Best Brompton upgrades?

[Kell]

The one I'm not sure about so far, is my 'C' bag. I made the move from a rucksack about a month ago.

I think it would be fine if your commute/journey involved leaving the house, getting on your bike and then getting off it again at the other end. And you wanted to remain as sweat free as possible.

However, with mutli-modal journeys like mine (car, train, bike) I don't think it's as good a solution as a rucksack. Plus, I use my Brompton for exercise (choosing to cycle 7+ miles instead of the 2.5 mile direct route) so I get sweaty anyway.

Carrying a Brompton with luggage attached up and down stairs is cumbersome and painful. And while I read that it's possible to fold the bike with the luggage attached, it's difficult to do, so it means extra time faffing about getting it off, and then carrying two things rather than just one.

It is, however, entirely down to your usage and I'm sure many (if not most) people would find them perfect. And if you need to carry something heavy, it's far better on the bike.

 

[srw]

Carrying two things (Brompton and luggage) is, in my experience, easier than carrying one (Brompton). The bag seems to act as a nice counterweight in my left hand to the bike in my right. The layout of my local station means that unless I get off a stop early and ride the 3 miles up a nasty draggy incline home I have to hoick bag and bike over a footbridge.

Inspired by this thread, I've now fitted Ergons to my Brompton. I'd forgotten that for the front of one of our tandems I'd bought a pair of Ergons with bar ends to replace the flat Ergons it originally came with - and only got around to fitting one of them. So on both tandem and Brompton I've now got one flat Ergon and one with a little nubbly bar end. It seems to work for me. The fancy titanium and carbon mini-rack I fitted is nice, but I'm not convinced it's quite worth the price I paid - time will tell when I actually put something on it. The 8-speed gear upgrade, on the other hand, is worthwhile now I'm beginning to get it tamed.

 

[smutchin]

The old brake levers to the new ones!

Totally agree with this. The new brake levers are infinitely superior to the old ones.

 

[mjr]

Carrying a Brompton with luggage attached up and down stairs is cumbersome and painful.

Carrying any bike with luggage still attached is a world of discovering that the centre of gravity now isn't where it usually is!

 

[rualexander]

Ben at Kinetics seems to have developed a rear pannier rack that folds with the bike.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cycleologist/28487140140/
Looks to be a prototype at the moment, as no sign of it on his Kinetics website.