So I managed to get a ride.
Unsurprisingly, they had a queue of people trying them out and I had to wait for the Large to come back into the store to try it.
In the meantime, I had a play with the small version.
Felt too small for me. But not comically so. Just sitting on it leant up against the wall, it felt like the standard seat post was almost correct. But the reach felt very small.
They did have a medium in stock. But the ‘display model’ was actually mounted on a display in the window so I couldn't ride it OR sit on it, despite being told I could.
The large felt too tall at the bars for me. Too upright. Bonus of it is that it did have the Conti tyres on it as I wanted to feel what they were like. They look just like massive versions of mine and i couldn't help but wonder if a thinner tyre exists that would fit.
The hub gears were great and the discs were a revelation. So was the fact it didn't rattle.
I rode down there on my bike, so put it up against the Large G-line to compare. Seat height from the floor was almost bang on identical, but the bars of the G-line were probably 2" higher. More akin to the old-school M-type. This might suit some people, but not me. The reach was a little longer than mine, but only fractionally - however, they did the typical Brompton thing of putting saddle quite far forward on the rails. So I figure being able to play around and put the seat back a bit would be worthwhile.
I did try putting my bike up against the medium in the window, but it was a bit hard to do. I reckon it was slightly nearer to the geometry on my bike. I was hoping the reach would be slightly longer than mine as I could do with being slightly more stretched out.
On the road it did feel good to ride, but it's noticeably heavier to move around when folding and unfolding. You'd get used to it, but that's a lot of extra weight to swing under to fold.
I think I'd need a longer ride on the medium to see if i could make it work. And I'd need to do it at a friendly dealer that might let me move stuff about.
They only had the Orange and the white (whatever they're calling that). I quite liked the orange, but as an owner of a powder coated lime green version, I know those bright colours seem to attract the dirt in London and the powder coat makes it difficult to remove. From the online pics, I prefer the look of the green, but again would have to see.
Ultimately, I was a little disappointed. I wanted to really love it, I had visions of me taking up my pre-order slot immediately, but left feeling a bit 'meh'.
)
