Dahon carves niche in urban mobility

Tina Bian, 31, joined China's growing community of folding-bike riders this summer when she purchased a Dahon P10 for 4,700 yuan ($658).

"Folding bikes can fit in the trunk of my car, which really expands my riding routes and makes it easier to go anywhere," she said. "Dahon has good brand awareness and is more affordable than Brompton, a high-end British foldable city bike brand."

She added that Dahon's wide retail network of physical stores has made the buying experience convenient — "you can visit and ride away directly".

Bian now rides to nearby parks after work and explores scenic routes on weekends. "I also play 'bike delivery', which has gone viral online — it's really fun," she said.

While "Dahon's folding mechanism isn't as smooth as Brompton's," she said, "the lower price makes it a fair trade-off".

As cycling surges in popularity across China's cities, domestic brand Dahon has emerged as the go-to "affordable alternative" to Britain's high-end Brompton bikes — and now it's taking that momentum to the capital markets.

On Sept 9, Dahon Technology (Shenzhen) Co Ltd, the company behind the Dahon brand, debuted on the Hong Kong stock exchange, marking a key milestone for the folding bicycle maker.

Founded in California in 1982 by physicist David Hon, Dahon pioneered the modern folding bicycle and has since evolved into a global name in urban mobility, said the company. The company restructured as Dahon Tech in 2016, and now sees the Chinese market as its main engine of growth.

Dahon's revenue surged from 254 million yuan in 2022 to 451 million yuan in 2024, while net profit rose from 31 million yuan to 52 million yuan over the same period. Gross margins have remained stable at around 33 percent, and net margins at about 11.6 percent. In the first four months of 2025, revenue reached 185 million yuan, up 47 percent year-on-year, while net profit climbed 73 percent to 22 million yuan.

The company credits this rapid growth to the expanding mid-to-high-end folding bike segment in China and rising consumer interest in sustainable, flexible commuting solutions.

Its prospectus traces the recent turbulence in global cycling demand. The year 2020-21 triggered an outdoor sports boom that sent global bicycle sales soaring. But as inventories piled up, the market entered a correction phase in 2022-23, with folding bike shipments falling from 3.1 million to 2.65 million units. Demand rebounded strongly in 2024, with global folding bike sales recovering to 3.7 million units.

According to China Insights Consultancy, although folding bikes remain a niche compared with road or mountain bikes, accounting for only about 5.3 percent of global bicycle sales in 2024, the segment is growing fast.