26inch Folding bikes

A couple years ago I purchased a Swytch Kit for a 26” wheel – I stuck it on a Tandem and we have never used it.. well just a tiny bit.

i have recently converted a van for family holidays and im looking to get a folding bike which will go nicely in the back of the van that can stay in there all the time. I plan to put the Swytch kit on it so it can be used to pop to shops etc once we have pitched up.

i have owned a Montague Paratrooper before which would be perfect (but sold it..woops!) but at present they seem to be fetching decent money so I have been looking at the Dahon Jack and the Tern Joe but no nothing about them.

i know the Paratrooper can take a beating and additional weight but the other two max out at 105kg so just wondering if anyone had any feedback from previous use?

My ex wife had a smaller Dahon folding thing.

It was terrible, I’m never felt completely safe riding it, there was so much flex and play in everything. The small wheels were a nightmare too but you won’t have that problem at least.

It has completely put me off folding bikes. Are they all that bad, is just Dahons which are terrible or did we just have a duff one? Anyway, I would steer clear of the Dahon one.

I had a Dahon Zero G which was pretty good but still creaked from the hinge.

What about putting those S&S couplers on your favourite frame, or buying something with them on?

Dahons are the best folding bikes they are (yes, better than Bromptons). The Jack would be fine. The technology between the two brands is similar – Tern was founded by the son and estranged wife of the founder of Dahon. Both would be good.

is there a reason the switch kit can’t be fitted to a smaller wheel? top speed limits maybe

As munrobiker said about the designers. We have Za Tern Vectron. It’s excellent, rides like a big bike and carries my grandson! Perhaps a touch heavy?

I commuted on a Dahon Jack for 6 years doing about 100 miles a week, it was fine, there was a bit of a creak from the hinge at one point but i just stuck some duct tape on the contact points inside which stopped it. It did suffer with the chain jumping off of the front chain ring occasionally, but that was in the days before narrow/wide chainrings were really a thing, that would have sorted that issue out as well.

Thanks all, add Dahon Matrix to the mix also – what are they like?

Matrix is like the cheaper version of the Zero-G I had – I commuted for years on my Zero-G, with 35 minute rail journeys included. Similar to the Jack, more of a mountain bike instead of a commuter setup.

Apparently you can put wax on the joint to decrease the chance of creaking, or maybe LPS-3 spray which is pretty waxy.