Dahon Helios

"Gerald H" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I'm thinking of getting myself a Dahon Helios P8 and would like to be
able to chuck it in the car and do some converted railway cycleways, e.g.
Tarka Trail etc.. I realise that you can't go mountain biking on one,
but has anyone used one on a gravelly off-road type track? I've got a
Presto Lite which is great for pottering around town, but I think I'm
going to need a few more gears and slightly bigger wheels if I am going
to go a bit further afield. Any thoughts or experiences?

Is a folding bike absolutely essential?

You can buy a decent entry level bike and bike rack for the cost of the
Dahon.

The much maligned Halfords has the Carerra Crossfire @ £199 - no suspension,
14 gears, alloy frame - got full marks in the latest Cycling plus magazine.
It copes with the abuse and neglect meted out by teenage users - my son
really enjoys his and although the bike does cope ok with off road use,
fitting off road tyres helps it to cope with wet muddy trails. The bike
would probably fit in the back of your car if you have a hatchback. I can
get any of my bikes in the back of my Nissan Micra.

HTH

-=V=-

Gerald H said:

I'm thinking of getting myself a Dahon Helios P8 and would like to be
able to chuck it in the car and do some converted railway cycleways, e.g.
Tarka Trail etc.. I realise that you can't go mountain biking on one,
but has anyone used one on a gravelly off-road type track? I've got a
Presto Lite which is great for pottering around town, but I think I'm
going to need a few more gears and slightly bigger wheels if I am going
to go a bit further afield. Any thoughts or experiences?

Depends what level of speed and panache you want to tackle it with.
I've done worse on my 3 speed, 16" wheel Brompton so I know the Dahon
will /do/ it, but then if I'm going XC on the Brom I don't really expect
to be breaking speed records...

What sort of car? We can get an MTB in our 2-door Fiesta by the simple
expedient of wheel removal and not having rear seat passengers, so I'm
not sure how fussy you need to be about folding just to move it by car.
If you do want an off-road capable folder then Dahon do a fold-in-half
MTB, and moving upmarket there's the Airnimal Rhino.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Gerald H said:

I'm thinking of getting myself a Dahon Helios P8 and would like to be
able to chuck it in the car and do some converted railway cycleways, e.g.
Tarka Trail etc.. I realise that you can't go mountain biking on one,
but has anyone used one on a gravelly off-road type track? I've got a
Presto Lite which is great for pottering around town, but I think I'm
going to need a few more gears and slightly bigger wheels if I am going
to go a bit further afield. Any thoughts or experiences?

if converted means sustrans such stuff you'll be fine they tend to be
smooth unchalling stuff, as is their want. so yes a folding bike or
frankly almost any bike would cope fine.

if not convered. ie running on the the bed it can be hard work and be
very rought unless you have a sprung ride. but to be honest if its's a
cycle rount it will almost allways be covered.

roger