Is it just me that doesn't like the Brompton?

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steveindenmark

Legendary Member
All these little fiddly things is what you sit and practice in the living room on cold Winter nights. It is how you get to know your bike. Then you get to realise how simple it is. :0)
 

Mad Doug Biker

Just a damaged guy.
Location
Craggy Island
All these little fiddly things is what you sit and practice in the living room on cold Winter nights. It is how you get to know your bike. Then you get to realise how simple it is. :0)

Are you really talking about your bike or something else?!
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
Thanks for the responses. I'm aware that my first post here is a bit negative but I needed to vent ^_^

In response to some of the comments - I did try before buying...but just a quick run around the bike shop car park - not really enough to find the issues I have found since picking up my actual bike. I was largely going on the reputation for quality - it just never occurred to me I would have an issue. When I discussed it with the guy in the shop he said nobody else had ever complained about anything to do with the Brompton ever and he has sold about 10 a day for the last 40 years (I may be exaggerating slightly). I'm the first person ever in the history of time to not completely love them, he said.
.
not true - it's a great idea heavily compromised by poor detailing.

On the plus side it is quick to fold, and will go under a desk. You can take it on trains. You can carry a ton of shopping on the back rack, and the rear carrier is capacious - albeit poorly detailed. The saddle is much improved. Depreciation is low.

On the down side the right pedals are still poor (although an improvement on the ones that came with my first Brompton, which were 50p speshuls) and, yes, you will ground them on corners if you're having fun. The drive chain is really poor, the frame can bend (even if you're a lightweight), and the standard (Kojak?) tyres are poor. The ride is lousy, but it's not there to be ridden in the same way as road bike.

In short it's overpriced, but, hey, once you've paid for it, and got used to it's limitations, it's very nice to have around.
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
I would recommend the lower gearing option (44t Chainring) Been back in Bristol with mine tonight with the lowered gearing since my last visit - much better on the hills, much more usable.
can I recommend the higher gear option, particularly with the six speed? Top still isn't much use on a long downhill, but it's just great on a flat road when you're in company.
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
oh - and you can wear nice clothes when riding it. Which is good. Mooching down the Boulevard Saint-Michel or around the Forum wearing tweed, brogues with a Max Mara handbag over the handlebars (not me, her, obvs) is tourism a la mode.
 
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cisamcgu

Legendary Member
Location
Merseyside-ish
I went for the lower geared option, and whilst I agree that the highest gear is now relatively low and not much use on a long downhill, it is super for getting to the top of the afore mentioned hill. Anyway I tend to freewheel on any and all downhill stretches.^_^
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Lower gears for me, but I am a relatively weak cyclist with no interest in high speed.

I've not got a speedo on my Brommie, but I reckon even with lower gears I can do 20mph in top, using my usual modest cadence.
 

Kell

Veteran
Odd. I've never been passed by anyone on a Brompton. I've passed plenty of them though, both on my old Tern Link and on the Tern Joe P24 I have now. The latter is an unfair comparison though as it looks and rides like a standard full size mountain bike, no Brompton owner has a hope of keeping up unless they're a cyclist of very high quality. It needs to be said though that I cycle at a fair old speed. In my view, if you're not making an effort and out of breath, it defeats half the object of cycling. Cycling as exercise is as important to me as cycling to get from A to B, whether it's on a folder or not.

Sorry to have to pull you up on this, but what a load of old tosh.

I think it's probably true to say that most Bromptons are bought to ride slowly, and upright around town. Normally in work clothes, so the riders aren't intending to get up a sweat. Perhaps because you're going for it and they're not, that's why you're passing them. Or perhaps you're just a better/fitter/faster cyclist.

But where I know from personal experience that you're talking rubbish is that I only bought my Brompton after both of my Dahons cracked their frames. Like you, I see my commute as pretty much my only form of exercise, so I tend to push myself and go as fast as possible.

Because of that, I've been using Strava for years and I know for a fact that my Brompton is at least as quick as either Dahon - both 26" wheeled Matrix bikes with 20+ gears. Any of the PBs on sections have now been surpassed with ones I've done on my Brompton. The only ones I haven't claimed are ones I set on the few occasions I brought in my road bike.

It's certainly true that plenty of people I pass on my Brompton are surprised that I'm doing it. Partly, I guess, because it's a Brompton and partly because I'm 45 and 16 stone.

Unlike the OP, I actively didn't want to buy a Brompton. I thought they looked silly with their little wheels and at the time I got my first folder (2007), they looked very very old-fashioned with their choice of colours and leather Brooks saddles. however, by the time I'd wasted around £1500 on my two Dahons which ended up getting binned, the range was vastly improved, looked much better and started to tempt me. At £1080, I'd confidently say it's better value than the Dahon I spent £800 on.

And for all the comments that have said it's the default choice or that people are sheep for wanting them - I started the process NOT wanting one and looked at as many alternatives as possible before deciding that the reason so many people choose them is that they're the best tool for the job.

Do I love everything about it? No. I still think an internal hub and a chain pusher to achieve just six gears is arcane. The shfters themselves are rubbish. But for me, there's no better bike for my needs.

I have made some slight changes though. I've put low rise, wider bars on so mine is probably more stable than a sit up and beg M type. I've lost a little of the ability to thread through London traffic as the bars are now about 1-2 inches wider than an M-type, but what I've ended up with is a bike that I'm happy to tackle a 40mph+ downhill on (topped out at around 44mph), is as fast as my other folders, is far more useful for putting on a train - especially when crowded, is the only bike that would go in the boot of my convertible Mini when I drive to the station at the home end of my journey (the Dahons had to go in the back seat and I had to drive with the hroof down) and a bike that I've become a massive advocate of.
 
In fairness, if anyone new reads the thread now that it's active again, then at least they'll see a rebuttal to the argument.
Or maybe -- like me, who remembers the original thread -- they'll wonder what the hell that 'rebuttal' was all about. Especially given the fresh posts that triggered the alert that brought me here.
 

chriscross1966

Über Member
Location
Swindon
All these little fiddly things is what you sit and practice in the living room on cold Winter nights. It is how you get to know your bike. Then you get to realise how simple it is. :0)

Along with getting a mirror to practice the condescending look that combines both pity and contempt to be used when looking at a non-Brompton folder
 
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