Dahon has come a long way from its pile-’em-high, sell-’em-cheap origins some 30 years ago. Early models were a bit spindly and heavy, and were viewed somewhat snootily in the UK as inferior Far Eastern imports. If you could afford it you bought a Bickerton, or later, a Brompton – if you couldn’t, or you were badly advised, you made do with a Dahon.

How things have changed! The Dahon name has risen inexorably in the last five years, and the company now produces a wide range of machines from modern versions of the pile-’em-high jobs (typically the Boardwalk and derivatives) to machines in the Birdy and Brompton class, with price tags to match.

The Taiwanese/US company specialises in 406mm (20-inch) wheeled bikes, and produces a big range (confusingly so for the uninitiated) featuring a seemingly endless variety of frames and specifications.We test them on a regular basis, giving the thumbs up to the cheepy Boardwalk back in June 2000, for example, but a much more equivocal reception to the expensive Jetstream eight months later.This rather sums up Dahon’s problem – it’s a mass-market manufacturer, very skilled at churning out good cheap bikes that do most things pretty well. But the company is now trying to build in the sort of quality needed to compete in the £500+ market.

This time we’re looking at the 2002 spec Helios. At £499, it has a fight on its hands, because it’s up against some powerful opposition: £459 buys the compact and very rideable Brompton L3 and £475 the stylish but undergeared Giant Halfway. But the real killer in the £500 zone is the Brompton L6, a newcomer at £524. For our money, this is one of the finest folding bikes around, so the Helios really needs to perform. Elsewhere, the vagaries of international pricing give a very different picture: In the USA, where the Brompton costs over $800 and the Helios $499, the tables are turned – the Dahon comes out cheaper in the Euro-zone too.

Gear ratios are close to ideal… nicely spaced and easy to use…

Put the 2002 Helios alongside a Shopper-style Dahon from the last decade and you’d be hard pressed to spot the family resemblance. That peculiar headset is long gone, along with some other strange and sometimes dubious components – the new bikes are stylish, well finished and distinctive. Specification is pretty good: Next folding pedals, Shimano Sora 8-speed derailleur, Promax V-brakes, side stand, full mudguards and a pair of strange Ritchey 20″x1.5″ tyres. Bolt this lot to a brushed aluminium frame and you have a package weighing 12.2kg (26.9lb) – that’s a kilogram lighter than the Boardwalk and 1.4kg lighter than the Jetstream. More importantly, it’s about the same as the Halfway or the Brompton.

The Helios is a striking machine with some unusual features. Note the ‘reversed’ handlebars and the bracing tube above the mainframe hinge

Gear ratios are close to ideal, with first at 33″, top at 90″ and six others dotted about in between, all nicely spaced and easy to use thanks to a gripshift changer.We’re not wildly fond of derailleurs on folding bikes, but with the Sora, Shimano seems to have cracked the range, price and performance equation. If the system continues to work as smoothly and reliably as it did in the first hundred miles or so, it has our vote.

Get over the concept of a folding bike with a working derailleur, and you’ll begin to appreciate that the new Helios is much more rigid than Dahons past. Quite why is unclear, because the stem and frame look much the same, but the company has obviously got its sums and equations right. One element that might play a role in beefing up the frame is the unusual hinge.The main frame hinges in a conventional manner, but there’s an extra bracing tube above, linking the front frame to the seat tube.This contains a joint directly above the hinge, but there’s no locking mechanism – just a cup and cone device to locate the two tubes.The rider’s weight plus any backward pressure on the handlebars, puts the tube in compression, so a catch isn’t required.The only time you feel the tubes move relative to each other is when pushing or lifting the bike – climb on board and the tubes engage rigidly together.This sort of design requires precise frame construction to work reliably – whether it continues to locate after a decade of abuse is hard to say, but the frame is certainly rigid when new.

…We’re used to slightly skittish bicycles, so no grumbles here…

Aluminium bikes can feel rather ‘dead’, but the Helios is both comfortable and lively, which left us scratching our heads all over again. Presumably the compliance comes from the tyres, which are wide and run at quite low pressures (65psi maximum). Handling is good, but this is not a laid back hands-off machine, like some 20-inch bikes. Given the wide tyres, we’d guess the slightly skittish nature of the bike comes from the strange handlebar design, which looks back-to-front and puts your hands just behind the steering axis.This looks peculiar at first, but you soon get acclimatised.

