which folding bike

jaffers

hi all, another newbie here...

I was after some help in choosing my first folding bike....

I was looking at either the Dahon vitesse d7hg, Dahon Speed p8 or Giant Halfway7 (all about £400)....

Initially for commuting, 2 miles each end of train stations, plus wknd rides for a coule of hours etc, incl hills & maybe london to brighton in June. Am looking for a strong light bike with good gear ratios and some speed.

Any advice would be appreciated

cheers guys

aj

squired

I have a Dahon Speed P8, which is great for 2 mile rides (which I have either end of my train ride), but I'm not sure I would want to try something like London-Brighton on it. That is definitely a ride where I would want a proper bike - the same goes for 2 hour rides on weekends. The Dahon is a good bike - comfortable, etc.

TheBoyBilly

You'll not go far wrong with any Dahon. I have a Dahon-designed Trek which is brilliant. The L2B bike ride would be a bit much for a folder but not impossible. The bike would certainly stand up to it but would you? I'd go for the more expensive Dahon Speed TR (around £650) because you are going to ask some serious questions of it. It will carry all the gear you need for a nice jaunt arount the countryside and has a really low gear for Ditchling Beacon on the L2B. I nice piece of kit that will give you years of service. The TRis made for the riding you envisage doing, not all cheaper folders are.

Anonymouslemming

jaffers wrote:

hi all, another newbie here...

I was after some help in choosing my first folding bike....

I was looking at either the Dahon vitesse d7hg, Dahon Speed p8 or Giant Halfway7 (all about £400)....

Initially for commuting, 2 miles each end of train stations, plus wknd rides for a coule of hours etc, incl hills & maybe london to brighton in June. Am looking for a strong light bike with good gear ratios and some speed.

Any advice would be appreciated

cheers guys

aj

I'm very happy with my Dahon Speed p8 so far (except for when my wife breaks down laughing when she sees me on it). It's quite fine for 5 miles each way.

dennisn

I was going to suggest a Ritchey Break-Away but after looking at the Dahon web site
it seemed that maybe you weren't really looking for an all out "road" bike, so to speak.
More of a commuter type? A few of the guys in our racing club have Break-Aways
that they actually race and claim they are just as good as their regular road bikes. They take them with them whenever they fly somewhere. Like I said, maybe not what you're
looking for but it's an option none the less.

Dennis Noward