chriswoody
Legendary Member
- Location
- Northern Germany
I'm fortunate to live and work in Northern Germany where cycling is looked on very favourably and the infrastructure is really good. However the one problem I do encounter is with the trains, where despite a large and mostly empty carriage on my regional commuter train, I get charged €5 over and above my normal fare each day for the privilege of using my single speed to get to work. So I've finally relented and decided to join the legions of folders who get to ride the trains for free.
Bromptons are out of my league price wise and and after eyeing up loads of makes on the morning commute I'd decided a Dahon or Tern would maybe be a wise investment if ever a good one turned up on eBay Kleinanzeigen (Ebay small ads.)
However a local bike chain recently had an offer going on the base model Dahon Vybe C7A, rather than the usual €460 it was €330, a pretty good saving. For that money your not going to get the best folder in the world, but what you do get is a rather good bike for the cash. As the name suggests it's a seven speed derailleur set with an own brand shifter rather like the old grip shift. As it's a Dahon it folds really quickly and efficiently, whilst not as small as a Brompton the resultant fold is still more than small enough.
The frame is an aluminium Dahon one with their really good hinge mechanism, it's the rest of the components where the savings have been made. Things like a cup and cone BB rather than a sealed cartridge, cheap unbranded cantilevers and Dahons own brand rear mech. However these can all be upgraded over time if needed to create a really good bike. You also get a rear rack and full mudgaurds in with the deal, so for the money I was really quite pleased.
All in all it's been fun last week commuting on it and the only thing I've done is swap the saddle for my preferred Charge spoon saddle. The area where I live is really flat so I've no real need for the gears but they function well enough and I need to remind myself it'snot meant to be a speed machine as I'm spinning frantically in seventh trying to ring a few more KPH out of it! Anyway here's a quick photo of the handsome beast.
Bromptons are out of my league price wise and and after eyeing up loads of makes on the morning commute I'd decided a Dahon or Tern would maybe be a wise investment if ever a good one turned up on eBay Kleinanzeigen (Ebay small ads.)
However a local bike chain recently had an offer going on the base model Dahon Vybe C7A, rather than the usual €460 it was €330, a pretty good saving. For that money your not going to get the best folder in the world, but what you do get is a rather good bike for the cash. As the name suggests it's a seven speed derailleur set with an own brand shifter rather like the old grip shift. As it's a Dahon it folds really quickly and efficiently, whilst not as small as a Brompton the resultant fold is still more than small enough.
The frame is an aluminium Dahon one with their really good hinge mechanism, it's the rest of the components where the savings have been made. Things like a cup and cone BB rather than a sealed cartridge, cheap unbranded cantilevers and Dahons own brand rear mech. However these can all be upgraded over time if needed to create a really good bike. You also get a rear rack and full mudgaurds in with the deal, so for the money I was really quite pleased.
All in all it's been fun last week commuting on it and the only thing I've done is swap the saddle for my preferred Charge spoon saddle. The area where I live is really flat so I've no real need for the gears but they function well enough and I need to remind myself it'snot meant to be a speed machine as I'm spinning frantically in seventh trying to ring a few more KPH out of it! Anyway here's a quick photo of the handsome beast.
