My wife say's...
- Thread starter EltonFrog
- Start date
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fritz katzenjammer
Der Ubergrosserbudgie
- Location
- Canada eh! Your land of back bacon.
I’m too tall for a Brompton. They look ridiculous. The wheels are too small to give a comfortable ride. They are way too expensive. And most damningly of all, I work for Trek and so can get really nice bikes pretty cheaply, so why would I blow my money on a silly bike I don’t need!
BUT! there’s one of the brilliant little things under the Christmas tree with my name on it and I can hardly stand the wait! ( thank you Frau Fritz )
riding it to work should be interesting as I park my bike on the showroom floor.
BUT! there’s one of the brilliant little things under the Christmas tree with my name on it and I can hardly stand the wait! ( thank you Frau Fritz )
riding it to work should be interesting as I park my bike on the showroom floor.
There is also another one waiting for me in the garage for my 60th Birthday in January.
You‘ll love your Brompton, they‘re just a great thing to own!
fritz katzenjammer
Der Ubergrosserbudgie
- Location
- Canada eh! Your land of back bacon.
Something I don’t understand. Brompton seem to come out of that tiny little box pretty much ready to run except for the need for a bit of air in the tires. And run well. I think I’ve built in excess of 1000 bikes since I retired 3 years ago and started in part time at a couple of bike-shops ( my wife calls it my “ fun job “ ) Bikes vary in quality out of the box but they pretty much all require extensive tuning and set up before they can be turned loose on the world. I guess the Brompton’s higher initial build quality is part of the reason for the higher price you pay for the little buggers.
I guess I’m also saying that when I’m building some 15 to 20 thousand dollar road bike it’s pretty disappointing when the build quality is not better than a thousand dollar city bike.
They should come with a PDI sheet, mine had been taken out of the box and PDI’d by the supplying dealer. As I volunteer part time as a bike mechanic I will pop mine on the stand and PDI it myself before riding it, plus I want to make a couple of changes to it.
They're expensive because they are built in a factory in London and not the far East, you are paying a premium for the high cost of manufacturing not particularly exotic cycle parts.
fritz katzenjammer
Der Ubergrosserbudgie
- Location
- Canada eh! Your land of back bacon.
Yup! No exotica on these things, just parts well assembled by people who care. I spent my career in manufacturing in the automotive industry, quite a bit in process engineering. You can’t manufacture a consistently high quality assembly if the people on the line aren’t properly trained and don’t care. We owed plants in Mexico and China and quality was always an issue. when I first visited a Mexican facility I asked why about half of the staff on the line had trainee armbands, it was because it was just after payday and so half of the workforce had disappeared because they didn’t feel they needed to work until they needed money again. So you never had a fully trained workforce and nobody really cared about whet they were making. We had similar issues in China, people always showed up for work but they were always cutting corners to get the job done more quickly and more cheaply.
and we wonder why all these imported products are all that great.
Indeed. When Andrew Ritchie negotiated with Neobike in Taiwan, he was so appalled by the substandard quality of the test bikes they produced, he promptly brought production back inhouse.
One of the reasons Brommys are pricey - top build quality.
SteveO69
Well-Known Member
- Location
- S.W. London / Surrey
I always wondered what he did, once George Michael went solo….Indeed. When Andrew Ritchie negotiated with Neobike in Taiwan, he was so appalled by the substandard quality of the test bikes they produced, he promptly brought production back inhouse.
One of the reasons Brommys are pricey - top build quality.
