20 inch front wheel for Dahon?

[fhills]

Futher adventures with my now aging Dahon Speed Pro.

I'm looking for a new wheel after my current wheel, despite a nice hub, has recently had two spokes break with a bang in the centre of the spoke! On closer inspection, several of the other spokes look distinctly odd (rust on a stainless spoke?) and I fear I have fallen prey to more of Dahon's questionable parts sourcing/quality control.

Wheel needs ideally to be have a decent hub with traditional ball bearings and ideally to come with a quick release (I may need a new one soon as my current one is rather like the one it replaced - in danger of the lever snapping off!).

Would settle for bolt on though.

If getting a new front wheel is a problem, a source of a decent rim and spokes - and then I will have to figure out the complications of getting suitably sized spokes to match the existing hub.

I am aware that CH White's sell parts (and I have used them before - excellent service) but I was hoping for another maybe cheaper supplier.

Am not interested in either of Dahon's adventures into cycle creativity - the 20 inch low spoke count wheel (dread to think what spares are like for that) or the amazing 20 inch suspension hub front wheel - main feature - jump on your bike, head downhill, magical suspension feature ensures that your rims remain nice and clean by moving the pads away from the rims

I had thought that maybe Tern offered a posibility (result of Mr Hon's son running off with his wife as I understand it) but a quick look at the Evans web page doesn't seem to show Terns anymore - thought I'd seen one in one of their shops recently.

Apologies if the tone of this post seems a bit odd - anyone who has had one of Dahon's more "advanced" bikes may understand.

[rogerzilla]

20" wheels are easy-peasy because they're BMX size.  I've built a few.  Try http://www.customriders.com/ for parts if you build your own (they stock the short spokes and I've used them before).  They sell complete wheels from £40 but they may be a bit overbuilt for your needs.

[Martin]

I've got a spare but it's from a Giant; I think the hub is too wide for Dahon (it is for my Raleigh which is actually a Dahon Vitesse I think)

[fhills]

20" wheels are easy-peasy because they're BMX size.  I've built a few.  Try http://www.customriders.com/ for parts if you build your own (they stock the short spokes and I've used them before).  They sell complete wheels from £40 but they may be a bit overbuilt for your needs.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm not very techie) but I think there may be a hub width problem.

My Dahon I think has a 74mm hub - I think BMX standard wheels might be 100mm?

[rogerzilla]

Use a Brompton hub?  They're very cheap.

[Arellcat]

The most straightforward solution is probably to disassemble the wheel, measure one of the spokes and buy a bunch from somewhere like YourSpokes or SJS Cycles.  I can speak from experience, when I broke a spoke in my departed Dahon's Rolf rear wheel and was never able to find a replacement.

On the 'bay, someone is selling a pair of wheels from a Speed Pro.  For that price though you could buy an entire (cheap) Dahon.

[fhills]

You may well be right Arellcat (though other responses still welcome) and thanks for your reply.

Out of interest where did your Dahon depart to and what was it?

[Arellcat]

Mine was a Helios SL with a 32h rear wheel I built as a more bombproof solution to the 16-spoke Rolf.  I sold it two or three years ago in order to buy a Brompton, and is now well used and enjoyed by another Edinburgh rider (on CCE).

[gene hunt]

On the 'bay, someone is selling a pair of wheels from a Speed Pro.  For that price though you could buy an entire (cheap) Dahon.

They are mine and trust me they are leagues ahead of the standard cheap wheels plus if you want to run narrow tyres these and Kinetix Pro's are the only options you have, on the factory wheels the hubs feel really rough, these are so smooth to ride also it is worth the weight saving, WTB doublewall rims are really nice and strong as well.

I looked into building a pair of wheels and it was not cheap or easy, these were £145 new plus the tyres and I doubt you could build a decent set of wheels for less.

[fhills]

I'll pass Gene.

I prefer ball-bearing hubs.

And my rear wheel has an SRAM dual drive internal hub - probably the best bit of the bike. No problems so far.

Your penultimate line is probably the best argument about buying a Dahon that I've heard.

I say that despite the bike being great fun to ride when it's working.

all the best

am slightly intrigued as to why you have these two wheels.