Projected new Dahon

[nobby]

Does this modernise the Brommie?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1276083635/dahon-curl-ultra-compact-folding-bike/description?utm_content=bufferc5fda&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[LittleWheelsandBig]

The Dahon Curl has been 'released' perhaps half a dozen times within about 8 years. Somehow it has never made it to volume production yet.

http://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bikes/520082-dahon-curl-nice-looking.html from 2009
http://www.foldingstyle.net/2014/02/dahon-curl-clinch-e-qix-dahon-new.html Scroll down and see unfolded blue/white and folded pink photos.

There has been a lot of discussion about it over the years. If it has durable hinges and a luggage system similar to Brompton, along with fitting a six footer, it'll take a decent market share and I'll seriously consider it for my next folding bike. It will likely fold a little smaller than a B, though it won't be a cheaper option.

[Jakob W]

Has the Brompton patent protection expired then? That looks like the same fold.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Brompton's patent expired ages ago. They've been protected by copyright for a number of years but Dahon's design doesn't infringe that. The original Curl design was very clever, with the top tube fitting between the wheels, rather than over the top of the rear wheel as now.

[LEE]

The video conveniently misses out a couple of steps in the fold/un-fold.

The brake levers are vertical when he unfolds it ...but magically are in the correct place as he rides off.  Not sure whether you can leave the brake-levers in the correct place or not when you fold it.

That was a pain on my Dahon, having to rotate the handlebars. 
Seat height is another.  Brommies can be set to extend the seat tube to the perfect height with no looking at markings on the tube.

It looks neat though.  It fits under a Cafe table and that's basically how i judge folding bikes.

Brompton will always have the kudos of heritage though. 

[Jakob W]

Ah, ok; I thought that was the reason that there aren't many designs with a similar fold. Though thinking about it I should have realised this; I recall reading somewhere that the reason Brompton have kept production in the UK, with all the wage costs that entails, is because the manufacturing know-how is the major thing that stops them being pirated all over.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Neobike in Taiwan did a licenced Brompton but sold it outside the agreed territory and did a crap job of QA. Brompton eventually stopped Neobike making them, through the courts.
http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/fake-folders-how-brompton-and-strida-tackle-the-copiers/019430
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neobike
Flamingo's Brompton copies were sold in the EU and Brompton blocked them in court using copyright law. There are a couple of Brompton copies still being made but they are sold in the Far East only.

Brompton keeps production in the UK because of a combination of surprisingly tight construction tolerances and the perceived value of 'Made in the UK' for their overseas markets.

[LEE]

Ah, ok; I thought that was the reason that there aren't many designs with a similar fold. Though thinking about it I should have realised this; I recall reading somewhere that the reason Brompton have kept production in the UK, with all the wage costs that entails, is because the manufacturing know-how is the major thing that stops them being pirated all over.

Actually not.  There's nothing fundamentally difficult to rip-off about a Brompton.

Will Butler-Adams said in an interview that most of their sales are for the Chinese market and that, if they moved manufacturing to China (the obvious move when you think about it) the Chinese wouldn't buy it.

It's precisely because they are made in London than they are in such demand over there.  People buy it in droves because they aren't only buying a bike, they are buying a bit of London Double-deckers, Black Cabs and Bobbies on the beat.

Gucci bags are no harder to make than other hand-bags...and so on.

[zigzag]

it still looks half-finished on the kickstarter; but any direct competition that would (hopefully) speed up brompton's innovation is welcome

[drossall]

Looks interesting, but why does Dahon need kickstarter funding?

[Oxford_Guy]

Looks interesting, but why does Dahon need kickstarter funding?

Publicity?