Brompton Virgin Questions

[StuartG]

Sensible list. About the gearing - this has to be a personal decision. If you are comfortable on a fixie then standard might be OK. If, like me, you make good use of your granny gear then lowered may be best. But which I don't remember. I had it done after suffering on my first 60+ ride. With lowered 80+ was much easier! I had two chainlinks returned to me if that is any help.

Re luggage - just get the front block. I have the T bag and the shopping bag. Saved money as the frame is shared between them. You can find decent Brompton baggage discounts online which may mean a decision best delayed?

I use my shopping basket most. The frame handle is perfectly positioned to pull a fully folded Brommie through the shop, on eazy wheels, and dump your shopping directly into it at the checkout without unfolding. Its magical as the luggage stays in place as you fold or unfold.

Yep folding/unfolding is faster, less bother and safer than leaving a bike locked up outside.

 

[njbhorn]

So are there any "larger framed" "easy riders" out there who had to make a choice about soft or firm suspension? Following on from Brompton's advice and me being 90kg I should have the firm, but I do prefer an easy ride especially living in pot holed London, so any advice appreciated.

 

[seadragonpisces]

I am sure someone with loads of experience with Brommies can comment on the suspension question but I have the normal one and it still feels plenty firm enough for me, since I have a bad/weak back and a firmer suspension option wouldnt work at all

 

[peterjvh]

I'm 96 kg, 185cm. I use firm. My wife is 56 kg and also uses firm. We both prefer it that way for better handling at higher speeds and a bit less bounce. Unless you want the soft feel, or just want to take it easy, firm is perhaps more suitable. I wouldn't want to go back to the soft block.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Firm for everyone. The wife weighs 6 1/2 stone she bobs on the bike in the easy gears.

On my H bar I have schlumpf and shimano dynohub, can't be bothered with batteries .

 

[Bromptonaut]

M6R owner since 2009.

The supplied LED battery lights are fine around town. A more powerful Cateye at front is advised if riding outside streetlit area, I'm old enough to have used Front/Rearguard lights powered by D cells that lasted about an hour. With LED's running for aeons on a handful of AAA I'm not sure an onboard genny is worth the trouble/weight.

 

[njbhorn]

Excellent, firm and portable led lights. My list is nearly complete.

Not sure if £55 for the Brooke's saddle is worth it however have a Brooke's in my pashley and it is comfortable. Other question I'm not sure about is the gearing -12% or std. Live in North London and none of the hills that daunting. Luckily live south of highgate so daily commute not too steep anywhere.

Anyone had to deliberate over gearing?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

a word about Brooks on a B. Great saddles, lousy handles.

 

[T4tomo]

what gearing did you test out on your test ride?

the -12% is roughly gears 1, 3 and 5 of a 6 speed and std is gears 2, 4and 6. The sturmey archer 3 speed covers a decent wide range . I have what used to be called +8% gearing which is 54 chaing ring and 13T sprocket - it works for me but majority of riding I do on theb Brommy is through central London, although 1st is low enough for any hills at home, it does involve standing up if its very steep and 3rd OK for cruising, although into the wind I could do with a 2 1/2 gear. That said I'm 77kg and generally pretty good uphills.

Even with -12% gears I'd imagine you'd be going pretty scarily quick for a brommie before you spun out (i.e need to pedal faster than you could) in top and you might appreciate the lower gears on steep hills. Running out of a top gear just make you either marginally slower or having to spin the pedals a bit faster. Running out of low gears means you get off and push, so erring on the side of lower is the %age choice.

Ratios are on the link below. I'd advise standard or -12% tbh depending on what you are like on the hills. -18% is very low.
http://support.brompton.co.uk/entries/22354981-gear-ranges-and-ratios

 

[njbhorn]

Excellent thanks for that, explains it in just the terms I needed.

I think the test was on a standard and I managed OK on my local hills so standard it is, however...

I don't particularly want to peddle too fast however going up hills it would be good not to have to stop. The faster and harder you peddle the hotter you get which is not one of my intentions when I arrive at my office.

So still not sure whether or not to settle for -12% or standard. I may attempt to get a test ride on both so I can compare and contrast.

 

[T4tomo]

I would try both, a Brompton is for life, not just Christmas!

The faster and harder you peddle the hotter you get

Yes and no, in a higher gear you have to use more muscle strength to grind the pedals which takes a reasonable effort, in a lower gear you spin at a higher cadence (revs per minute) which takes less effort so I don't think you necessarily get hotter. On a long ride, spinning a higher cadence in a lower gear is less tiring than grinding along in a high gear. although whether less tiring = lless hot & sweaty is a moot point.

 

[StuartG]

Put in this way. Would you prefer to go up Ditchling Beacon on standard or lowered gearing?
Not dreaming of going up Ditchling? That's because you haven't got one yet

 

[Brommyboy]

The only difficulty is in going up hills! Coming down is free wheeling. Using the lower gearing option with the Sram hub for my 6-speed I recently rode up the Black Mountain A4069 northwards from Swansea. 30 mph on the descent was obtained by free wheeling! On the flat I regard my top speed to be 20 mph, or higher for short stretches. Do we need to go faster?

 

[njbhorn]

Plan a test ride next Friday on the standard 3 gears. have my route planned too to test out typical hills. As you say not being able to cycle up a hill will be a darn sight more annoying than speeding on the flat. My cycle style preference is to keep moving and and enjoy the view.

 

[srw]

(and once in a tuxedo).

...on the top, with lycra shorts on the bottom. Some of us went the whole hog - in the drizzle - and rode to Southend in woollen dress trousers too.

Anyway - others have covered the gearing. For what it's worth, I'm quite happy with what I believe (but have never investigated) is the standard 3-speed gearing. Looking at a recent gps profile (StuartG will know which hill I'm referring to), I was quite happy with a climb of 150 ft inside half a mile, typically at 5% gradient, seated. The short sharp section at the bottom that was typically 8% gradient had me honking out of the saddle. I've never Ditchlinged on the Brompton.

Your weight won't be a problem - compared with me you're a slim whippersnapper. At my heaviest I was more than 25% heavier than you are. The only problem I ever had was a seatpost eventually becoming distorted - which took several years of daily riding.

Personally I've gone for the hub dynamo (never the bottle dynamo, which is a nasty waste of money). It's an easy retrofit and makes the bike a perfect commuter job.