Dahon Vitesse D7 HG 2011 opinions please

[shouldbeinbed]

There's one on gumtree (I know, see receipts and provenance) that I like the look of: nexus 7 hub useful accessories etc. it would be an immediately affordable (£150) answer to my expensively dead Birdy or the cost of a Brompton replacement, but it is in Kent and I'm not and I've never really paid much attention to Dahon's before now.

They do seem to be a decent brand and popular with their owners, is this model a good one in the stable? I assume it'll fit a 5'10" 13 stone bloke who's days of riding fast are behind him? I ride for commuting, utility and just following my nose for the day in rolling and hilly areas on road and loose park/trails - I have an alfine8 on a full size frame and cope happily with the range of that & I can commute relatively well on a standard Brompton 3 speed. How robust and long lived are Dahon's with regular riding?

if it is worth a closer look I'm happy to drive down but I'm not keen to do so on the scant knowledge I have of them so far.

any thoughts gratefully received

*edit* I'm more suspicious now having done a bit of googling - the 2011 seems not to have a rack as standard anymore and the price seems to be a pretty steep drop compared to shop websites, especially for the positive write up's it seems to get.

 

[nobby styles]

I've got a Dahon 2013 D7HG and it cost me £500 new and that was the cheapest deal I could find so £150 is suspiciously cheap for a two year old one. I'm cycling 4 days a week on it on a 22 mile round trip for about 2 months and I haven't had any major problems although I needed to get it adjusted at Evans as I got it via web and it wasn't built up very well. I'm 6ft tall and 17 stone so it seems to handle my weight OK. The accessories are good on it and the rack can take full size panniers. It's a bit slower than the cafe racers on my route into London but it's not bad speed wise although I wish 7th was a bit higher as I frequently spin out on even moderate downhill sections.