Black edition - no 3 speed option?

[Mrklaw]

So while researching my first Brompton purchase, I may have been smitten by the orange Black Edition. But it seems to only come in 2 or 6 speed options. I’ll be using it to commute from Paddington to near Tottenham Court Road, and also from my local station. Pretty flat and not a long way. So i’d ignored the 6 speed as unnecessary, especially given the slightly fiddly gear changing. The 3 speed seems a good option.

Is the 2 speed still a good option? I’ll be renting one from Brompton bike hire for about a week to try out - I assume that will be a 3 speed, but won’t help me understand how a 2 speed would compare.

 

[gizmo1994]

The hire bike will be a 3 speed. Yes, the Black Edition comes in 2 or 6 speed. If you can afford it then go for the 6 speed. You say you are only planning to use it to get from Paddington to TCR but you may become smitten and take it out for weekend exploring in the countryside. Then you will be glad of the extra gears.

Also the top gear on the standard 2 speed is just a bit lower than the 5th gear on the standard 6 speed. I find I use my 5th/6th quite a bit on fast and flat roads.

 

[Kell]

My two-penneth worth.

Before getting my 6-speed, I also hired a 3-speed (for a month). I assumed they'd all be the standard gearing, but I found third nowhere near tall enough a gear for me, so I suspect they may be the -12% or even -18% versions. I was spinning away like mad and this causes lots of bobbing.

The other thing I found is that the gears were comically far apart - my previous bike was a Dahon with 27 gears - so that took a bit of getting used to. Weirdly, because the 6-speed uses a hub with gears that have an even wider spread, the gaps in between are similar on the 6-speed as they are on the 3-speed. You're always never quite in the right gear when you first get it, but soon find that you adapt to the bike.

For city use - depending on how you're planning to ride (flat out sprint, or casual pedal) a three would be ideal, but I'd go for the +8% version. Obviously, this is not an option for you, but funnily enough I was just talking to a bloke at work this morning who's bought a superlight (bit of an oxymoron when applied to Brompton) who went for the 6-speed after a chat with someone else that bought a 2-speed and regretted it.

I ended up with a 6-speed because I have a bitch of a hill on the home end of my commute (300ft in 1/2 a mile) and need the low gearing for that. If it wasn't for that, I've have gone for a three speed.

If you're in London, it's worth a trip to Brompton Junction in Covent Garden as they let you ride their demo bikes. This is also useful for working out which of the handlebars suit you best.

Hopefully this chart should help you out.

 

[TheDoctor]

If there's any chance at all you'll need six gears, get them to start with. Adding them later is expensive, as it involves a new rear wheel.

 

[T4tomo]

If you are doing any sort of distance over terrain that is anything other than flat, then the 2 speed is a bit limited. I have a 3 spd, which is now standard but was originally +8%, I lowered it when my commute involved a few hills and v glad I did.

 

[Mrklaw]

I live in Windsor and the routes to the station are flat. Central London is pretty flat

I don’t mind buying the 6 speed even if I don’t need all of them - but if I’m constantly using 2-3 speeds that need a lot of juggling with the dual levers, doesn’t that get a bit irksome?

 

[Kell]

One thing I'd not really paid attention to before is why there's no + option on the 1- and 2-speed. Do they use a 54 tooth chainring to achieve the standard gearing?

 

[cougie uk]

I've the 6 speed Brompton and I use 4 of the gears on my short commute each day. It's only the lowest two I don't use but that's because there isn't a big hill on the route. I'd get 6 if you can afford it.

 

[jay clock]

FWIW I have a 3 speed with standard gears. Within a few minutes I realised I was grinding away and prefer to spin. I changed the front ring from 50 to 44. Not sure which version (-12 or -18 that is equal to) but for me it gives a nice easy first gear and I run out of gears at about 30-32kmh in 3rd, and to be frank anything faster not needed

Also I strongly recommend the front bag and mounting block. Makes a massive benefit to handling having weight over the front wheel

 

[jay clock]

also if pushed I would go for 6 not 2 speed

 

[Kell]

As mentioned above, you can definitely buy a 2-speed and convert it to a 6-speed later on if desired - it's a matter of buying the rear wheel, shifter and cables, then fitting them (or paying for them to be fitted) and it's not a cheap conversion at £182 for the parts alone.

https://brilliantbikes.co.uk/brompton-wheels/315-brompton-gear-upgrade-2-to-6.html

But having said that, just buying a BWR rear wheel is £175, so to get all the other bits with the conversion kit is actually a bit of a bargain in the grand scheme of things.

Welcome to the world of Brompton where simply putting the word Brompton in front of something triples the price. It's like the word 'wedding'.

 

[Kell]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff13zZ0h0k

 

[Kell]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gimiDBAK2wA

 

[smutchin]

I live in Windsor and the routes to the station are flat. Central London is pretty flat

I don’t mind buying the 6 speed even if I don’t need all of them - but if I’m constantly using 2-3 speeds that need a lot of juggling with the dual levers, doesn’t that get a bit irksome?

Well, I know I would find it irksome.

My old Brompton (RIP) was a 3-speed and I ran it as singlespeed for a while. I found one gear plenty for most of my riding, which did include occasional hills. Next time I buy a Brompton*, it will be a 2-speed. I like the 2-speed. It's simple. It works. You have one low gear for pulling away from the lights and steep hills, and one 'cruising' gear for everything else.

I don't get the reasoning that you should buy a 6-speed on the off-chance that you might decide to do a different kind of riding in the future. You're buying it for a specific purpose, so get the one that's right for that purpose, not the one that's right for a different purpose.


*Very, very nearly did buy a Black Edition S-type 2-speed a couple of years ago but then a matter of days before I put in the order, my circumstances changed and I could no longer justify it... Pah!

 

[Kell]

It's another of those things that you just get used to.

My 6-speed with normal gearing means that I use 4th for pulling away and 5th once I'm moving. This is a two-shifter operation and I still find it hard to believe that this is the best solution. I'm sure that by getting a larger or smaller chainring, I could get my two most-used gears onto one shifter, but it's really a first-world problem.