berlinonaut
Veteran
- Location
- Berlin Germany
I'd say "it depends". I fully agree that the stock 3-speed with 50/13 is too long. On the other hand: For my taste the stock 2-sped with 54/12 is a bit too short, depending from my level of fitness. So for me a high gear of more than 6 meters of development but recognizably less than 7 meters or development is perfect - aroundish 6,50m. Both when using the Brompton in rather flat rather urban environments and me being no spinner but also no masher - cadence of around 75. The stock 2-speed offers 6m max, dependending from my level of fitness I change the 54t chainwheel to 60t, resulting in 6,65m development / 83 gear inches (relatively similar to the highest gear of the 4-speed). Since Corona I rely on the 54t chainwheel...This is why small-wheeled bikes, even the non-folding ones, often use hub gears. Having said that, how often would you use an 85" gear?
3-speed vs. 4-speed
2-speed setups vs. 4-speed
On the other hand: When touring I clearly prefer a wider spread of gears and shorter gears than the 2- 3- and 4-speed offer are already necessary in a hilly urban area. This is where my modified 9-speed BWR shines. With 44/12-14-16 the highest gear is at 7,64m - in practice enough but I have to live with spinning out downhill sometimes. The short end is at 2,33m and this is still too long for some serious hills, let alone with a lot of luggage. My Rohloff Brommi does overcome these limitations - with a 50t chainwheel the upper end is at 7.50m and I hit this regularly. With a 54t chainwheel the upper end is at 8,10m and I very rarely use that gear. The lower end is at 1,43m with the 50t and 1,54m with the 54t chainwheel - both barely used, only on the steepest of steep hills.
9-speed BWR vs. Rohloff with 50t and 54t
My personal conclusion is to have two main Brommis: One with the 2-speed and one with the Rohloff. I could and can do everyhting with the Rohloff one but the 2-speed titanium is 3-4 kg lighter, the drivetrain feels more direct and I generally like the "reduced to the max" feeling of the two speed. So it is nippier and does have a totally different character.
So overall from my personal perspective the new 4-speed setup is not very attractive: It is not as reduced as the 2-speed and while the higher high gear is nice it is less flexible, nothing not already achievable today plus it still does not solve the issue of getting stuck on hills relatively early. I also find the claim of Brompton "1,5 kg lighter than the comparable steel Brompton" misleading as they do use the 3-speed hub as a comparison. The 2-speed would be a more adequate alternative in my eyes. But then the weight difference would be just 700g, same as it used to be with the old titanium/superlight model... Harder to market.