Dahon Briza D8 opinion and value

[Irish Rover]

I found one of these for sale 2nd hand in Ireland. Seller says it's 2 years old and in v good condition and after exchanging a couple of messages his bottom line price is €350 which he says is less than half what he paid for it. I have to go to ireland for a couple of weeks and I'd like to have a bike to keep up my daily exercise and later bring it to Turkey to live on the boat. So does anyone have any experience of this particular model and if so:-
Is it a good choice for the boat?
Will it fit easily in the boot of a compact car say golf or Ford focus?
Is the price of €350 reasonable if it's in good condition?
Any other relevant information?

 

[pvb]

The Briza has 24" wheels, which are good for stability, but mean that it doesn't fold up as compactly as others. If you want to stow it easily on the boat, it might be worth checking the folded size against the folded size of bikes with 20" wheels. Just as a comparison, the Dahon Briza apparently folds to 90x82x32cm; the Dahon Mariner with 20" wheels folds to a rather smaller 79x65x32cm. As for price, you can get a new Briza for £550.

 

[bedouin]

Unless you have a large boat I would look elsewhere. It is far from compact when folded so will take up a surprising amount of boot space in the car, and may be hard to find anywhere to stow it on the boat.

 

[Irish Rover]

Thanks for the replies. I found a Dahon Mariner for sale as well. Says only 5 months old and asking €350 as well. Do the chain and gear mechanisms on the Dahons stay reasonably rust free on the boat - I bought cheap enough Decathlon folders a couple of years ago and they're still fairly OK but the chain and gear wheels are rusty despite regular applications of dry lube.

 

[KompetentKrew]

Briza appears very similar to the Ciao - these models have larger wheels than most folding bikes.

The Mariner is a Vitesse - I've had 3 of them, and I like them very much, but avoid the ones with the 5-speed Sturmey Archer hubs, which are shite.

I thought they only used the Mariner name in the US, and sold it as the Vitesse throughout Europe, but if you compare them you'll see it's the same bike - the shape of the frame is the same, and the frame is aluminium. The Speed has the same shape of frame as the Vitesse, but it's chromoly not aluminium.

The Vitesse easily goes in the locker of a decent sized boat (I have a van De Stadt Caribbean 40, and I also tested it in the locker of a Nic 39). I can easily pedal a dozen miles on mine, as long as they're not too steep. If you want to climb hills they made a Speed with 21 gears, but these go for a lot more money secondhand - £450 - £550.

Both the Ciao and the Vitesse have been sold, over the years, in versions with hub and derailleur gears. The Ciao has hub gears much more often though, so I'm thinking they maybe introduced the Briza model name to distinguish them. In this video you can see the Ciao and Briza side by side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSMMQku7F7A

€350 seems a little bit steep, but I'm only familiar with the UK market and maybe they're more expensive in Ireland - in England you can easily get these secondhand for between £180 - £250. The Vitesse with the 8-speed hub tends to command a premium over the derailleur version.

Avoid the 5-speed of both all models, because all the 5-speeds have these Sturmey Archer hub gears, and this was not Sturmey Archer's greatest era.

See eBay item numbers 233392015477, 323952633264, 293286092048, 333353077033, 183984774475 for some recent prices.

I still have Dahon on my eBay watch list, as I'd like to the boat to be equipped with a pair. A Vitesse would be my choice - I've never ridden a Caio or seen one in person, but I'd have one if it came up at the right price.

 

[V1701]

I went with a Brompton in the end, bought 2nd hand for £500. Folded size 585 x 565 x 270 which is about as small as you get for a bike that rides remarkably well given the wheel size. I've done a 100 mile trip over 3 days on mine & had no issues at all, it was comfortable & enjoyable. Prior to that I had a Giant Halfway which also rode well but folded size much bigger...

Edit - whatever bike you choose if you're taking it to Turkey to use as a boat bike maybe get a set of solid tyres?

 

[Irish Rover]

Briza appears very similar to the Ciao - these models have larger wheels than most folding bikes.

The Mariner is a Vitesse - I've had 3 of them, and I like them very much, but avoid the ones with the 5-speed Sturmey Archer hubs, which are shite.

I thought they only used the Mariner name in the US, and sold it as the Vitesse throughout Europe, but if you compare them you'll see it's the same bike - the shape of the frame is the same, and the frame is aluminium. The Speed has the same shape of frame as the Vitesse, but it's chromoly not aluminium.

The Vitesse easily goes in the locker of a decent sized boat (I have a van De Stadt Caribbean 40, and I also tested it in the locker of a Nic 39). I can easily pedal a dozen miles on mine, as long as they're not too steep. If you want to climb hills they made a Speed with 21 gears, but these go for a lot more money secondhand - £450 - £550.

Both the Ciao and the Vitesse have been sold, over the years, in versions with hub and derailleur gears. The Ciao has hub gears much more often though, so I'm thinking they maybe introduced the Briza model name to distinguish them. In this video you can see the Ciao and Briza side by side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSMMQku7F7A

€350 seems a little bit steep, but I'm only familiar with the UK market and maybe they're more expensive in Ireland - in England you can easily get these secondhand for between £180 - £250. The Vitesse with the 8-speed hub tends to command a premium over the derailleur version.

Avoid the 5-speed of both all models, because all the 5-speeds have these Sturmey Archer hub gears, and this was not Sturmey Archer's greatest era.

See eBay item numbers 233392015477, 323952633264, 293286092048, 333353077033, 183984774475 for some recent prices.

I still have Dahon on my eBay watch list, as I'd like to the boat to be equipped with a pair. A Vitesse would be my choice - I've never ridden a Caio or seen one in person, but I'd have one if it came up at the right price.

Thanks. Excellent information apparently from an expert.

 

[Irish Rover]

I went with a Brompton in the end, bought 2nd hand for £500. Folded size 585 x 565 x 270 which is about as small as you get for a bike that rides remarkably well given the wheel size. I've done a 100 mile trip over 3 days on mine & had no issues at all, it was comfortable & enjoyable. Prior to that I had a Giant Halfway which also rode well but folded size much bigger...

Edit - whatever bike you choose if you're taking it to Turkey to use as a boat bike maybe get a set of solid tyres?

I'd like a Brompton as well but couldn't find any decent 2nd hand for sale in Ireland and new price is too rich for me for a bike that will likely do considerably less hours than my boat engines. I'm not sure which Turkish roads you've been on but the ones around me are not too bad.

 

[johnalison]

Unless you get a s/s one or aluminium, the salt will have an effect, and even with s/s there will be corrodable parts, so any bike will need decent care. We have Di Blasis, which were the obvious cheaper alternative to Bromptons 18 years ago, and always washed them down at the end of the season and lubricated and WD10ed them at the end of each season. As a result they still look pretty good and have only needed replacement cables etc. A chunkier tyre on the rear of mine was an improvement on rough ground. Most people now prefer larger wheels, but there are lots of bikes around and you sort of get what you pay for. We have 5-speed derailleur gears, which are a great improvement on the three of our previous bikes.