Dahon was founded by Dr. David Hon in the late 70's. It’s the oldest, and most established folding bike manufacturer in the world. They have a strong lineup of folding bikes for any need - commuter, racing, and super compact. Overall we love Dahon; and are very happy that a good honest company has grown so large. We recommend you check out the Dahon pamphlet at your local bike shop. HOWEVER: As good as Dahon is we see one glaring problem with them - they only sell retail through stores. That means there is a middleman or middlemen involved, and that means added cost. Manufacturers have a price to wholesalers, wholesalers have a price to retailers, and retailers have a price for you. Each price is marked up so that the individual company can make a profit. While that’s fair market trade it doesn’t benefit you. It means that you, the consumer, pay an inflated price for a folding bike when you buy one at a retail outlet.
Downtube doesn’t do that. We sell directly to our customers. That means you benefit from lower prices – considerably lower prices – 50% to 70% less than Dahon’s prices on comparable bikes. As seen in the table below you would pay $550 for a Dahon bike that is comparable to our $300 bike. And in some cases our bikes not only beat Dahon in price but beat or match them in component value. In fact, our 9sp bikes dominate the Dahon Mu. Downtube bikes have more gears, better suspension, and top quality alloy pedals. And they are so darned nice to ride.
Once you have compared Dahon to Downtube bikes take a look on our website to see pictures of how beautiful they look, and then picture yourself riding a great looking bike for 50% to 70% less than you would pay for a Dahon bike. That’s a pretty darned good motivator, don’t you think?
| Model | Dahon Speed 7 ($549) | Dahon Mariner($599) | Dahon Mu P8 ($829) | Downtube 9S ($549) | Downtube Nova ($299) | Downtube FS ($549) |
| Frame Material | Steel | Aluminum | Aluminum | Aluminum | Aluminum | Aluminum |
| Drivetrain | 7sp freewheel | 7sp freewheel | 8sp cassette | 9sp cassette | 9sp cassette | 9sp cassette |
| Suspension | none | none | none | Zoom fork | none | Zoom fork and rear shock |
| Cranks | non-replacable chainring | non-replacable chainring | replacable chainring | replacable chainring | non-replacable chainring | replacable chainring |
| Stem | fixed angle | fixed angle | fixed angle | fixed angle | fixed angle | fixed angle |
| Pedals | Plastic | Plastic | Aluminum | Aluminum | Plastic | Aluminum |
| Frame Safety lock | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Replacable rear derailleur hanger | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Water Bottle braze-on | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Frame protector (bar from below to protect frame) | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Use Standard Bike parts | NO | NO | NO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Weight | 26.2 | 25.7 | 24.4 | 26 | 24.5 | 27 |