Dahon – Running Well

A pleasant ride around town this morning, not far, not fast, just having a look around.  Thought I’d take a look around the Farmers’ Market whist I was out.  It was a bit disappointing – not many stalls and nothing really impressive or interesting enough to make me stop and take a closer look.  Shame.

The tide was in so the river was looking good as the Medway rowing crews whizzed past causing barely a ripple on the surface.  The Castle grounds were fairly empty and quiet as I sat and watch people walk, play and relax.  It was good to be out.

The Dahon rode very well.  Having tightened up a few bits and pieces, including the bottom bracket, and with the addition of the Big Apples, it really is running well.  The Big Apples have made a huge improvement to the ride and I’m glad that I spent the cash on the upgrade.  I was cycling along with a smile on my face, enjoying the bike and thinking: “Now this is a great bike”.

Dahon Bottom Bracket – Loose

I think I’ve mentioned before, either here or over on the Dahon Forum, that my D7HG makes a ‘clunking sound’ when I pedal.  This has been happening more or less since I bought the bike but I finally worked out what it was last weekend when out cycling.

I had initially thought that it was related to the internal workings of the Nexus hub and the drive mechanism ‘catching-up’ with itself as I pedalled.  I left it at that and just lived with it.  But then, as I cycled recently, I thought more about it and looked at the bike as I slowly cycled along the flat.  Then I realised that it was the bottom bracket – the piece where the pedals attach to/through the frame – it was not loose (see photo below).  Not sure if this was an original assembly issue, pre-sale check issue or it had just come loose.

Anyway, I needed to tighten it up and didn’t have the right tool for the job so I headed to my new favourite bike site Dotbike for a BB lock ring tool.  Now the lock ring and bottom bracket are correctly secured and that should stop the clunking noise as I pedal.  I now need to get out and try  it, but that won’t be today.

I also grabbed myself an Ice Tools Spoke Wrench.

(Hmm, why do my bikes always look dirtier in photos than they do in the flesh?!)

Saturday Evening – 4 Miles

Great day today, sunny and warm.  I grabbed the Dahon and headed out this evening.  Thought I’d avoid Rochester town centre as it’s Dickens Festival weekend and it would be packed with tourists and locals in Dickensian costumes.

Headed out over the M2 motorway bridge and watched the river, the cars and the EuroStar.

Oh, the Big Apples were fantastic.  4 miles on these ‘balloon’ tyres and the ride was smooth and much more comfortable than the original Kwest tyres.

More photos from this evening on Flickr.

Big Apples Tested – They’re Greeeaat!

Had to get out and test the new Schwalbe Big Apple tyres tonight, I was eager to see if they lived up to the hype.

It was almost 9pm and the sun was just setting so I kitted the Dahon out with my Cateye lights and the Frogs and hit the road.  Surfaces cycled in the test included: tarmac/road, grass, shingle and Rochester’s cobble/block streets.  The BAs definitely DO improve the comfort of the D7HG and also the general handling.  The wider profile tyres give it a more ‘normal’ feel – the Kwest tyres were just a little too thin (especially as I’m 6 foot tall and ## stone!) 

So, according to me (!), the Big Apples improve the looks of the bike AND the ride and handling.

Definitely a recommended upgrade!

Schwalbe Big Apple Tyres – Dahon D7HG

As posted yesterday, I collected my Big Apples from the Post Office and my plan was to fit them this weekend.  The plan has been successfully completed and the Schwalbe Big Apples are now fitted to the Dahon D7HG.

I purchased the tyres from online store Dotbike and they arrived ‘next day’ – although I was out so the Post Office held on to them until the weekend when I could get over to collect them.  It was the first time I’d used Dotbike and it was a smooth and speedy transaction so I’ll be using them again in the future.

The Big Apples (BA) are known as ‘balloon tyres’ which offer a softer, smoother ride and effectively absorb more of the road imperfections.

The BAs are replacing the factory-fitted Kenda Kwest tyres on my D7HG.  Compared to the now fitted BAs, the Kwests look very narrow – the Kwests are 20 x 1.5″ and the BAs are 20 x 2.0″.  The BAs are far chunkier and really to enhance the look of the D7HG making the wheels look far more substantial.  Based on looks alone, the BAs are definitely worth the cash!

Like the Kwests, the BAs have a 3M reflective strip on the sidewall which makes you stand out at night.  The BAs also have ‘Kevlar Guard’ which is designed to provide additional puncture resistance.

