Brompton for £7.5k. Am I missing something?

[Gunk]

It looks as if it’s one of the original batch of red bikes that Andrew Ritchie built as they were trying to get the company off the ground back in 1981.

The frame design is very different with an integrated rack on the rear triangle and offset seat clamp, so a very rare and a very early bike, but £7500, I don’t think so, perhaps a couple of grand at the most.

 

[berlinonaut]

It looks as if it’s one of the original batch of red bikes that Andrew Ritchie built as they were trying to get the company off the ground back in 1981.

The frame design is very different with an integrated rack on the rear triangle and offset seat clamp, so a very rare and a very early bike, but £7500, I don’t think so, perhaps a couple of grand at the most.

There is a collector's market for MK1 Bromptons and if they are in pristine condition and timing of the sale is right they sometimes achieve a pretty mad pricepoint on ebay. This was i.e. the outcome of an auction for bike no 84 of the MK1 series in April 2017, more or less exactly three years ago:

So the 7500 Pounds are mad but possibly not as mad as one would imagine. Still, at such high fixed prices bikes tend to be offered for sale for quite a long time, sometimes for years.

 

[FrankCrank]

There is a collector's market for MK1 Bromptons and if they are in pristine condition and timing of the sale is right they sometimes achieve a pretty mad pricepoint on ebay. This was i.e. the outcome of an auction for bike no 84 of the MK1 series in April 2017, more or less exactly three years ago:

View attachment 516435

So the 7500 Pounds are mad but possibly not as mad as one would imagine. Still, at such high fixed prices bikes tend to be offered for sale for quite a long time, sometimes for years.

The bend looks different on the main tube, more like the bike had an argument with the rear end of a bus, and the bus won

 

[bikegang]

Collection item this one. Around 5-6000 ?

 

[berlinonaut]

The bend looks different on the main tube, more like the bike had an argument with the rear end of a bus, and the bus won

With those first generation bikes the Bromptons were more or less "home made" and the lack of tools forced Andrew Richie into a pretty russian approach of bending the characteristic hump into the mainframe. Since the MK2 of the late 80ies they have a proper tool to do it and thus it looks less like the outcome of an accident.

 

[Pale Rider]

The main tube on Mk1 Brommies was a few inches shorter than the current one.

While I'm on, this seller is a greedy twat.

 

[Jody]

Please can I have your source for insured carriage, I spend loads on it weekly. That price does not seem unreasonable.

TNT are pretty reasonable on cost. We ship all of our engines/gearbox etc with them, be it abroad or in the UK.

I could get an engine (90-110KG) to you and collected for almost the same as this guy wants to ship his bike.

 

[screenman]

TNT are pretty reasonable on cost. We ship all of our engines/gearbox etc with them, be it abroad or in the UK.

I could get an engine (90-110KG) to you and collected for almost the same as this guy wants to ship his bike.

Is that with full insurance for the value of the product? I will test them though as I seem to have plenty of time on my hands. just checked they are more expensive than my current courier, handy to know for heavy things though.

 

[Jody]

Is that with full insurance for the value of the product? I will test them though as I seem to have plenty of time on my hands.

We don't have enhanced liability as it costs less for us in the long run to cover any problem than it would for the product to be fully insured. There is a cost of £x paid per KG of item lost, so as you can imagine you get a reasonable chunk back if they lose an engine or a gearbox. I don't know if that is standard across the board or something we agreed when we set our account up.

Enhanced liability isn't a massive amount more but we don't take that option.

Damage would be their fault so you are only covering yourself for loss.

 

[Archie_tect]

That's ridiculous- but if someone's daft enough to want it then good luck to them.

 

[screenman]

Is it a rarity?

 

[berlinonaut]

Is it a rarity?

Yes. There were only 400 MK1 bikes made, plus possibly around 30 pre-release bikes. They were all made in the early 80ies until 1982. So now, 40 years later, it is unclear how many survivors do exist at all - obviously less then bikes made. And, assuming most of the bikes have been used, how many of them are in a good shape and in more or less original state. The MK1 bikes had their issues and a lot of them had to be rewelded according to Andrew Richie, so chances are that over time a bigger part of those 400 went to the bin at some point, the more as they have been outdated and outperformed by their more modern silblings for decades and until not too long ago were not considered to be of any worth or collectors' items. This has only changed with the rising popularity of the Brompton over the last years.
Clearly not a bike to ride as a daily work horse but something to collect if one is interested in that and willing to spend the money. Original price was btw. 250 Pounds in around 1981.

 

[screenman]

Yes. There were only 400 MK1 bikes made, plus possibly around 30 pre-release bikes. They were all made in the early 80ies until 1982. So now, 40 years later, it is unclear how many survivors do exist at all - obviously less then bikes made. And, assuming most of the bikes have been used, how many of them are in a good shape and in more or less original state. The MK1 bikes had their issues and a lot of them had to be rewelded according to Andrew Richie, so chances are that over time a bigger part of those 400 went to the bin at some point, the more as they have been outdated and outperformed by their more modern silblings for decades and until not too long ago were not considered to be of any worth or collectors' items. This has only changed with the rising popularity of the Brompton over the last years.
Clearly not a bike to ride as a daily work horse but something to collect if one is interested in that and willing to spend the money. Original price was btw. 250 Pounds in around 1981.

Very informative, thank you.

 

[rogerzilla]

TNT are pretty reasonable on cost. We ship all of our engines/gearbox etc with them, be it abroad or in the UK.

I could get an engine (90-110KG) to you and collected for almost the same as this guy wants to ship his bike.

I sold a Brompton to a buyer in London and it was cheapest for me to deliver it in person by train and tube. From Swindon.

The folded size is too big (because of the width) for the cheaper services. Unfolded, it can go in a bike box but that's £70-80 with the massive insurance cost.

 

[screenman]

Be interesting to view this post in 12 years time and see it's value then. I have sold many things over he years at what seemed at the time high prices only to find them up for sale 10 years later at a hell of a lot more. Who knows it may end up a good investment.