Brompton roller wheel extenders

[BG213]

Hello all. Recently got my first Brommie (so excited! ) and want to roll it using the small roller wheels fairly often, such as in "shopping cart mode." Many people recommend getting roller wheel extender bars for the front roller wheels as the Brompton can become unbalanced from the front wheel being on one side and especially if you keep a bigger bag on the front luggage rack (I also intend to get larger wheels such as EazyWheels, but that is a separate discussion). The most common brand for such roller wheel extenders that come up is MiniMod but in all my searching these have only very limited places to buy them and are much more expensive than other brands out there (see links below for examples). So my question for the forum is: Are the MiniMod extenders worth the extra cost or would it be OK going with a cheaper option (such as the LitePro or London Craftworks)? My Brompton is already proving to be a bit of a financial sinkhole at the moment and if I don't have to pay another $50 for something that would sure be nice. On the other hand I don't want to buy something that is not as good and I will end up regretting it. Does anyone have experience with any of these products?

MiniMod
London Craftwork
LitePro

 

[berlinonaut]

This possibly means you went for the three-wheel-variant here? https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/brompton-3-wheel-vs-4-wheel-rollers.290114/ Or did you decide for the rack version? You never reported back.

There have been a couple of threads and posts about these axles. As with many accessories their value is very debatable. And as with many accessories there is a myriad of copies and copies of copies on the market, some of them of dubious quality and some of them useless. The original was invented in about 2013 by a company from Italy, adding-solutions, that no longer exists. This was cloned shortly after by a company from Taiwan (?) named bikefun that still exists. Later, their product was cloned by countless companies.
I do own the bikefun version since about 2016 and would not buy it again. Apart from very special setups I do not consider it useful and it creates more issues than it solves. This is even more true for the newer clones - there have been reports of breakages, so not only not (too) useful but a total waste of money.
There are however people with a different opinion.

 

[berlinonaut]

Many people recommend getting roller wheel extender bars for the front roller wheels as the Brompton can become unbalanced from the front wheel being on one side and especially if you keep a bigger bag on the front luggage rack

These people probably did never look into the physics of the Brompton. You would need extenders for the rear roller wheels to change this situation to the better, not the front roller wheels. If you own the version w/o a rack you are setup worse than with a rack. So a rack would be the first step to go to change the situation to the better.
The tiny wheels are however only intended for rolling over short distances on an even surface (look into the manual).

 

[T4tomo]

The Brompton also has 2 16" wheels which its rolls pretty well on....just saying.

 

[ExBrit]

The Brompton also has 2 16" wheels which its rolls pretty well on....just saying.

Funny you say that. I watch YouTube videos of people folding their Brompton up and wheeling it around supermarkets on its eazy-wheels like it's a shopping cart. The other day I took my Brompton into a supermarket and wheeled it around like a bicycle. No-one cared.

 

[Kell]

I saw someone at the tube station this morning with a seriously loaded up (and folded up) Brompton on massive wheels.

I'm guessing about the size of pushchair wheels.

Having also just remembered that when I'm freewheeling and have my chocolate foot forward, my rear calf touches the EZ wheels. so I don't think they'd be for me.

Looked effective though.

Something like this, I'm guessing.

*Chocolate foot is whichever foot you have forward when you're freewheeling.

**I suggest you don't look it up on Urban Dictionary which gives a very different meaning.

 

[Drago]

Funny you say that. I watch YouTube videos of people folding their Brompton up and wheeling it around supermarkets on its eazy-wheels like it's a shopping cart. The other day I took my Brompton into a supermarket and wheeled it around like a bicycle. No-one cared.

I take my folder on the train a fair bit, and all sorts of dire warnings emanate from Network Fail and the rail operators about making sure ones folder is folded before entering the platform.

Yet riders of full size bikes are able to happily just wheel their unfolded (because they don't fold) steeds onto the platform without let or hindrance.

 

[Kell]

...making sure ones folder is folded before entering the platform.

I never do this.

The Brompton was really designed to be folded for storage, not carrying. It's awkward and heavy to carry any sort of real distance.

My London station is Marylebone and the platform I go out of most often is Platform 6 and the far end at that. To give some of idea of how far away from the barriers that is, it has its own Strava segment.

That's a hell of a walk carrying a folded Brommie. I just wheel it and fold it up either on the platform on in the vestibule depending how busy the train is.

In 7 and a bit years, no one's ever asked me to fold it up.