Dahon Boardwalk S1 - yet another one
August 20th, 2007
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.
6 Responses to “Dahon Boardwalk S1 - yet another one”
By Emmanuel on Aug 20, 2007
It’s like a ‘convention’ of bikes in your garage, hehe. That is one funky looking bike and geometry. Can’t be much fun on hills.
By Elijah on Aug 20, 2007
yeah, and like Chik said it could be hard to maintain speed with such a small diameter wheel. He spouted out some equation, but I don’t remember it. Only one way to find out!
By Justin on Aug 21, 2007
Yikes, another bike in the garage, huh? It does look pretty cool though. Doesn’t sound like you’ll be folding it up much.
By Moe on Sep 18, 2007
Folding bikes rock! In fact, I replaced my full Carbon Fiber Road bike with a KHS F-20r. The F20-r is a 9 speed with 20″ tires and I’m able to keep up with most of the roadies with 700c tires!
By Elijah on Sep 18, 2007
Hehe, my wife just asked me why I got the folding bike for. She wasn’t too happy when I told her that it was a new toy, and I was just curious how a folding bike works. Hopefully I’ll figure out some use for it. :p
By Moe on Sep 18, 2007
Last Sunday morning I woke up early, put my folding bike inside my wife’s PT Cruiser and took her car to the shop for an oil change. I dropped her car off and rode my bike back home. She was happy that her car was serviced, and I was just happy to ride my bike.