The Purchase – Dahon D7HG

Bought on Saturday 26th of July 2008, this ‘machine’ represents my first folding bike and my first new bike in… probably around 18 years.
[Edit, 17th August 2008 :: My full review of the bike is here]

I bought the D7HG from Fudges Cycle Store in Paddington, west London. The journey across London on the Saturday afternoon took about an hour and a half and the traffic wasn’t too bad (by London standards).

Across London from North Kent (GPS track)

Around some of London's busiest roads

I had travelled there with the aim of buying a folding bike as part of a cost-saving/eco-friendly/fitness-maintaining philosophy. My target for the afternoon’s spending was a Dahon Curve D3, a small, relatively cute looking bike which I thought would suit me well. It wasn’t going to be the pink one which is shown on the Dahon website, rather the more popular, and available, red. Fudges were the only place I could find who had them in stock – even the bigger places like Evans Cycles and Wiggle were out of stock, whereas Fudges had 15!

I’d spent some time browsing the web for information about these Dahon bikes and found only a few decent reviews which I thought were helpful.  I found Kent’s Bike Blog to be useful and it was great to read about his experiences with the Curve D3.

Getting to the shop in about an hour and a half (about 40 miles) I was relieved to find a parking space within 100 yards of the shop, just down the side street to its right.  It was a really hot day and my old car without air-conditioning was not the nicest place to be so it felt good to get out and stretch my legs.

Rounding the corner to the front of the shop I was met by a large display of new bikes and there, right at the front, was the little Curve D3.  “Cool”, I thought, “looks nice”.  Fudges had quite a few Dahons in stock, it was a great selection and a great shop.  Soon after entering the shop a shop keeper appeared (just like in Mr Ben) and we soon began to discuss the pros and cons of the Curve D3.  Being 6′ tall, he advised me that I would be better off with one of Dahon’s larger models.  Another comment he made was that the 16″ wheels of the Curve D3 made its ride less than perfect and he advised me to go for the larger 20″ wheeled models. 

So before long the Vitesse D7HG was pulled from the rack for a demonstration.  20″ wheels, 7 gear (the Curve D3 has only 3) Shimano Nexus 7 and a few other additional features.  The bike was cobalt colour and there’s a lot of black anodizing which makes the bike a darker machine than the brightly coloured red Curve D3.  I prefer darker colours so this suited my tastes better than the Curve D3.

It wasn’t long before my wallet was out, the card was in the reader, PIN entered, authorised and the bike was in the workshop having a quick check.  Then it was in the boot of my car and we were off – me and my Dahon, together, on the road, going home, our first trip!

The Dahon D7HG (Dahon image)

 

YouTube video showing the folding and unfolding of the D7HG: