Dahon Briza D8 24" Frost Aluminum Folding Bike Bicycle

Wanted a classy step through cruiser look in a trusted quality geared folder with larger wheels and this hit the mark. Tired of hoisting your heavy cruiser/hybrid up on a bike rack to tool around down the shore? This is the solution! It has been life changing and one of the best purchases I have ever made. My other bikes are a Bianchi carbon fiber road bike and a Trek 21 sp hybrid and this brings me just as much joy : D

Better than most any other bike I have owned. Smooth, comfortable, fast on pavement, trails, and light offroad such as cutting across a yard. As comfortable as a shocked bike there. Totally trustworthy. Works great. If you will use it as a city bike, and you will, accessories are a problem. Folding is a bit too clever so anything you put on has to come off or you live with impeding folding. I have a basket rack and some other handlebar stuff that keeps the handlebars from folding quite far enough to latch. But, I toss it in a trunk or a garage so no worries. If it was taking the train daily, I might care more. No braze ons, even where they might work and not interfere. I put the lock on the rack, and just carry the pump in a pack. Under-seat bags work fine. Folding is clever and easy but good luck figuring it out. The manual is... on a CD. So I went to the website where I found they have A Manual. One for all current bikes. You have to know which jargon name they use for your accessories and sift through it. And some bits, not explained at all. Maybe I missed some, but my pedals came with a separate instruction sheet. Wouldn't have figured they were folding without that. So, that leads to the only real complaint. And it's not a product complaint, but you really should know this. I complained a bit to Dahon. On Twitter. They gave odd answers that eventually I understood: I am a terrible person for buying from Amazon. I should only buy from an Authorized Dealer. Yeah, because we live in 1974 still. And bikes are so complex no human can understand them without much training. We don't even get a warranty if the Authorized Dealer didn't assemble it. Now, this bike came assembled. Not the pedals, but that took 30 seconds, and yes I have the right wrench, but there was room in the box. They could have come assembled. But it's all packaged, apparently, for the dealer. They unpack and give it to me. And here's where I start swearing at Dahon customer service: And that's all. Every single bike I have bought new from an Authorized Dealer — all of them before this, many bikes — comes: - Barely adjusted, so I need to look it over and complain to get it adjusted right before I leave the store. - Maybe not fully assembled, with things loose or missing; again, if I don't notice, they won't fix it. - With no manual. Maybe, they threw it away so I cannot have it. - Accessory manuals? Ha! I might never have figured out I have folding pedals if I didn't buy it direct. - They suck at this as most dealers are not experts. My local one had one Dahon in the store, not the model I wanted, and didn't much care about it. So why go to them? - And of course, they charge me for this Expert Service. So, I'd still be asking the same questions, and figuring it all out on my own. Fail at packaging. Fail at instructions. Fail at selling to consumers. Great bike. Too bad really.

Only problem is the gears needed to be adjusted . Quick fix. Other than that. Just fine

This is my second Dahon folding bike. The first one, which I purchased at a camping store, was set up and had no problems. This one came to my house in the factory box had/has some problems. The folded handle bar was so tightly out of adjustment that I had to watch the enclosed disc to figure out the proper adjustment so I could lock the handle bar in place without force breaking it. One shouldn't have to do a brake adjustment from the start, but I did. The brakes pads were so tight against the wheel rims that the wheels wouldn't turn. The front wheel rim has an out of round spot. If I backed off the pads too much I had minimum braking with the brake levers full force against the handle bars. I made the adjustment where it needed to be but the right front pad lightly rubs the high spot on the rim when the wheel rotates. Imagine a new bike needs wheels to be trued. The fenders are made of extremely light plastic attached with metal rods that are barely heavier than .040 safety wire. The fenders rattle when the bike is ridden. If one hand is taken off the handle bars the front fender rattles so much it looks and sounds like it will rattle itself off the bike. I really like the bike for what it does and the ride is comfortable. I wish I could have given this bike 5 stars. I would have given 5 stars if things were the way they should have been.

Good part: very smooth, great fun to ride. Improvement suggestions: similar to my Vybe, Seats - bit uncomfortable. Packing - it was not well insulated/protected/secured; the bike had obviously moved during the delivery process, causing pedal crank to break through the carton box, heavily scraped. Also few broken plastics and paint several damage areas from friction of metal parts.