Fitting the tyres was relatively easy.  The front wheel was the easiest to remove: unhook the brake cable, loosen the two axle nuts (with my new spanner) and pull the wheel off.  Then, using the Crankbrothers Speedlever, I removed the Kwest tyre.  After a quick visual check of the existing rim tape, I pushed the BA tyre onto the rim followed by the new Schwalbe inner tube.  Before pushing the tyre completely onto the rim, I pumped the tube up slightly to enable it to gain its shape – this was to minimise the risk of nipping the tube as I pushed the tyre on.  I didn’t use any tools to fit the new tyre, resorting to thumbs and fingers so as to not damage the new inner tube.  Once fitted I inflated to 60PSI and refitted the wheel to the bike.

The removal of the rear wheel was going to be a little more complex and it was to be the first time I’d removed a wheel with a hub gear system. With this in mind I checked out the Dahon forum and other sites and collated the following information:

• The Shimano Nexus system – Sheldon Brown
• Dahon Vitesse D7hg, Changing rear tire – Dahon forum
• Unhooking the Nexus – Hubstripping.com

All proved to be useful.  One thing that I noted was that I didn’t remove the chain from the pedal cog prior to trying to remove the wheel – if I had done, after loosening the axle bolts, then I’m sure that I would have removed the wheel quicker and ended up with less oil and grease on my hands.

Having refitted both wheels, minor adjustments were required to prevent the new, fatter, tyres from rubbing on the Dahon’s mudguards.  The front adjustments involved a couple of screws and the rear mudguard was adjusted with a little bending and brute force.

After all that it was time for a quick ride around outside to check that all was in order.  They definitely do make the ride more comfortable and they do change the handling of the bike, in a positive way.  I didn’t ride far so I haven’t really tested the tyres, that will be (hopefully) tomorrow’s task.

So, tyres fitted.  They look great and really do improve the look of the bike.

More photos on my Flickr account.

New Tyres Collected

Collected my new Big Apple tyres from the Post Office this morning, before 0900.  It’s a really nice day out there, the sun is up and it’s nice and warm.

Having already been shopping for my breakfast, the bike was already loaded up so the tyres were strapped in underneath.

The plan is to fit them tomorrow.

This photo was taken on my phone camera, near the Castle.

Schwalbe Big Apple Tyres

Finally got around to ordering some Schwalbe Big Apple tyres for my Dahon tonight.  I’ve read a lot of great reviews of them and the ride quality is supposed to be much better relative to the standard tyres.

Mech1, a reader of ‘Dave On Dahon’ and frequent commenter, has already fitted Big Apples to his Dahon.

I’ll be checking the forums prior to making the change.  I’ll report here with progress and any findings or advice.

Tyres ordered from Dotbike.

Sunny Out, The Dahon Was Released

Nice day here today, the sun is out and it’s warm.  I grabbed the Dahon and a book and went out.  It was the usual ride to the castle and along the river to get me out of the house.  Nothing too adventurous, just an escape.

Sat in the castle grounds for a while watching a wedding party have its photo session.  I’ve never seen a wedding with so many of the ‘beautiful people’!  All smartly dressed and laughing.

Then it was back along the river for a bit and then up onto the bank at Churchfields.

More photos on my Flickr pages.

Dahon Race at BikeRadar Live

Stumbled across a Dahon race planned during BikeRadar Live in May.

Dahon Folding Bike Championship of the Universe
It’s a four-lap race with a challenge between each lap, and riders will have to fully fold and unfold their bikes between laps. You can enter on your own or get together a team of up to four riders to share the fun – and the bike.

Dahon are sponsoring the race and bikes are available for loan on the day if you haven’t yet bought your own Dahon.

BikeRadar Live is the biggest ever mass-participation cycling event to hit the UK, and will take place on the weekend of 30–31 May 2009 at Donington Park in Leicestershire.

The weekend will be packed full of races and challenges, with something for everyone, whether you want to compete, watch your friends and family or just check out some of the world’s best riders.

BR Live sounds interesting – need to think about attending…

Dahon Riders At Last.fm

I’ve started a Dahon Riders group over at Last.fm to see if we can find out what sort of music we all listen to.  We ride ‘unusual’ bikes so I wonder if we have unusual musical tastes!

Join the group!!!  There’s only me there at the moment.

Last.fm is a great website/service which tracks (“scrobbles”)  all the music you listen to and creates a set of statistics based on your listening habits.  Using that information, it can recommend new music or artists which it considers to be a good match to your tastes.  It’s a great way of discovering new music.  It’s also interesting to watch how your listening habits change and who you listen to most.

I listen to my music with a Mac and an iPod.  Both of these ’scrobble’ tracks via the small Last.fm application.