Seems the latest Dahon Qix has landed on our shores. News received that it is already in the warehouse and should be delivered to Kimbell Jaya by next week. This is the latest fold following the success of the Dahon Jifo and Dahon EEZZ 16 inch bike. They now took the same fold technology and made a 20 inch. Looks good and the price it seems is slightly less than 3K, though not confirmed. The Jizz which is available in Singapore was selling almost 3K after exchange.

In dilemma now. To get this or to wait for the Dahon Curl. This it seems can be modded to 20 speed

What is the advantage you seek? If you want more higher gears (faster but more power needed) then 'YES' . If you want more range, you won't get more lower gears, only more higher gears and also you will lose a few lowers. The normal standard is 52/39T. Some cannot even push that hard and wants more friendlier and accommodating gears use what they called , " compact crank " which is 50/36T. So,again, what is it that you seek?

I have another Dahon Vigor rider asking me about front moddings. I would reccommend doing the front end only since the Vigor is already 9 speed. What will be needed is,

01. The pair of shifter, left and right. Both 2 speed or 3 speed left shifter can be used, no problem. Too bad, the Vigor uses SRAM X4 right hand shift and a SRAM s500 rear derailleur. And our market suppliers, they don't have
stock for this shifters. SO, it's is hard to find 9 speed SRAM shifters unless you trawl through the used market which is also hard to come by. SO, suggestion, get Shimano. They come in Accerra and Alivio for mountain
bike shifters and road bike, it is Sora. Then another problem, these cannot be used for SRAM rear derailleurs so you have to change the RD as well

02. Add a 39T chainring onto the existing crank/chainring set. Pretty standard.

03. Front derailleurs, many to choose from. SRAM Apex (the cheapest SRAMs) and then Shimano 2300, Sora, Tiagra, 105 , Ultegra and off course Dura Ace.

04. The FD adapter. A contraption to mount the FD onto the seat tube.

05. Off course the housing and cable for the extra left hand side shifter.

So, simple right The above means you have an old SRAM right hand shifter and also a RD lying around. Try to sell it to another foldie rider who wants to upgrade to 9 speed, especially those 7 speeders.

Now, the above will cost about RM650 and if you cannot offset the price by selling off the 2 items, then that's the cost! Here's the deal, to get a SRAM X5 set up for item 1,2,3,4,5 and also a 10 speed cassette(X5 is 10 speed) and also X5 10 speed chain with the X5 RD listed as item 1, it might cost about RM850 or near there! So, another RM250 will get you 2 X 10 speed. This will effectively mod your Vigor into a Vector P20!

Then again, another RM200 again will upgrade your bike with a full Tiagra 2 X 10 speed Shimano drivetrain. The list goes on and on and on. This rider also ask me why not go up to 2 X 11 speed. Here's my answer,

" I haven't tried using 11 speed before on the foldie but it's because I am not very sure if the narrow chain can bend onto the whole width of the cassette and the main reason is a foldie's chain stay is shorter than a road bike. This makes it hard to get the chain to bend from the bigger chain ring onto the biggest cog at the rear, and also you need another special hub for 11 speed. Also, it is expensive which I feel it really don't add much advantage for a foldie. Unless off course the "WOW!" factor. "

This post has been edited by etigge: Nov 23 2015, 08:21 PM

You just need to lower down the FD or might not even have to do anything else, just change the crank/chainring. The capability of the FD depends on the limitations of the FD to jump how many cogs, eg. 52T to 39T is 13 cogs. I think the maximum is 16 cogs, if I am not mistaken. So, 53/39 is OK but 53/36 is not, else, I would have done so. It would have become a hybrid of normal and compact crank. Even on a triple which varies from 30T to 42T and finally 53T the biggest is a jump of 12 cogs and 10 cogs respectively.

This lies somewhere between Speed and the rest and the Brompton but the Dahon Qix is a 20 inch so it folds bigger. That must be given consideration. The Qix also has the advantage of easier rolling on flat surfaces but it won't help at all in our place where we have to carry up and down stair cases unlike in other countries ramps are made for the disabled. This fold technology was researched for the Jifo and with it's success, they extended it to a normal 20 inch model, hence the Dahon Qix.

I just like the fact that it folds vertical, it takes less space than my former Speed. Eg, in trains, going slightly up vertically actually does not matter but a bigger footprint will. So the Qix has a smaller foot print than other conventional 20 incher. I also take consideration that modding a 20 speed is easy on the Qix. That's my main criteria. Also, next year , I am riding from Incheon to Busan in Korea and I actually plan to stop over in Hong Kong to check out Bromptons ( EPF withdrawal time ) but if the Qix is OK, with the 20 inch wheels and 20 speed , it would be most ideal. Hopefully, 2 bikes won't weigh above 30 kgs. Maybe I will try to target 24 kgs for 2 bikes!

This post has been edited by etigge: Nov 25 2015, 11:46 PM

Suprisingly, the Dahon Qix is slightly bigger in dimension when folded compared to the Dahon Speed. It's a kilo lighter though than the Speed. But if you mod some road bike components on it, maybe you shed another kilo or so. I saw the Jifo before when it was ridden by another rider and was quite impress with the new vertical fold. It looks so simple without much protruding parts of the bike sticking out. Maybe this might make me building the flight case easier later on. Anyway, I have tried the Speed before and maybe I try another. When it hit the store later, I might not even like it, who knows? Then if the time comes, when the Curl is still hard to get, then I will settle for Bromptons from Hong Kong. Used ones that is! I think they are available there. But my dislike for 'B' is the limitation on the gearings. Only way out is the Rohloff but with that you need to change the whole rear triangle which is very costly.

You should see the ride contour of the bike lane in Jeju island, my destination after reaching Busan. A ferry over only. This is the bike lane in Jeju island. Anyway, the bike is not for Korea alone, still I need to ride around Malaysia. And the extra gears are really handy

In my case the gears are for ease of pushing the pedals and definitely not speed. I never ride fast except downhills Usually my average on flat tarmacs 13 kmh to 28 kmh. We are prepared to pay for new units if used ones are not available. The going price in HK is about HKD8000 and most HK models are 6 speed. So, depending on our currency the average price is about 4K. But chances of me and wife getting 'B' are slim. It's just a contingency. We can actually ship my wife's mini velo and my road going mtb and splash the money on comfort and food though. Still so many options. The best thing about Korea is, there are also bicycles to rent. That's a last option.

Bromptons uses 349s and the usual 16 inchers uses 305s. That means 349cm and 305 cm rim diameter. So, the Bromptons actually uses tires which is between the usual 16 inch and 18 inch. More like 17 inch actually. That size means most Brompton users use only their original Brompton tires or Schwalbe Marathon Racers. Very limited choice and even worse in Malaysia.

PS/ I think the Dahon footprint size is like taking your Dahon Route, fold it, stand it up on the hind wheels.

This post has been edited by etigge: Nov 26 2015, 02:41 PM

The 305s are more popular here to to the fact that it is the same size as those kiddy bicycles. Even that the tires are limited to 1.75 only and those who want 1.5 or 1.25 need to get it with a little effort. Worst still, inner tubes for the narrower sizes are even harder to come by, they need to compress the 1.75 tubes into the 1.25 tires. Cycling has gain quite some momentum worldwide and developed countries like Singapore and Korea (which has almost finished their cycling lanes) got on with it really fast. Malaysia wise can't even give motorcyclist their specific lanes let alone bicycles Maybe they think 'car free day' is the way to go!