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Folding Bikes- Espresso vs Land Rover

by Jester
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 20:34
4

First post, so if this is covered elsewhere, please don't bite my head off!

I am ordering a bike through Halfords 14 (cycle to work, and that's another story) but I have been given a choice of two folding bikes as they can't get the one I want.

I'm looking for any comments on either the Dahon Espresso or the Land Rover Elite (which I understand to be a Dahon frame).

I'm looking to use the bike to do some Munro bagging, so it will have to be able to cope with some light off road stuff.

Any help?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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4 comments

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Tony Farrelly | 15 years ago
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Fishers may not be doing Dahon any more but Zyro are and I'm sure that if Halford's gave them a ring – they are a major UK distributor, I'm sure they'll have their number, they could possibly help.
Failing that take a closer look at the Apollo folders… Dahon do make an awful lot of bikes for other people
Failing that Halfords could just go out and buy you one retail – it would void the manufacturer's warranty, but Halfords could cover that.
Failing that you might point out to Halfords that the fact that the Dahon was advertised as available was misleading and you want your vouchers back.
Be nice to them though, there are some good people at Halfords.

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dave atkinson | 15 years ago
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if it's just a few tracks you're wanting to ride, and given that you deffo need a folder, then either the dahon or the landy would probably be fine. you don't seem to have much choice anyway 2 the only folding bikes on the halfords website are two apollos. the excellent Dahon Speed D7 is tantalisingly in the 'best rated' list but not actually available...

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Jester | 15 years ago
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The bike will mainly be used to access the hills, i.e from the train station to the start of the walk, with the occasional trip to a bothy on a track.
I have no intention of doing any serious off road stuff with it, nor do I intend to take it to 3000ft- that's what my boots are for!
I travel by train, and on the Inverness line you are limited to two bikes per train, however a folded bike is classed as luggage, not a bike. Therefore no need to book in advance, or worry about being refused access to the train as the two bike allocation is full.
I do have a mountain bike, but in the past have had difficulty getting booked on the train, especially at short notice.

I had ordered a Dahon Jack through the cycle to work scheme, however after SIX WEEKS halfords have now informed me that they cannot source a Dahon Jack, and that their supplier, Fisher are refusing to get one as they are ceasing to deal with Dahon.

As Halfords have my cycle to work voucher I am stuck with a limited choice. The rules of the scheme are that you cannot add to it, so having:
a) Phoned Halfwits to confirm they could get the bike
b) Obtained vouchers to cover the price quoted
c) Surrendered the vouchers to Halfwits.

I am now stuck. The rules are that once surrendered I cannot cancel, so I am stuck with a budget of £450 and a limited choice of bikes in the price range.

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dave atkinson | 15 years ago
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I think they use the same frame; the land rover has suspension forks but to be honest they're not up to that much although they'd likely be a big improvement off road over the hi-tensile forks on the Dahon. the Dahon 26" frame would be fine for towpaths and fire roads, i wouldn't fancy descending a 3000ft peak on one too much though 1

if it was me i'd look at something like the dahon matrix, which is a much more capable off road machine. it is a lot more expensive though... still, you've got 12 months to pay!

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