A mountain bike group in Ipoh started getting into folding bikes a few months ago and they all ganged up and arranged for 20 bikes to be purchased all at once. They chose Mongoose and although most are happy with it, the only drawback is the front triple chainring which is more suitable for mountain bike. It's too small and coupled with the 7 speed freewheel hub which starts at 14 teeth, this makes riding faster almost impossible unless you can pedal 200 turns per minute. 
They are freewheeling at flats most of the time.

Thanks    for the offer but I am already using that combination. It is those who bought the Mongoose. It is hard to convince them anyway. Sometimes you meant good but they take it as you are trying to make a buck out of them. So, I have stopped giving advises to those that I ride together. I only give them here in the forum , never to those I ride together.

I don't think it is the fault of the riders. There are many who buys a bike and that's it. They never do any mods only maintenance. They ride with what the bike's brand gives.....period. While I am one who fiddles and also studies the weakness of the design and OEM components, we also have to respect others who thinks otherwise. It is the Mongoose bikes assembler who are at fault here. While they can't can't challenge the expertise of the branded ones, their knowledge or rather they want to win the sales, they put in cheaper stuffs to attract more sales.

So, the fault lies with the sellers, both the assemblers and the bike shop as well. They don't care enough to actually educate the buyers who most probably don't know anything technical about bikes.

PS/ Let's say you want to start cycling, you go to a shop and see a Dahon Vybe for RM1500 and the Mongoose for only RM600. Compare the specs, the Dahon only 7 speed and the Mongoose .....Wah! 21 speed. No matter how you try telling them, they still feel the Mongoose is a better deal, right? Most riders who are serious will eventually find out later, so that's is a step newbies have to go through. Unless off course they trust what other more experienced riders says.

On your last comment.............You think so? I sold off my 4 folding bikes and gave up folding bikes 2 years ago because of the reasonable cyclist too..hahaaaa    All 4 mainstream cycling have their goods and bads. You can't be too judgmental.

Just for eye candy, here's another 16 inch foldie that I assembled for a fellow rider. She has ridden it from Kampar to Sitiawan on it but I think she has since sold it or left it somewhere and got herself a Brompton after falling out with me. The purpose of this setup was , she wanted a smaller and lighter foldie to take on trains and easier to load into her car. It weighs 9.2 kgs with the pedals and everything. It cost her RM3200,  2 years ago.

Now she went the opposite and got a massive 14.2 kg Brompton. Power of enmity, huh ? 



FSA Vero crank with Shimano 105 53 teeth and 39 teeth chain rings. Shimano Sora FD


Shimano Tiagra RD with Shimano HG cassette 11/28T . Smaller due to the smaller wheelsets. Weinmann rims with Novatec sealed bearing hubs.


Shimano Deore V-brakes


Shimano Tiagra 10 speed flatbar shifters and Deore brake levers.


Comparison between the 20 inch and the 16 inch. I have a photo comparing it to a Brompton infact and it was about the same but this was much, much lighter and with 20 speed, it rides easier too, don't you think so. I think you can still assemble one at this price today as at that time, I went through another fella to order the components from China.

sifu etigge, my daughter hv a 16inch , 7speed foldie, 56t single chainring...thinking to mod it to 9speeds cos i hv a spare sora rd, will it be sufficient ? and wat size of the cassette should i get ? tq

So, why I put the idea out is this, You buy a Tern N8 for 3K (offer bikes are soldout, and the reason they offer it out is because there will be no more 8 speed for Verge anymore, as they want to avoid Tern Verge wannabes, as Tern call us ). So, only 9 speed and above for Tern Verge. So, you got the Verge frame, put in the Shimano 11 speed (shifter, chain, RD and cassette) for RM800. The wheelset is up to you. Calculate the cost. It's not even a third of the Tern Verge X11. Slap in another 1.5K and you can have the same wheelset or even a better carbon Joseph Kuosac if you add some more.

Too bad for 74mm front hubs but it does have an advantage though.  The shorter hubs makes the spokes stronger at a more vertical angle . The only way is either change the forks (which you need to order from China ) or the other way is to pry it open. You need to get 14mm per side which is quite alot. Also it will be safer if the fork is steel. I don't know if you notice, if the frame is aluminum, they usually use steel fork and vice versa. Why, I still can't figure out, maybe something to do with cathode, anode kind of thing.

To widen it, you have to extend the opening 150% more so that when you release the bolt and nut (usually I use the rear hub treaded shaft, a cheap one will do and all lbs have them) it will spring back. So, you need to do it very gradually. I have done it before, so it is possible.

IMHO. I rather use a 74mm hub.

Bro.. is there any articles on the bolded statement?? Wanna learn more about it before i upgrade my bike..

Thanks alot..

Haha thanks, just not sure if the shifter works with the fd and the crank set and if the 11/10 speed Shimano crankset works with the claris 8 speed Rd, cassette and chain.

Got it, thanks. For now will still be using the Claris RD with the Claris shifter. Maybe in the future if i were to go for a 10 speed 105 cassette then ill swap the RD out along with the chain and shifter. 

You're right bro! After reading your comments and did some research on internet, i re Dahon are famous for its build quality. Also i want my money spend well on my first 'baby' Therefore i decided to go for Dahon/Tern even it has lesser features [Speed, Brake, Gear system etc] compared to XDS but like bro u said, i cn upgrade it in the future, just that i hope it wont cost me a fortune    Anyway bro, can you recommend me some good foldie from Dahon/Tern that cost below 2.5k to me? I now pening kepala because there are too many models available out there 

The general consensus seems to be Dahon is the better manufacturer.…