So I just bit the bullet and bought a lovely, expensive new Brompton. I guess I didn't think this out fully beforehand but it's so lovely and obviously valuable that I'm not sure about leaving it alone for a minute outside the house. And thinking further I don't recall seeing a Brompton chained up on the street anywhere in London. I could use my tatty old Dahon for everyday trips to the pub or the shops but that rather defeats the purpose of buying the new one. Am I being paranoid? Are they actually stolen a lot? What experiences have other owners had - do they leave them on the street or just use them for commutes to the office (which I don't have) and for train trips out of town, or do they carry them round everywhere like small expensive dogs?
New Brompton ... here's the problem I didn't think of ...
- Thread starter salmonboy
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
- Location
- The TerrorVortex
Decent D lock, or don't let it leave your side.
Shortmember
Bickerton Cyclocross Racing Team groupie
Cover up the Brompton label on the frame and replace it with' Tesco Value' in big letters...that should make it unstealable.
Hill Wimp
Fair weathered,fair minded but easily persuaded.
Can't you just carry them everywhere with you ?
mustang1
Guru
- Location
- London, UK
It does fit in a trolley but then you have to queue up in the trolley aisle instead of the basket-only isle. To remedy this, get a brompton with a front bag plus ez wheels so you can wheel the bike along while shopping.
Edit: fixed typos.
Last edited:
shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
I've never been turned away from anywhere with my folded Brompton.
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
The whole point of a Brompton is you never have to leave it outside. Mine has been into shops from Tesco to Harrods, eateries from worker's caffs to Michelin-starred restaurants, hotels from Premier Inns to 5-star hotels.
Poacher
Gravitationally challenged member
- Location
- Nottingham
and be prepared to answer lots of questions from fascinated fellow shoppers! I suspect I may have been responsible for an increase in Brompton sales locally.
The front bag option also means that you (almost) never buy more stuff than you can carry.
jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
me too. I have taken it to loads of restaurants and offices and usually get intrested questions instead. Never locked it once
cisamcgu
Legendary Member
- Location
- Merseyside-ish
The only time I have ever let mine out of my sight is either in a museum where I left it locked in a luggage locker or similarly when I left it in a hotel luggage room (but that time I also locked it with a cheap cable lock to a very heavy suitcase). 99% of the time you can take it everywhere you go - I just wish it weighed 3kg rather than 13kg 
Sara_H
Guru
There was an attempt to stop me taking it into work which failed. OH has been stopped from taking his non Brompton folder on a bus.
For me the problem is not about not being allowed, but those occasions where I don't want to drag it around with me all day such as - shopping (clothes as opposed to grocery) having to drag it in and out of different stores is a pain, and at conference type events where you might be popping in and out of different seminars and workshops.
I've just started a part time MSc, on the days I go to Uni we're in one classroom, but what do I do at breaks/lunch? drag it with me? Leave it unlocked in the classroom?
Also, dragging it any distance folded on anything but perfectly flat surfaces is a pain.
shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
Totally agrre on the awkwardness moving it distances folded, even on train platforms etc, I wheel it unfolded and only fold it at the train door, same getting off, unfold as early as possible and walk it along to the outside.
I'm sure if you had a word with janitor, security or lecturer at colege, a quiet corner of a manned office or a locked space would be found, I'm the same at work with mine, it never lives in the (prior burgled) bike racks, theres plenty of nooks or crannies when you go rooting about or know people who have been. I have brought it in with me when I've been visiting other buildings and such, even into court when attending as a witness leaving it in the police office.
Non heavy rail Public transport has always had a bad attitiide to pretty much anything but a brompton (big reason I got mine was to ensure I wouldn't have problems on Manchester Metrolink)
Otherwise pragmatism.
It is my favourite bike to use and ride but nobody puts a gun to my head to do so & I accept there will be times, like you suggest, where it is impractical or undesirable to take it around with me folded or not.
I use public transport/car then or I'm lucky in central Manchester, that I have the excellent Popup Bikes to use. I'm sure many big towns now have independently owned and run bike park places as well as the grand gesture council hubs that our mandarins seem keener to spend the cycling budget on than proper routes to get there.
I wondered recently on a daytrip sightseeing stopover in London when checking our holiday bags into left luggage, if they'd store it for me as luggage if I chose to bring it on a work trip etc.
Last edited:
I leave mine locked in bike racks where there are a lot of other bikes. I have a big heavy D lock. Outside the swimming pool is one such place - they don't have a space to leave it inside. (The bigger pool, which I also use sometimes, let me leave it in the buggy park once or twice, though!)
