It’s been a long, long time but this week the Dahon broke free from the shed. It’d had been in there almost three years, chained up, since I moved house. Now, tyres pumped, rack and mudguards all removed, it’s looking great and riding even better!
I’d forgotten how good this little bike is and I’m really enjoying the ride – feels completely different to my Trek (which is seeing a lot of use this year!).
Took the Dahon out today as I was spending the morning out and didn’t want (or need) to take the car. The trusty bike was a great ride as always and the 3.5 mile round trip was very nice on a cold autumn morning.
Back home and the Dahon was placed in the hallway and left whilst I had a coffee. Shortly after, the rear tyre was completely flat and the bike leaning to one side. Hmm, a damn puncture. Will need to take a look at that, but not today…
It’s Thursday the 25th of April and the Dahon broke free from the confines of the house and ventured out!
Yes, it’s true, it’s the end of August and this is the first time this year that I have been out on my bikes. Crazy, huh?! I had a day off last Thursday and gave the Dahon a clean and oiled the chain. I checked the bolts were tight, the handlebar was straight and made sure the tyres were pumped up. It was ready to go.
Tonight I went out for dinner and the Dahon was the transport. It was really great to be out there on the bike – I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride the little folder. With my NiteRider fully charged, the ride home in the dark was even more fun: I was weaving along from side to side on a country lane (not used by cars) like we used to do when we were kids.
Ahh, I’ve missed cycling. 🙂
Dahon have updated their site with the 2011 models today.
I quite like the Speed P8 but I don’t think my budget will stretch to a new bike this year!
I’m going to give my two bikes a quick service this month and get them ready for a year of increase cycling. Both (Dahon and Trek) need a dust down and a quick mechanical check and then they’ll be ready for the road.
Must add that to my list of things to do…
Just found this over on the “My Bike Shop Blog”. Some nice looking bikes on the horizon!
(Thanks to ‘My Bike Shop Blog’ for this) – click to read the full post.
It’s very hot in the South East of England this weekend. The weather has been really good but a little too hot for me!
Took the Dahon out on Friday with some suits stuffed into one of the panniers to get them dry cleaned. The panniers and the new basket make transporting things much easier than using a back/ruck sack – upgrading the Dahon’s rear rack was a good decision.
Popped out with the camera (by car) into Aylesford on Saturday night, photos over on Flickr.
The Topeak rear rack I fitted to the Dahon last weekend now gives me the option to attach my pannier bags and my Topeak rack bag to the Dahon – great for going into the shops and on errands. The versatility the new rack gives the Dahon is well worth the money and the extra weight.
Yesterday I collected a Topeak MTX Rear Basket to add to my bike load-carrying capabilities. At only £23 from Chain Reaction, it’s a wise purchase and something which will come in very useful.
Its MTX fixing system enables the basket to slide securely onto the MTX Rear Rack quickly and easily. Once fitted, it can hold quite a lot of bits ‘n’ pieces without any risk of them falling out. If you want to, you can easily remove the basket when you arrive at the supermarket and use the basket as a shopping basket as you walk around (it has a carrying handle) and then simply reattach to the bike when you leave the shop.
The photos below show the basket on the Dahon, but it can easily be slid off and attached to the Trek.
Apologies for the poor quality photos – they were taken using my mobile phone’s camera and it’s full of dust!
Having recently invested in some panniers and a rack bag for my ‘epic’ ride across Britain, I thought that I should really maximise the use out of them (as they weren’t cheap!).
I’ve already fitted a Topeak Super Tourist DX Rear Rack to the Trek so I knew the quality of the product, and it was back to Wiggle’s website to order a second one, this time for the Dahon D7HG.
Removal of the Dahon rack was pretty straight-forward with the use of a 4mm allen key and a Philips head screwdriver to remove the mudguard attachment.
Once removed, holding the Topeak rack in place I realised the extent of the size difference. The Dahon rack is obviously designed for the bike, whereas the Topeak rack is designed for larger wheel bikes and therefore sits quite high off the Dahon’s wheel – the underneath of the rack is about 4.5″ from the top of the tyre. Due to this, the rear mudguard fixings wouldn’t reach the new rack and therefore could not be secured. As a result I had to remove the mudguard completely. To remove the bottom allen bolt from the mudguard, I had to deflate the rear tyre to enable the allen key space to engage with the bold – a far quicker (and easier) method than having to remove the entire rear wheel to gain access.
Fitting the rack was quick and simple. All the necessary fixtures are included with the rack and the only tool required is a 5mm allen key. The rack uses the same fixing points as the original Dahon rack but I did select the lower fixing points on the back of the frame (near the wheel axle) to lower the rack slightly, if only by <1″.
The only thing left to do now is buy some new bolts so that I can fit my Cateye rear light fixture onto the rack.
I think the bike looks pretty good now. Removal of the rear mudguard has improved the appearance of the bike – but the addition of the new rack should still provide some spray protection as it has a solid base plate. The rack provides a good grab ‘handle’ to carry the bike when folded, which I think is a slight improvement on the Dahon rack. The only slight negative to the rack is (perhaps) a slight increase in the weight of the bike – but it’s still not too bad.
A good modification to a great bike!
Click here to view larger photos on Flickr, or click on the individual images within this post.
Popped down the road on the Dahon for my first ride on a bike since my 300+ charity ride.
My knees are still recovering from the stresses and strains of my ‘little epic’ journey across England and Wales! I took it easy didn’t cycle far or fast and there was some slight discomfort but otherwise things were okay.
I think I’m ready to start thinking about longer rides again – well, perhaps longish local rides, I still don’t think I’m up for another epic…
Took the Dahon into town this morning for what was its first outing this year. This fact was pretty obvious when I unfolded the bike and found that the tyres were almost completely flat. It was a nice ride but it was very cold out.
One thing I did notice on the ride into town was the building work going on around Rochester Castle. A quick Google search this afternoon reveals that part of the bailey wall had collapsed during the week as a result of heavy rain. Repair work is under way although it’s not affecting the castle itself nor entry to the castle grounds.
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Dave On Dahon 