We’re used to slightly skittish bicycles, so no grumbles from us, but you might be buying a 20-inch bike because you want something stable, so you might disagree. For us, the overall effect of a rigid frame, comfortable ride and useful gear ratios is an entertaining and very useable bike that encourages the rider to press on.

The Promax brakes work perfectly well, or at least they would have done if they hadn’t been fighting against two of the wobbliest rims we’ve seen on a test bike.That’s bad news at this level, because if a customer forks out five hundred quid on a bike and finds the brakes are binding and juddering, he’s going to march straight back to the shop. And quite right too.We hope they sort it – there’s nothing wrong with the components, just poor quality control.

The tread on the Ritchey tyres (actually ‘Ritchie Rov’r’, a name that might have lost something in the translation) is rather unusual, with a multi-faceted diamond tread pattern that produces a gentle whistle on the road.This, according to the sidewall, is the result of Vector Analysis Tread Design. Better or worse than other designs? Who can say, but the tyres make an entertaining noise and seem perfectly safe.With a speed of 14.3mph on our test-hill, the Rov’rs roll quite well, but they’re not as free-running as some.You’d never guess on the road though – the generally lively stance of the Helios gives the impression that rolling resistance is pretty low.

Accessories

The bell makes a satisfactory noise, the mudguards guard against mud as and when required (although they rattle a bit, especially at the back), and the prop stand props.We liked the rack, which now comes with a conventional bungee, plus a useful bit of Velcro for holding the folded bike together and/or securing things to the rack.

The Helios has no lights, but there’s a mounting plate on the rack that should accommodate most common LED lights. If you fit one, you’ll have to move the mudguard-mounted reflector, which is high enough to obstruct a rear light.

Folding

The Dahon system has changed little over the years, but attention to detail makes folding much easier.The handlebars fold down to the left of the bike, the excellent Next pedals flick down in a second or two, the mainframe breaks in two and hinges to the left, sandwiching the bars between the two wheels. Finally, the stem drops down, but it doesn’t lock the package together, so you’ll need to use a bungee to keep everything from unravelling when you pick it up.

It all works particularly well and it’s certainly the quickest Dahon we’ve seen, going up or down in a consistent 15 to 17 seconds, provided the cables don’t snag on anything. However, this time does not include setting the saddle height or tying the package together with a bungee. In a realistic commuter situation, you’re probably looking at 30 seconds or more, but that sort of time would stand up well against anything except the Brompton or Strida.

The folded package is particularly neat, stands well on its road wheels, and at 12.2kg it’s easy to carry.The package measures 84cm x 66cm x 32cm, which equates to 177 litres, or 6.3 cubic feet if you prefer. In terms of volume, that’s twice as large as a folded Brompton, but one of the smallest and neatest fold-in-half bikes around.

Conclusion

Dahon must be congratulated.The 2002 Helios is classic Dahon, but the component package and design details have produced arguably one of the best machines of its type anywhere in the world: it’s light, easy to fold and – best of all – a joy to ride. Is it worth the money? It’s certainly worth $500 or E600, but we’re slightly less ecstatic about £500. All the same, it compares well with the Brompton and the Giant Halfway.The Brompton has the edge on portability and practical no- nonsense commuter features, while the Giant has a certain style… But, the Helios is probably the most long-legged of the three, making it the best choice for longer rides. It also folds rapidly enough to keep most commuters happy, and the folded package is about as small as 20-inch bikes get.

Specification

Ridgeback Helios £499 (also branded Dahon)
Weight 12.2kg (26.9lb)
Folded Dimensions W32cm H66cm L84cm
Folded Volume 177 litres (6.3cu ft)
Gears Shimano Sora 8-spd derailleur
Ratios 33″ – 90″
Brakes Promax V-brakes
Tyres Ritchey Rov’r 38-406mm
Manufacturer Dahon
web www.dahon.com UK web www.dahon.co.uk
UK distributor Madison tel 020 8385 3333