Bromptons

[steveindenmark]

Why do Bromptons constantly hold such a high price?

I fancy a dabble in the folding market and a Brompton would be my first choice as it is British, old school. But they are never cheap.

Steve

 

[AndyRM]

I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that the buyer was able to specify pretty much the whole set up of a Brompton build so it follows that they're expensive and there's not much of a second hand market.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

They're the right mix of form, function and marketing

Bespoke or off the shelf models, well put together, surprisingly decent to ride for the way they look and have that kudos/hype/fan follwing akin to Apple Mac's and other iconic or niche brands that keep the market bouyant.

 

[annedonnelly]

You'd need to offer me a lot of money to get me to part with mine

It's turned out to be perfect for the commute I'm doing.Decent to ride with the convenience of taking it on to buses, trains, etc. whenever I need to.

 

[palinurus]

The fold is really good, if you use the bike in conjunction with public transport this is really handy. Really neat, and probably still unbeaten (for a practical bike anyway).

 

[daniel_hokkaido]

saw a ton of these bikes in Barcelona last week. Nice to see british bikes around mainland europe!

 

[John the Monkey]

The fact that the parts are both readily available, and reasonably priced too might have something to do with it as well.

 

[mllond]

It's just such a clever bike. Fantastic functionality - I have a 9.5 year old L6 (6 gear) model which copes with the supermarket run (fold it up and bung in the trolley, nobody minds at Sainsburys), commutes, hills, the Dunwich Dynamo and a long haul flight (Vancouver via BA). Superfast fold. Marathon Schwalbes mean that my last puncture was in 2012. Compared with a VW Golf, the value stays high but maintenance costs are low! And perhaps tellingly, I have several mates who have contrived to have their Bromptons stolen, all of whom have bought either new or secondhand replacement Bromptons but not any other folder. And if you like personality, well, no contest!

 

[Wolfthing]

The chap in the shop where I ordered mine said that one of the reasons they hold their money is because they're still made of steel, whilst other folding bikes are made of aluminium/alloy.

So in years to come they're still pretty much as good as when they were new.

Personally I think it's because they've come up with this great design and then stuck to it without regularly faffing about with it.

It's really difficult to work out if you're looking at one or ten year old Brompton!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Simple..

Supply and demand....

Demand outstrips supply....

Therefore the second hand market becomes bouyant.

 

[the_mikey]

They're just great bicycles, super compact yet perfectly rideable and practical.

 

[TheDoctor]

They do it all. Currently touring on mine, and it's not caused me any problems. Trains, buses, climbing mountains, it just works. It's not just the best folder I've got, it's the best bike I've got.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Best alternative I can think of is Bike Friday, and they cost the earth as well.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Brompton folding mechanism-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5B_lB21a74

 

[Racing roadkill]

A Brompton is a very nicely built bit of kit, you can configure them with all sorts of bells and whistles, which makes them fairly bespoke. That said, I think they are a triumph of style over substance, and personally, I wouldn't want to pay the premium.