Identify this old folding bike that I got from the tip - an early Dahon?

Question

please excuse my ignorance. I'm not into biking but i do like to rescue mainly junk from anywhere, charity shops, the tip, skips etc. so on sunday i was making a trio to my local tip and decided to have a quick peak at the sales shed. i came across what looked like a screwed up bike which sparked my interest, a folding bike lol very cool, so for a fiver i took it home, i spent hours looking for even a picture of this same bike and in the end i emailed Mr Baker who restores bickerton bikes, after a few emails back and forth he has told me although it shows the bickerton name it was made by Dahon in Taiwan, Mr Baker didn't give me much but did say it was a nice find and quite a rare bike.

i would appreciate any help or information on this bike, i still cant find any online although I'm sure there must be some out there. PLEASE HELP. thanks in advance

It's not clear what you want, or where you've looked. Dahon is a fairly common brand of folding bike. If you Google dahon folding bike you will get all sorts of links. — Daniel R Hicks, Mar 28 '17 at 21:44
sorry didn't add the link to the pic, I've tried that and had no joy only found one other pic hence me asking for help — bondhigh, Mar 28 '17 at 22:16
Yeah, it's a Dahon from the 80s. If you Google dahon folding bike after clicking on "Images" you will find a number that look much the same (but many more that look different -- you have to scroll down a ways to hit pay dirt). Unfortunately, most of the pages that have them are Ebay, et al, and apt to go poof at any moment, so it does little good to link to them from here. But here is one page that looks like it might hang around. — Daniel R Hicks, Mar 28 '17 at 22:35
yeah already seen this page, as i said I've spent a long time looking, its the decals more than anything as dahon have no archives with this name, the only other pic I've found was posted 5 years ago, nothing since. cheers anyway — bondhigh, Mar 28 '17 at 22:46
You might want to look at the Q&A for Dahonesque. Dahon bikes and clones have been sold under many private labels: http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/44679/what-does-dahonesque-mean — RoboKaren, Mar 28 '17 at 22:56
That particular frame is fairly recognizable. To the trained eye the details of how the "top" and "down" tubes join at the "headset" with a rather distinctive "lug", combined with the bulky folder mechanism atop the headset and the bulky hinge mechanism are very distinctive and unlikely to be closely counterfeited. (Though note that the frame's hinge mechanism is largely obscured in pictures from the right side.) Yours appears to be missing the diagonal brace for the handlebar stem, but hard to guess if that was lost or simply not present on this model. — Daniel R Hicks, Mar 29 '17 at 02:12
I'll also note that yours has a one-piece crank. I see both Bickerton and Dahon models with one-piece cranks, but they are significantly rarer than 3-piece models. Here is one very much similar to yours, with a 1-piece crank and no handlebar stem brace. It's linked to from this page. — Daniel R Hicks, Mar 29 '17 at 02:25
Loverly bike - you should consider cleaning and servicing it, then ride it a bit. If nothing else, having a folder in the boot/trunk of your car can give a lot of flexibility to the day's plans. Don't worry about the weird cycling culture, just ride it and be healthier. — Criggie, Mar 29 '17 at 02:53
You could try Bickerton - http://www.bickertonportables.co.uk/contact-us/ (Their "Heritage" pages don't have anything on the rebranded Dahon-made models from a quick skim, but it's worth a try.) — armb, Mar 29 '17 at 16:58
@DanielRHicks that's an answer to that question if there ever were one. Why keep it to the comments? For only thread archaeologists may find it? — gschenk, Mar 29 '17 at 20:51

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:32

It does seem to be an early model Dahon OEM or Dahonesque bicycle -- i.e., made in Dahon's factory or cloned from Dahon blueprints, but then sold under another label.

The way to identify an early Dahon is that their bottom bracket is above the downtube folding hinge. This particular model is missing the steering brace that helped make the early models less rickety.

Early Dahon bikes aren't particularly rare or valuable at all - especially an off-brand like yours. It's not as if you had a 0-series Brompton. With your bike, you can tell from the one-piece crank that it was designed as an inexpensive commuter bicycle - what we tend to call on this forum, a Bicycle Shaped Object. Later Dahons with their oversized aluminium tubing are much better than these early models.

Just remember that just because something is one-of-a-kind or rare doesn't mean that it's valuable.

not fussed about the value, didn't even ask that? i know its a standard dahon and is almost identical in everyway to the classic, bar the decals. — bondhigh, Mar 28 '17 at 23:15

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 23 '20 at 21:42

RoboKaren has done a great job of identifying the bike.

Here's some historic background, a few good pictures of an example in very good shape and folding instructions. If you need more information please be specific.

After Harry’s [Bickerton] retirement in 1987, Mark [Harry's son] attempted to diversify, importing the new Dahon, and marketing it as the Bickerton-Dahon (and later as the Bickerton Californian) - quite a feat as the Dahon was already being sold in the UK at that time. The Dahon was developed in the United States by Dr David Hon, a Hughes Aircraft laser engineer.The bike was solid and simple, but hardly rocket science, and it weighed a massive 13.2kg, but mass-produced in Taiwan, it was cheap, and Mark was able to sell the machines for a lot less than his father’s more elegant folding solution
From The Bickerton Story

Here's what it looked like new - including the carrying bag

From Car and Classic