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UPGRADE CENTER |
Dahon's stock gearing is sufficient for flatlanders. Once you do any sort of climbing especially on long rides, gearing changes are required.
How many gears do I need ?
A bike with more gears is not necessarily better than a bike with less gears. The bike with ENOUGH gears to MATCH your riding style is the better bike. The first step in finding your gearing requirements is to be conscious of your gears on your next ride out. When you are climbing a typical steep hill on your next ride, stop and look at your front and rear cog. Write down the ring size and cog size of your gears. Manually count the number of teeth of the ring where the chain rests on.
Do the same for your fast gears. When you are on a typical stretch where you go fast, count the number of teeth of both your front ring and rear cog. Your data will look like this::
Climbing Gear - Front chainring = xx teeth, Rear Cog = xx teeth
Fast Gear - Front chainring = xx teeth, Rear Cog = xx teeth
From the above data, we can help guide you in the direction of which gearing option will work best. Again, I'd like to reiterate that the best gearing is the range that matches your riding style.
Why are low gears important for folding bikes ?
Most folding bikes are designed with long stems. When climbing a hill, you can't stand up on your folding bike and leverage off your handlebar. Such motion produces what I call a "pry bar " effect on your long stem resulting in premature heaadset and folding stem failure. This is true for all folding bike brands with a long stem design.
Instead of standing up, you should switch to a lower gear and spin. That is why we always emphasize low gears over high gears for most folding bikes. Folding bikes are designed for commuting and lightweight touring where you can always coast on descents.
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Front Chainring Option This is the simplest solution to gear down your bike. The stock Dahon comes with a 52 teeth front chainring. By replacing it with a ring smaller in size, you automatically step down the whole gear range. Switching to a 42 front chainring will shift your gears 25% down lower. We can use any ring size based on the gearing info you will give us.
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The latest generation of Dahon's come with 52 teeth chainring (130mm ring bolt pattern) bolted on to the crankset. The most economical upgrade is to replace the 52T ring with either a 42T or 38T ring. If you need to go any lower, you may have to replace the whole crankset. We use Vuelta crankarms with a 110mm ring bolt pattern which can take chainrings from as low as a 24T all the way to 60T ring. Our most common upgrades are 34, 36, 38, 42, 46 and 48 teeth Anytime you replace the chainring, the ring guard that comes with the stock Dahon is removed and no longer effective. We have devised an orange roller kit to prevent the chain from jumping off when running over bumps while switching gears. This front chainring replacement option together with the roller kit is the most effective and economical option to get your bike travel ready. If you are buying the bike from us, we can perform the necessary option for the cost of the parts alone. Since we check each bike we sell, upgrading the crankset does not cost us any labor hours. Just let us know ahead of time. Estimated cost for the Front Chainring Option starts at about $50 to about $150 fully installed. Please call for a quote. |
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RollerKit Been experiencing your chain falling off your crankset ? Then the roller kit is the solution. When you shift your gears and the chain moves from the bigger to the smaller cogs, the chain produces a wavelike motion forcing the chain to jump from your crankset. Due to the shorter chainstays of folding bikes, the wave motion is further exaggerated. Our solution is a simple contraption we call the roller kit. It is a grooved roller used in downhill mountain biking held by an aluminum arm. It merely sits on top of the upper chain run. The roller's weight and groove keeps the chain in place even when using a wider cassette like an 11/34T. Roller Kit runs $30. Removal of chain guard required.
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Rear Cassette Switch Count the number of cogs of your cassette and the number of teeth of the biggest and smallest cog. For bikes with a big cog under 34 teeth and a small cog 12 and above, a simple solution is to replace the rear cassette with an 11-34 teeth rear cassette. The wider range over the stock cassette will give you a lower and higher gear. Available for wheels with 7, 8 and 9 speed. Estimated cost for rear cassette starts at about $25 up for parts. Installation extra. By changing your rear cassette in combination with replacing your front crankset, you can dial in the gearing you require. Please call for a quote. |
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