26 Aug DAHON to Launch Mountain Bike Range in China
Shenzhen, China – Folding bike leader DAHON has unveiled plans to launch a full range of mountain bikes, marketed initially in China this year.
DAHON has a strong presence in China with over 400 brand stores and 1,500 dealers. Considering the fact that mountain bikes now account for 60% of all bikes sold in China, introducing a range of mountain bikes into the country seemed like the logical next step from the company’s point of view. DAHON is able to take advantage of their already extensive dealer network to meet this demand and trend but explained that they still wanted to add technology to improve this bike category.
Besides their Flatpak Technology, which allows for tool-less flattening and folding away of protruding parts, DAHON has developed a triangular headtube that rockets the strength of a traditionally weaker part of the frame to 20x CEN safety test standards. “The headtube for the DAHON MTB line is actually one piece with a triangle extension for the joining of both the top tube and the down tube” says CEO Dr David Hon. “This ‘Golden triangle’ increases the contact welding area tremendously and therefore strengthens this critical section of the frame to a point where we have to stop stress testing after reaching 2million cycles, which is 20x the CEN safety standards. This kind of strength tolerance is unheard of and will provide unequaled safety for the consumer.”
For DAHON, their brand represents bicycle performance plus convenience. Dr David Hon’s original challenge was to develop a quick folding bicycle that is convenient but has to perform similarly to traditional bikes. The CEO believes they have certainly accomplished and built upon that product as DAHON can now claim to be the undisputed leader in the folding bicycle category. Their focus includes extending convenience features to the performance of full sized bikes with larger wheels and traditional looks. DAHON has taken on that challenge internally for a couple of decades and feel that they have finally achieved the ideal technology.
Co-founder and VP Henry Hon further explains that the company’s focus is on the urban market where a large segment of riders are using mountain bikes for city riding. Because the folding bike experts want to show that they are a legitimate MTB contender, the lineup will offer a complete range that will include full suspension models specced with the latest technologies. After establishing the bikes in China, DAHON will take the range to other markets globally in the next year or two.
According to DAHON, its innovative technology created a folding bicycle category which in some markets represents almost 25% of all bike sales. 98% of all folding bikes available today use at least one of DAHON’s patents. The company continues to grow in revenue, quality, service and in product innovation, and now look poised to bring that same success to the mountain bike market.