Birdy IV or Brompton MK5 ?

[shouldbeinbed]

Just a couple of shots of my 14yo Mk1 Birdy and 3yo Brompton for a comparison of folded size of the original Birdys

A couple of caveats: I've ridden the original rear end of the Birdy to death and the.current rear hub does interfere with how tight the front wheel folds in so it is wider, fractionally, than built as. This is offset by having put cowhorn bars on the Brommy replacing the original S ones

Once I finally get happy with the POS Sturmey Archer rear hub on the Birdy, the Brommy will be going up for sale.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Annanotherthing

Criticism of the exposed chainline on the (well my model at least) Birdy is a tad unfounded. The front wheel protects the exposed chain run and wheel guard takes care of the rest

Again caveat, the front wheel with original componentry would be folded in a tad more so offering another half inch or so of chainguard overlap

 

[Kell]

Do they compare price wise though?

When I looked, it seemed like the Birdy was a good deal more expensive than the (broadly) equivalent Brompton. But in the first article linked to, the author asserts that the Birdy is actually cheaper.

 

[Arellcat]

Here's one I made earlier:


More out of control Brompton modifications by beqi, on Flickr

The front suspension worked great and it rode pretty well. But I discovered that with a load on the luggage block and riding one-handed the bike shimmied so much that at anything above 10mph it was dangerous. I used it for a few months in my 'BirdyBrompton' configuration, and then put the original fork back on.