Travels with Dahon, and Sam

I've been riding my Dahon quite a bit this spring. It's actually my most ridden bicycle at this point. Besides it's easy "grab 'n go" nature, it's fun to toss it in the trunk for quick adventures. For instance, a few weekends ago, I was planning to drive Henry down to Dayton to stay overnight with his cousins. My first thought was to throw my Jones in the car to ride at MOMBA in Dayton after dropping Henry off, but the trails were too wet in this soggy spring. Instead, I tossed the Dahon in the trunk, and rode some rails-to-trails near Dayton.

I started at the Beavercreek trailhead at the 9/11 memorial:

Rivendell Quickbeam vs. Surly Cross Check vs. Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross

My typical road bike is a steel cyclocross bike. Fat tires, strong brakes, and provisions for some useful braze ones make these attractive all-rounders. Today's post covers only my longest serving 'crossy road bikes, I've also had a Soma DoubleCross, a Velo Orange Camargue, and others. But for today, let's focus on these three and see how they compare.

I'll start with subjective stuff

Looks
1. Quickbeam (64cm)

Fleet Update VIII

Here's the latest on my fleet, as (almost) always, most to least favorite at this moment in time:

1. Jones LWB

I haven't been riding my Jones too much lately. The trails are much too soggy this spring for any serious mountain biking, so it's just been the occasional jaunt around the neighborhood.

I am trying out my new Donut Sack bag that I picked up that Ohio swap meet back in March. It's locally sewn by a fellow in Westerville, and looks to be a nice size to carry my wallet, tools, etc and let me ditch the Camelback. My only issue so far is that I wish it had an internal pocket to protect my phone from the tools, etc. that are also in the bag. Maybe an old sock will do the trick.

2. Dahon Speed 7

This little guy has moved up my charts in a big way. I didn't like it all at first, but some new tires transformed it:

Vacation, with Dahon

For spring break, I took a break from driving up north to Michigan to turn around and drive south with the family. I borrowed a new Odyssey from work so we wouldn't rack up more miles on our aging Pilot. As Henry and I were loading up the van on Saturday morning, we both looked at my Dahon in the garage with the same thought.

"Dad, let's take it!" Henry said. He didn't have to twist my arm too hard. We nestled it in the rear cargo bin to smuggle it south:

Quickbeam Updates

When I got my recent Rivendell Quickbeam, I had a thought that I would keep it as received for a few months before I started futzing with it.

That lasted about two rides before I could no longer fight the urge to tinker.

Which brings us to today's build:

The fenders were the last touch, installed today for a drizzly ride, after I looked around the garage and realized I didn't have a single fendered bike. I also added my VO front rack as a simple way to mount the front fender. What's not simple is the rear fender: with the rear facing track ends on the QB, I can't install or remove the rear wheel without also unbolting the rear fender stays. Longer stays or plastic QR clips would be a better solution, but this is what I had on hand. So I just hope I don't get a rear flat, and I won't be flip flopping over to the freewheel side with any regularity.

The forward facing dropouts on my Surly and BMC were a lot easier to live with, even if they didn't have the ultimate adjustment range of the QB.

Dahon Enters the Fold

I've been travelling a lot with my latest work project, back and forth to Michigan every week since this past fall. Of course, this presented a reason for N+1, so I decided I needed to pick up a folding travel bike. I spent some happy time researching various wheels sizes and folding mechanisms, trying to find a cheap bike that would fit my 6'3" self. Finally, during a slow moment in the Super Bowl, I somewhat impulse ordered a used Dahon Speed 7 off ebay. It came packed up in this odd box:

Dawn of the Quickbeam Era

I've wanted a Rivendell Quickbeam pretty much since I first saw one maybe 15 years ago. I've filled the interim with a succession of cheaper replacements: my Cross Check, various vintage Treks, and lately my Black Mountain Monstercross. But here in the winter of discontent, I finally decided to take action. I put up a "WTB" ad on the Riv and iBOB lists, not expecting much response, but Howard from Virginia quickly responded with a 64cm for sale. Just my size. A deal was quickly made, my bike fund was even more underwater, and I finally had a Quickbeam in my garage.