Sayrah82
New Member
- Location
- Thornton Heath
Hi all,
I live in zone 4 south London and at some point might get to go back to work in Central London (though looking likely not til next year). I've always shied away from having a bike in London, but it's looking like it may become a necessity, and right now I have all the time in the world to practice riding without deadlines.
I live in a flat and work long hours so I definitely need a folding bike for home storage and for ease of going home on public transport after a late finish.
I've found a few M3L options from Brompton themselves and other stores for home delivery. There's things if I were building from scratch I would add like rear luggage rack, front block, etc which I'm assuming I could add later? Buying this means I have it next week. Getting a custom one made will be weeks to wait.
My question is, should I go for it with an off the peg or should I get a custom bike built and wait the time for it? My particular niggle is around the gearing ratios which are all standard on the bikes I've seen available, but as I live in a hilly bit of London I would be better with -12% or -18%?
As you can probably tell I know nothing about bikes!
Thanks for your help!
Sarah
I live in zone 4 south London and at some point might get to go back to work in Central London (though looking likely not til next year). I've always shied away from having a bike in London, but it's looking like it may become a necessity, and right now I have all the time in the world to practice riding without deadlines.
I live in a flat and work long hours so I definitely need a folding bike for home storage and for ease of going home on public transport after a late finish.
I've found a few M3L options from Brompton themselves and other stores for home delivery. There's things if I were building from scratch I would add like rear luggage rack, front block, etc which I'm assuming I could add later? Buying this means I have it next week. Getting a custom one made will be weeks to wait.
My question is, should I go for it with an off the peg or should I get a custom bike built and wait the time for it? My particular niggle is around the gearing ratios which are all standard on the bikes I've seen available, but as I live in a hilly bit of London I would be better with -12% or -18%?
As you can probably tell I know nothing about bikes!
Thanks for your help!
Sarah