# My upgraded Dahon Jetstream P8



## mpchi (Jul 2, 2007)

Finally, after a month or so on researching (some very good reading on this site), purchasing & waiting, all the main upgrade parts for my Jetstream P8 are all here, and exactly the way I like it.  So happy, and wanted to share my excitement and some comments on upgrades I have. Here they go:

*Ergon GR2 Magnesium Grips* - Awesome. Well worth the price as the stiffer rubber and ergonomical shape really give your hands and wrist very good support. Not to mention the very easy installation since it is a locking grip. No need for hairspray or anything to stick it to keep it from rotation. If you don't have very large hands, the smaller women's size might fit you better, especially if you wear gloves. If you have a grip twister gear system, you might need some handy work by cutting the grip short on the right hand side to make it fit, using Xacto knife to trim the rubber, while a small handsaw to saw off the inner hard plastic. But its not hard to do, and you can get some very clean cut with a little practice.



















*Thudbuster Suspension Seatpost* - Beyond Awesome. Very smooth, very adjustable with different elastomers & the preload skewer screw setup, as well as long travel as it doesn't just telescope up & down, but also front & back. The improvement on the Thudbuster over the Biologic Suspension Seatpost is more or less proportional to their price difference ($130 vs. $50). The only tricky part is the tapering on the top section of the tube, making it too loose for the seatpost clamp to work as a third leg when the bike is folded. However, I came up with a solution by taping a trimmed 2mm thick tough rubber stripe (material found from the piping section at hardware store), then wrap & taped it up on the tapering section of the seatpost tube with Super Tape (A very strong & thin double sided tape with a red film, found in some crafts store or online). To strengthen it even more, I used a Topeak small rubber strap that came with my backlite and wrap on top, as you can see in my pic. So now, the Thudbuster can slide all the way down to work as a third leg, while still being thick enough to be clamped securely by the seatpost quick release clamp.





































*Topeak UFO Backlite* - Very interesting design, but not the brightest red light out there. Its one of those accessories that has style over functionality. It uses the Topeak 2 sized rubber strapes (aka. fancy rubber bands) to mount on different sized posts on the bike. While it looks cheap on the mounting, the flexibility does make the light less likely to get damaged when got knocked by something by accident. And I happened to make good used of the smaller spare rubber strap for my Thudbuster fix, so I guess I can't complain.


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## mpchi (Jul 2, 2007)

*Specialized Toupe Saddle 143* - This is my first high end hard saddle, and it works just like its claimed, to maximize blood flow by having more pressure on the seat bone alone. Though it does get tricky to get the right angle that feels more comfortable. Minor adjustment can make major difference. While I am more used to softer gel saddles, I do want to break in my butt to get more used to sitting hard ones, so that I can do longer miles ride. So it would be good to get started on a good one. The Toupe does flex quite a bit, allowing it to adjust to you butt better, and its really light with titanium rails. So its good that it offsets the extra grams the Thudbuster adds. Not to mention its mighty cool looking.



















*Speedplay Drillium Platform Pedals* - Very pricey for a platform, but once I tried riding with it, it makes a big difference! Very very grippy. Can't even slide my feet sideways when I tried, and I am just wearing normal running shoes. This is probably due to the efficient distribution on the pins, and the much longer base it has. Its very light for a metal pedal too. May not be the lightest in the market, but one of the lighter ones, and lighter than the original Dahon ones that was made mostly resin and plastic. This Drillium is supposed to be able to support 800lbs, and the finish quality is top notch. Came with 10 spare pins and easy access grease slot for lube. Love the grill-like design too. The only down side is that, I need to wear a shin guard from now on, before my shin turns into minced meat.



















So overall, very happy with the upgrades, both on functionality and look. The next thing I can think of is probably the Big Apple tires. As I found the Marathon Racers are great on paved roads, but not so good on dirt, and horrible on gravel. Almost fell a couple times on a light off-road trail in the gravel section, mainly because the tires lost traction and the bike went out of control...on a straightaway no less. But since the Racers are good tires too, I'll wear them out first before swapping them. Just need to be more careful on dirt. Otherwise, I love my bike!


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## 245044 (Jun 8, 2004)

:arf: 

Man, I'm gonna have to get one of those. Neat.


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## tacubaya (Jan 27, 2006)

excuse me but



wtf is that?


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## poppy (Jan 24, 2006)

Your wheels are so small  
This bike is really cool :thumbsup:


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## mpchi (Jul 2, 2007)

tacubaya said:


> excuse me but
> 
> wtf is that?


Haha . Its a Dahon 20" wheel folding bike model that has some off-road capability. Nothing too hardcore like most of you guys do on this board with a good full size mtb. But with the right tires (which I still need to get in the future), it can handle some dirt trails.

A funky little bike isn't it?


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## newaccount (Jan 3, 2007)

how does the redundancy of the shocks feel? can you change the rear to a fox?

nice, congrats!


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## rushtrack (Sep 7, 2006)

what are the dimensions when it is folded?


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## mpchi (Jul 2, 2007)

newaccount said:


> how does the redundancy of the shocks feel? can you change the rear to a fox?
> 
> nice, congrats!


The rear non-adjustable shock on this particular model is actually on the stiff side. You'll only notice travel on big bumps. I guess Dahon purposely set it up that way so that the bike feels more rigid and less wobbly (versus the softer shocks older year model has). So by itself, you won't get soft cushy ride. Thats why I added the Thudbuster for comfort.



rushtrack said:


> what are the dimensions when it is folded?


When folded, its about 12" x 26" x 33". Small enough to put in pretty much any trunk of a car. But a bit big for commuter that carries their bike around on buses. There are smaller lighter folders for that.


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## seadragonpisces (Aug 9, 2012)

Well this is a really old thread but I have a 2011 Jetstream P8 and am upgrading it next weekend. 

I already have a Kinetix Pro Red wheelset, Brooks Team Pro Vans saddle, Bionix suspension seatpost. I am upgrading the gears and from next week it will also have a SRAM Red chainset, Sram XO rear mech and SRAM double tap 2x10 flat bar shifters. 

Its going to look a lot different than standard but I think its going to look amazing, cant wait. Will post some picss when its all done


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## Gundam168 (Dec 19, 2012)

That's a sick Dahon you got there OP. I love the platform pedals. Do they fold s well?

I'm wondering where are the Folding Bike discussions in MTBR? There are forums for tandem bikes, cargo bikes, fat bikes, single speeds and almost every other type of bike but no foldies.


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## diogomicrowave (Apr 19, 2013)

Where are the pics? 



seadragonpisces said:


> Well this is a really old thread but I have a 2011 Jetstream P8 and am upgrading it next weekend.
> 
> I already have a Kinetix Pro Red wheelset, Brooks Team Pro Vans saddle, Bionix suspension seatpost. I am upgrading the gears and from next week it will also have a SRAM Red chainset, Sram XO rear mech and SRAM double tap 2x10 flat bar shifters.
> 
> Its going to look a lot different than standard but I think its going to look amazing, cant wait. Will post some picss when its all done


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