First Impressions: Dahon Fuego
As RL mentioned in a previous post, mtnbikeriders.com took home a beautiful Dahon Fuego from the Sea Otter Classic 2007. The Dahon Fuego, an aluminum full suspension, is one of two mountain bikes that Dahon makes (the other being a steel hardtail called the Flo).
The Fuego is a fire red full suspension bike designed by the venerable Joe Murray, a mountain bike hall of famer. It has a Rock Shox Reba fork and Rock Shox Ario shock. Some of the cool specs on it include SRAM X-9 shifters and rear derailleur with a Truvativ Firex Team crank. The wheelset is American Classic hubs mated to WTB SpeedDisc wheels. They are stopped by the always excellent Avid BB7’s. Lastly, the Fuego has a very blingy Kinetic Carbonlite handlebar! Of course, what sets this bike apart from other full suspension bikes is not its great looks and nice component spec sheet, but its ability to fold down into a compact size of 11 inches by 26 inches by 31 inches.
“Designed by Joe Murray” on rear triangle
Check out the pictures below:
Ario Shock, Choose from two settings: 3 inches or 4 inches of travel
Carbon Lite Handlebar + X-9s
Seat Tube Seperator
Downtube Separator
Some quick first impressions:
– the red is hot! Fuego is a great name for the bike because it is a hot color.
– the bike is pretty light for a full suspension. The nice specs help, but surprisingly the ability to fold the bike didn’t add much if any extra weight to the bike.
– the bike seems very strong and stiff even though it can be folded in half in about 15 minutes. This speaks to a great frame design and very solid/strong materials used to execute the frame.
Check back here for more updates on the Dahon Fuego as well as a full review. And to find out more about this beautiful bike click here.
Where are the other stories about the Dahon Fuego? I’m giving serious consideration to buying a Fuego, and would love to read your complete review on this bike!
Thanks!
Terry
Unfortunately, the Fuego had some issues and we had to return the bike. We never got the bike back to finish up the test.
Terry,
To be specific, the Fuego had some major issues with the suspension being WAY too stiff. The rocker arms wasn’t built right. Basically if there was play between the arms and the shock. But if you tried to tighten the bolt, the rocker arm would pinch and cause it to rub and provide no movement. We tried to get more answers from Dahon but most of them were left unanswered. We even provided them a report of our findings, but they never really got back to us about it.
I think for the price you’re willing to spend on a Fuego, I’d invest it in something else that works.
RL
I bought a Dahon Fuego from Brand Cycle, It came with
a Reba Race, Manitou Swinger 3x and X-9 components and travel case for 1400.00 bucks. I thought I had a binding issue with the suspension but when I lowered the pressure to 60 psi I got the movement I have the Manitou Swinger 3X. It looked as though the rocker was not spaced right so I added some spacers seemed to be pinching on the shock side. I have not been charged for shipping a bike yet!! Very cool. There is very little pedal bob. The shock is active on small bumps. It is not as plush as my Superlight however it has worked well on some pretty rough trails. Lots of cool features like the headset that stays mounted after removing the Carbon handle bars and the spin off rotors quick cable disconnect. With some creative packing you could get your clothes into the travel case.
To be more specific about the Shock problem, The Spacers on the top side were binding causing the shock to not want to move I am not
sure where that was assembled but I had to move the topside of the shock to the center of the top mounting bolt. The spacers was were I found the binding problem. If the spacers can”t spin freely they are causing the binding.
Good luck,
Doug
i have Fuego also. check it out on the dahon forums
use for Xterra races. made it to nationals last year.
no issues with supsension. never any air fare charges
one problem…frame broke at Xterra Race. fortunately only 6 miles to go.
weld at top tube and seat tube failed.
Received new frame 2 weeks later….no charge.
will be out on the trails after i get my custom parts back on it.
fuego 23 lbs with custom parts.
The 1400 is a awsome price. I got mine 1.5 years ago and paid about 800 more.
Hi RL/Jeremy/A.N. Other,
I’m a UK novice,just bought this bike from Brands (for European Xterras ,Dean).Now back in the UK and my bike shop says my Fuego has the rear shock problems highlighted on this page.
Loosening the bolt doesn’t seem to improve matters.
My bike shop thinks the shock length – 190mm eyelet to eyelet , is around 1cm too long for the Fuegos set up.
Any thoughts?
Would be grateful for any other suggestions you made to Dahon re improving the rear suspension and the rest of your report,as my UK bike shop are taking the bike back in next week because of other set up problems.
If anyone else has any tips please email – [email protected]
Thanks,
Babs
Well the Dahon has been with me to Kauai, New Mexico, Colorado, San Francisco, Its a great bike. A 250 pound Kiwi rode it in Makawao Forrest he loved the bike. No problems. I really like the way it handles. I have a really nice Santa Cruz Superlight but if I had to have one bike. It would be the Fuego for its travel capacity and Overall ride quality. I am stoked to hear Dean built his to be 23 pounds. Thats lighter than my Superlight with full XTR!