Whoah! Lol, why did I assume he'd died? Maybe he doesn't get as involved in design anymore or something, but Dahons were much better a couple of decades ago.
Like many brands Dahon buy most of their bikes from other factories although they do have a mainly assembly plant in China now but they buy their bikes from other factories and this does mean price wise they are quite high for what you get. When Halfords used to sell Dahon folders they sold a model at about £450 which had very low end components yet did their own Carrera model with much higher quality components for £350. They soon stopped selling them as you can imagine. Tern seem to set themselves up as a more performance orientated folding bike company so push for lower weight designs and being a newer company perhaps have chosen a few poor factories by mistake. I saw the recall information and it was specific to models made by one or two factories not all and some of the same models were recalled and others were not.
In Europe many Dahons come from Max.com in Bulgaria but its mainly an assembly plant using parts from Asia. This is probably to avoid any tariffs.
Anyway my point about Dahon is quality varies by the factory used same as most US and European brands they may change factories regularly and use different factories for different price points.
I'm not sure which brand makes the best strongest folding bikes but steel folding bikes have three major advantages one is steel is more compact so can be made into a smaller folding bike, it's a denser material and the other is hinge mechanisms seem far superior made out of steel they seem to last longer than aluminium with far less fatigue issues and thirdly steel is more durable so can take the abuse of being bashed about which often many folding bikes endure. There is a weight advantage to aluminium but far less than other bike types as aluminium has to be more overbuilt in a folding bike so you lose some of the weight advantages.
It's like the Brompton vs the Dahon Curl they look very similar as Dahon has copied the Brompton but used aluminium instead. The Curl is a horrible folding bike, its heavier, weaker and rides terribly with a very harsh ride and will likely not last anywhere near as long. The Brompton has a flexing steel frame made from different steels at different points brazed together to get the right feel and also has a rear suspension system. A surprisingly comfortable bike despite its small wheel size the Curl sadly isn't like that. Also some Curls used the fairly unreliable Nexus 7 hub which compromised long term reliability. Bromptons typically use a fairly bomb proof 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub with or without a 2 speed compact derailleur system.
Anyway my point is Dahon do a steel folding bike (I forget the model name) but its the reputation for being a more durable model and you will recognise it by it's more compact tube profile.
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