The most stylish Brompton yet?

[Pale Rider]

This could be the most stylish Brompton yet, but it indicates a growing problem with the brand.

Bromptons are excellent bikes, they have plenty of substance, but the company seems increasingly concerned with style.

Fine if you can do both, but rather than concentrating on boutiques and ludicrously priced designer luggage, I would like to see Brompton concentrating a bit more on product development.

There are one or two areas in which the bike could be improved, the gear change mechanism is cheap and nasty.

Removing/refitting the rear wheel on geared versions is over complicated.

The supplied pump is next to useless.

I would prefer to see Brompton work a bit harder on improving the substance of the product, rather than the style of its presentation.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

Who knew that a day would come upon which the companies Brooks and Brompton would suffer the word "colourway" to be used in describing their products.

O tempora, O mores.

I have just unsubscribed from the newsletter stating this as the reason.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

This could be the most stylish Brompton yet, but it indicates a growing problem with the brand.

Bromptons are excellent bikes, they have plenty of substance, but the company seems increasingly concerned with style.

Fine if you can do both, but rather than concentrating on boutiques and ludicrously priced designer luggage, I would like to see Brompton concentrating a bit more on product development.

There are one or two areas in which the bike could be improved, the gear change mechanism is cheap and nasty.

Removing/refitting the rear wheel on geared versions is over complicated.

The supplied pump is next to useless.

I would prefer to see Brompton work a bit harder on improving the substance of the product, rather than the style of its presentation.

Stands and applauds.

 

[John the Monkey]

[QUOTE 4229118, member: 259"]it's a Jspanese Crane one, so much cheaper elsewhere.

They are dead nice though.[/QUOTE]
It'd be nice if they did an after market brass dome & ringer for the current bell - compared to the Crane I use on my Surly, the stock Brompton bell is insufficiently sonorous and delightful.

 

[John the Monkey]

I have just unsubscribed from the newsletter stating this as the reason.

I say! Steady on old thing!

 

[srw]

I have just unsubscribed from the newsletter stating this as the reason.

Who cares, as long as they continue to deliver great bikes and saddles?

 

[srw]

There are one or two areas in which the bike could be improved, the gear change mechanism is cheap and nasty.

This is a Sturmey Archer problem, unless you're talking about the derailleur.

Removing/refitting the rear wheel on geared versions is over complicated.

On the hub gear version it's straightforward. Unless you're talking about the derailleur.

I would prefer to see Brompton work a bit harder on improving the substance of the product, rather than the style of its presentation.

If you steer clear of the derailleur there's little to improve. I'd love them to do a stock 5-speed version, but that depends on someone making a decent 5-speed hub. I'd love them to do an all titanium bike, but that's not exactly a large market.

The fact is that their sweet customer spot is affluent commuters. Who, as long as the product performs, like a bit of style. I suspect the boutiques more than pay their way. And the designer luggage subsidises the product development.

 

[Flying Dodo]

"Innovate or die" springs to mind. Currently Brompton are on a wave due to demand from space concious commuters and trendy types. However it's still the same product as 20 years ago with a heavy, over engineered steel gas pipe as its main frame. Yes, it looks lovely and folds very nicely, but there's a new range of competitors waiting in the wings doing the same or even slightly better. As an example, Apple aren't still selling the Apple Macintosh. If they hadn't brought out new products, they wouldn't still be in existence. Doing special editions like this tie-up with Brooks, or the forthcoming light up frame are merely tinkering at the edges.

Eventually the tide will turn for Brompton unless they bring out a better product. It won't be this year or next year, but 5-10 years down the line.

 

[StuAff]

As an example, Apple aren't still selling the Apple Macintosh. If they hadn't brought out new products, they wouldn't still be in existence.

Ahem. The Mac is alive and well. Just not with a 9" black and white CRT, 68000 processor, 128kb of RAM…but pedantry aside, good point. There is a titanium frame Brompton, with Rohloff or 27 speed derailleur options, but they didn't build it. I don't know how many actually got made, web information is old and sporadic. The standard bike has never had much appeal for me But this, oh......

Will Butler-Adams (who knows of Len Rubin and his little beauty) should just have said 'we'll do that', and, er, do it. Brompton's policy of slow, slow, steady improvement & making sure everything retrofits isn't necessarily bad, but that insistence has stifled them. You shouldn't have to go to third parties doing their own engineering for something like a wider gear range than the six speed, for example. I certainly don't want them to do what Dahon did (too many changes year on year, part issues well documented by me let alone anyone else!), but there should be some innovation.

 

[Pale Rider]

This is a Sturmey Archer problem, unless you're talking about the derailleur.

On the hub gear version it's straightforward. Unless you're talking about the derailleur.




If you steer clear of the derailleur there's little to improve. I'd love them to do a stock 5-speed version, but that depends on someone making a decent 5-speed hub. I'd love them to do an all titanium bike, but that's not exactly a large market.

The fact is that their sweet customer spot is affluent commuters. Who, as long as the product performs, like a bit of style. I suspect the boutiques more than pay their way. And the designer luggage subsidises the product development.

A simple hub gear needing only axle bolts to remove the wheel ought to be possible, but I suspect chain tension and the fold would be a problem.

That would give a twist shifter, surely ideal on a Brommie - nothing to snap when folding or carrying.

The brakes were rubbish, partly cured by improving the levers a few years ago.

But whatever type of callipers they are still look over complicated to me - what's wrong with V brakes?

My local dealer changed a non-locking suspension block to a locking one recently.

The kit contained a dozen or so bits and the dreaded Brompton exploded diagram.

Brompton boast about there being 1,000 - or whatever it is - parts needed to make a complete bike.

Actually, they should be ashamed of that number and looking to reduce it significantly.

I liked mine, sold because it was surplus to my requirements.

It's also the only bike I've ever got decent money for secondhand.

I may buy another in future, but not until I see some genuine improvements.

 

[srw]

But this, oh......

 

[srw]

Eventually the tide will turn for Brompton unless they bring out a better product. It won't be this year or next year, but 5-10 years down the line.

The main constraints they're working under are:

• UK manufacture
• Backwards compatibility
• Foldability

My best guess (and it is only a guess) is that the "style" developments are going hand in hand with "technology" developments. If you think of the subtle technological developments they've made over the last few years - multiple handlebar styles, 2-speed derailleur, lockable fold, brake upgrade, titanium extremeties as an option - I think your pessimism is misplaced. That's just about the whole bike which has been upgraded as a core or as an option. I hope that they continue to be an independent British manufacturer with one core product which they keep gradually upgrading. I fear that the current owners will cash out to a VC firm or a bigger manufacturer.

 

[StuAff]

What don't you like about it?

 

[srw]

But whatever type of callipers they are still look over complicated to me - what's wrong with V brakes?

They're pretty standard road bike calipers...

My local dealer changed a non-locking suspension block to a locking one recently.

The kit contained a dozen or so bits and the dreaded Brompton exploded diagram.

Which is about as many bits as you need to change a cassette on a normal bike.

Brompton boast about there being 1,000 - or whatever it is - parts needed to make a complete bike.

Actually, they should be ashamed of that number and looking to reduce it significantly.

You remember this photo?

If there are many fewer than 1,000 parts there I'll be very surprised.

 

[srw]

What don't you like about it?

I quite like the wheels that prop it up when it's folded (though easy-wheels would have been sensible) and the front carrier block. Everything else just looks horrible - either too shiny for the sake of it or else oversized for the bike.

I freely admit that that is partly unfamiliarity - I'm very used to the standard Brompton - but a lot of it just seems like upgrades for the sake of upgrades.