Hi,
I'm looking to purchase a 2nd folding bicycle. Kogan Fortis folding bike is my 1st and I find that it does the job and is nothing special to write home about.
For my 2nd purchase, I'm looking to purchase either:
a. Dahon ios XL - https://www.bikeroar.com/products/dahon/ios-xl-2011/specs or
b. Polygon Urbano 5 - https://www.polygonbikes.com/urbano-5/
My budget is <$700 aud. Dahon is approximately $400 second hand and Urbano is approximately $640.
Typically riding on reserve or local streets for recreational and or for groceries.
Which would be a better buy?
Update: upon clarifying the Dahon model with the seller, its confirmed its a Dahon IOS XL
The Dahon has rim brakes, but has fenders + rear rack included, while the Urbano has hydraulic disc brakes but doesn't have those aforementioned accessories.
There are various arguments for rim vs disc brakes all over the internet. I'd suggest you do your own research.
Oversimplified summary for the lazy:
Rim brakes have to be activated earlier when riding in the rain. You have to "skim" the bulk of the water off the wheel rim first before the real braking action. Older cyclists who grew up in a world filled with rim brakes will find no problems with this and will appreciate the easier replacement of worn brake pads. Younger cyclists who are used to discs will feel like rim brake bicycles are a death trap.
Disc brakes have a smaller performance penalty vs dry when riding in the rain. They also tend to have more stopping power as long as you compare across similar tiers (i.e. not comparing top end rim brakes with bottom end disc brakes).
Disc brakes can be further sub divided into mechanical and hydraulic. Mechanical disc brakes are actuated by cables and tend to be much more fussy with alignment. You also have to worry about cable stretch over time. However, such maintenance can be done with more readily available, more primitive tools found all over the world.
Hydraulic disc brakes require significantly less maintenance, but when they do, they require more specialist tools to bleed out the air bubbles in the hydraulic fluid. They also have more braking power than mechanical discs. They're also extremely expensive and are considered the top of the bicycle brake food chain.
I'd hazard a guess and say the majority of Polygon's costs for the Urbano go into those hydraulic brakes whereas Dahon had plenty of spare money to put into including fenders and a rear rack.
There are also hybrids where you still pull a cable going from the brake lever to the calliper to actuate the brakes, but the calliper itself is a self contained hydraulic unit. Their price and performance tend to be in between full mechanical and full hydraulic.