• 2006 Dahon Photography Competition
  The first ever Dahon Photo Competition is over and we were inundated with entries from all over. The quality of entries was stunning and the subject matter as varied as the people that ride a Dahon.
• Dahon to Donate 1% of ‘Shark’ Bike Sales to Shark Preservation
  In 2007 we have expanded our range of mini bikes – or ‘shark’ bikes. This year, the range covers the cute and friendly Wobbegong; the great urban machine, the Hammerhead; the cool retro cruising Smooth Hound and the fast, sleek and agile Mako. Dahon has teamed up with IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG) and will donate 1% of all sales of shark bikes to the group to help its research into the preservation of sharks worldwide.
• Team Miss Behavin’
  Dahon is proud sponsor of a variety of riders throughout the world, ranging from marathon 24-hour racers to portage and world tourers. We are proud to have on our sponsored rider roster - Team Miss Behavin’ and the 4 Players, winners of the 2006 Granny Gear 24 Hour Series in the 5-person Open category.

10 Questions With ... Dahon Sponsored Rider Bruce Frazier

Taking time out from celebrating his team’s recent win at the 2006 Granny Gear 24 Hours Series of mountain bike races, we talk to Bruce Frazier, Captain for the Dahon sponsored Team Miss Behavin’ and the 4 Players. more>>

Our Interview with Quinton Pullinger

In this issue of the Dahon Dispatch we talk to Quinton Pullinger, Dahon Product Manager for the all new Dahon Glide. more>>

The New Look Dahon

This year, we launched the first ever rebranding in the history of Dahon! We love the new look new and think it perfectly reflects our commitment to green transport and personal mobility whilst also having a technical edge reflecting Dahon’s ongoing innovation and R&D excellence. Our fresh new look complements a fresh range of new bikes, products and accessories. more>>

Equicycle and Dahon - “A Wonderful Combination”
by Mark Schanzleh

What happens when you put a Dutch guy and a Canadian girl together? Well, you get the following story…

It all started quite some time ago. I had been in Montreal, Canada for quite a while now, and I was really starting to get a feel for the place. Amelie had also gotten used to having me around in her home town. But we are, and probably always will remain, travelers. And this is how it happened, or actually, how we made it happen…

I had traveled by bicycle before: touring the Netherlands, conquering the sharp rolling hills of New England and completing a tour around the world in about one year, not to mention the thousands of kilometers a year in every day bicycle use in the Netherlands. Amelie had also been on a bicycle before, be it for only a couple of city or country side rides; a minor cultural difference.

My roots being in the Netherlands, and Amelie never having been there, turned out to be an inspiring combination. We decided that it would be cool to travel to my home country, since I would make the perfect tour guide and Amelie would make the perfect tourist. We got excited about the idea and started brainstorming on how we would like to put this trip together. The only problem was that we had insufficient funds to execute our plan. And that’s when we got creative.

We decided that we wanted to visit the Netherlands for at least three weeks and we felt that the best way to visit the Netherlands would be in doing so by bicycle. So we needed money and transportation. Money doesn’t grow on trees, unless you’re an apple farmer, and bikes don’t fall from the sky. So we decided that we should go about this in a semi-professional way. And so we did. Fourteen sponsors, one university and a good cause of our choice later we had created the equicycle-project, www.equicycle.com. We managed to convince the University of Quebec in Montreal to award Amelie a grant to investigate cycle tourism in Switzerland, Germany and, yes, the Netherlands. We also found fourteen money and equipment sponsors in, count them, six weeks (!) and we were able to connect our project to the good cause of Equiterre. Equiterre is a Montreal based not-for-profit organization concerned with the wellbeing of people and our planet. You can imagine how excited we were! more>>

Steve Weeks Goes Green to Get Around
by Joanna Brown

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night stays Dr. Steve Weeks from the swift completion of his daily commute*. Regardless of the forecast, Dr. Weeks uses a combination of bicycle and train travel to get from his Mundelein home to his office at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry (nearly 90 miles round trip) daily.

“It’s really not that big a deal,” said Dr. Weeks, a clinical assistant professor who sees many benefits in his unconventional commute. “It’s a habit, and it’s one that I look forward to indulging it. I believe bicycles are a good way to get around.”

Dr. Weeks took up the cycling habit – one step toward an overall healthier lifestyle – five years ago, shortly after a milestone birthday. But there were also monetary motivations for the change. Biking to and from the train station enable Dr. Weeks to avoid the suburban parking fee, bus fare and the rising price of gasoline.

Beyond those benefits, however, Dr. Weeks is proud of his efforts to protect the environment. Biking to and from public transportation reduces his consumption of scarce resources, his contribution to air pollution and its effects on global warming, and his role in roadway and parking congestion.

“I also have two cars and a wife and two kids, and we live in the suburbs; there are times when you need to put the whole family in the car and go somewhere,” Dr. Weeks admitted. “But there is obesity; and the decreased availability of gasoline, and the greenhouse effect and all kinds of environmental problems festering around us, and I believe that bicycling is one answer to those problems.” more>>