Dahon Boardwalk S1 – yet another one

I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been fascinated by folding bikes of late. I have very little use for one, but who knows? Because of my lack of need, I decided to get as low end as I could and still be happy with, so I got the Boardwalk for $180 shipped. It’s a single speed with a coaster brake in the back. Another reason for getting it is that it’s got potential as a fixed gear bike. But I like the coaster brake and so does the wife. So to make it a multi-person useable bike, the coaster stays. I may yet put on a bmx wheel and add a caliper break to the rear. We’ll see.

So far I haven’t done too many modifications to it. I removed the fenders and rack, but kept the kickstand. Cindy has a thing for kickstands. I \chopped off the existing handlebar and added a new stem and handlebar. The original bike comes with a handle bar that is permanently attached to the stempost or whatever you’d call it. And the handlebars were directly over the stem. This caused for major instability when I stood and pedaled. But with the replacements, the handlebars are lower and farther over the wheel, and they are also wider. I think I’d feel comfortable riding this bike on my commute to work. I’ll try it out in a couple days. If I like it, I may upgrade many more parts. Good thing Cindy’s tolerant of my hobby.