom yet, so I've not needed to
stand on the pedals...
Helen Deborah Vecht
> I submit that on or about Sun, 14 Aug 2005 10:53:44 +0100, the person
> known to the court as Peter Clinch <p.j.c...@dundee.ac.uk> made a
> statement (<3m8il7F...@individual.net> in Your Honour's bundle)
> to the following effect:
> >> You're about my height, I'm not sure whether you are stronger than me
> >> or not, but I find the Brom is pretty rigid. Slight flex in the
> >> handlebars
> >That's if you're sat down and not pulling on them. If you're an
> >out of the saddle heave on the bars type then a Brom's handlebar
> >stem is an interesting exercise in elasticity!
> What is this "out of the saddle" of which you speak? I've not ridden
> up anything over about 1 in 8 on the Brom yet, so I've not needed to
> stand on the pedals...
Out of the saddle is not recommended on a Brom. It can
fold-unfold-fold-unfold as you ride...
Go for the original 24" gear if it's that steep; you know it makes sense...
--
Helen D. Vecht: helen...@zetnet.co.uk
Edgware.
arellcat
>
> up anything over about 1 in 8 on the Brom yet, so I've not needed to
> stand on the pedals...
I can relate to the out of saddle thing, sort of. I don't honk on bikes as
a rule, perhaps as a consequence of learning to spin better, but I ride and
certainly accelerate quite enthusiastically. If I pulled on the handlebars
on the Dahon (or a Brompton for that matter) as hard as I tend to when on
the mtb, I fear I might bend or break something. It's difficult trying to
unlearn habits like that, and the shorter reach on the folding bike probably
exacerbates my difficulty. "Pottering? What's that?"
Becky
Just zis Guy, you know?
Your Honour's bundle) to the following effect:
>> What is this "out of the saddle" of which you speak? I've not ridden
>> up anything over about 1 in 8 on the Brom yet, so I've not needed to
>> stand on the pedals...
>I can relate to the out of saddle thing, sort of. I don't honk on bikes as
>a rule, perhaps as a consequence of learning to spin better, but I ride and
>certainly accelerate quite enthusiastically. If I pulled on the handlebars
>on the Dahon (or a Brompton for that matter) as hard as I tend to when on
>the mtb, I fear I might bend or break something.
Having broken a pair of bars a while back (on my tourer) I tend not to
pull on the bars any more :-)
Peter Clinch
>>What is this "out of the saddle" of which you speak? I've not ridden
>>up anything over about 1 in 8 on the Brom yet, so I've not needed to
>>stand on the pedals...
I haven't needed to stand on the pedals either, at least since I sold on
the 2nd hand Mk2 I originally had in favour of mine with the -18% gears.
But the "out of the saddle" in general is something I don't do these
days, but which lots of people do. At least for utility cycling, more
fool them, I say, since 'bents taught me to sit down on the job
properly, but lots of people get out of their seats any time there's a
hill or acceleration to be done. And do that on a Brompton and the stem
will wave around a fair bit.
> Out of the saddle is not recommended on a Brom. It can
> fold-unfold-fold-unfold as you ride...
A pal rides his more enthusiastically than I do mine and is often out of
the seat. He's never reported it coming undone on him, though I've seen
him quite niftily deliberately doing a minor stoppie and folding the
backwheel as part of a stop.
I can't see anything about out of the saddle that should cause this, and
I can't see Brompton being able to sell them without some major
reference to this in the owners' manual if it's true.
Helen Deborah Vecht
> > Out of the saddle is not recommended on a Brom. It can
> > fold-unfold-fold-unfold as you ride...
> A pal rides his more enthusiastically than I do mine and is often out of
> the seat. He's never reported it coming undone on him, though I've seen
> him quite niftily deliberately doing a minor stoppie and folding the
> backwheel as part of a stop.
> I can't see anything about out of the saddle that should cause this, and
> I can't see Brompton being able to sell them without some major
> reference to this in the owners' manual if it's true.
I never received a manual with my latest Brom.
I believe it is now possible to buy a clip to keep a Brom unfolded.
Folding is only an issue on rugged terrain and IME never proceeded to a
dangerous degree.
Peter Clinch
> I never received a manual with my latest Brom.
Sounds like an oversight to me. Has lots of info about everyday useful
things a new Bromptoneer might want to know, like how /do/ you take the
back wheel off, adjust toggle chains, etc.
> I believe it is now possible to buy a clip to keep a Brom unfolded.
A 3rd party device rather than something from Brompton, I believe.
> Folding is only an issue on rugged terrain and IME never proceeded to a
> dangerous degree.
I've had my back wheel fold under me a when I went down a steep bank
into a ditch, but I don't think that really reveals serious design
limitations... ;-/
I can't think of any particular reason why merely getting out of the
seat and having a bit of a honk should cause any part of the fold to,
umm, fold. It's just a non-issue in any normal sort of riding, and for
a lot of people standing on the pedals is perfectly normal cycling,
albeit something that isn't as effective on a Brom as a more
conventional bike.
Tony Raven
>
> I believe it is now possible to buy a clip to keep a Brom unfolded.
> Folding is only an issue on rugged terrain and IME never proceeded to a
> dangerous degree.
>
I don't know about the latest B clip but I use one from a Neobike copy.
Once you compress the rubber it tends to unclip itself which in one
way is nice - just jump on the bike and its ready to fold at the other
end - but would negate holding the thing unfolded when riding.
Clive George
news:3mbkhtF...@individual.net...
> Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
>>
>> I believe it is now possible to buy a clip to keep a Brom unfolded.
>> Folding is only an issue on rugged terrain and IME never proceeded to a
>> dangerous degree.
>>
>
> I don't know about the latest B clip but I use one from a Neobike copy.
> Once you compress the rubber it tends to unclip itself which in one way is
> nice - just jump on the bike and its ready to fold at the other end - but
> would negate holding the thing unfolded when riding.
The one from Spa is rather good. Push on, pull off. Insert into fold/unfold
sequence as appropriate. It doesn't come off on its own.
(as opposed to the hook thing they sold a couple of years ago. That needed
deliberately unhooking, which is much more tedious).
cheers,
clive