I was quite a sceptic regarding the hype about Bromptons for quite some time due to there being almost a religious fervour amongst Brompton owners. If I dared to suggest that Bromptons were lacking in some way, maybe the weight, the price, some occasional quality issues and so on I was inviting severe criticism from some regular posters. About 14 months ago I was fortunate to find a used Brompton at a very good price and was able to find out first hand its virtues and shortcomings. They do ride well, with a bit of care needed due to the wheel size. They are very practical if you need to get them on board a crowded train as part of a journey. Really, it's all about the fold. It's hard to find anything else that folds so well, and that's why there is such a premium on the price. Having said that, I rode mine about 65 miles as part of a train assisted trip to Wales last year and amazingly I was still able to function the next day.
However, there have been folding bikes around for decades, and if you don't need something that has such an extreme fold there is a lot of choice out there.
My first folder was an aluminium Bickerton, not the Bickerton Portable with the tiny wheels but a Bickerton Country. This used pretty much the same bolted together frame as the Portable but had 20" wheels with chunky tyres on. I doubt that the originals had mudguards but as a refugee from the planet Mudgaard I had to squeeze some on. This was my first experience of a bike-in-a-bag (it came with a blue nylon bag with Bickerton emblazoned on it). It was well used by the time I got it, dating from the late '80s, probably the original Bickerton company's last gasp. If you see a bike with Bickerton on it nowadays, it's probably a rebadged Dahon. I think you had to be something of an enthusiast to ride one of these early folders. Either that or in a state of blissful ignorance of mechanical sympathy. It was definitely light, much lighter than the contemporary steel Raleighs or Dawes folders of its time. However, I've never ridden a bike that flexed or squeaked and creaked so much. It would have been really alarming if I was big and heavy. I found it hard to ride at first, as I would look at the front wheel and end up wandering around the road. Once I realised that you needed to look where you wanted to go, and it would follow, I had no problems. You needed a smooth pedalling style, as the long alloy apehanger bars would flex alarmingly and if you stomped on the pedals the back wheel felt as if it was moving around under you. I spent a lot of time checking the nuts and bolts that held it together but nothing was ever loose. It was actually very comfortable as all that flexiness soaked up the bumps. I sold that to someone who was a bit of a collector and he seemed delighted to have it. This is a photo from the internet, not my bike.
I was without a folder for a while until Mrs T suggested we got a couple of folders to take in the car to ride away from the traffic. It was a bit random. I found her a used Viking Metropolis as she wanted something with a low step over. Coincidentally I found a Viking Safari which did the job for me. I suspect that these bikes bore little relation to the Viking brand of old, maybe were even made in different far eastern countries. Hers was quite a low compact steel bike with 20" wheels, mine was a more ungainly alloy one with 20" wheels.
Mrs T's enthusiasm faded after about a year but I continued to enjoy the Safari for several years. It folded well enough to go in the car when I took it for a service, to ride home and then back to collect it later. It was nice enough to ride that I just went out on it for a change of emphasis, or to work, as it was a nice 20" wheel bike that just happened to fold. I briefly bought a Dahon HG7 with a hub gear thinking that if the relatively cheap Safari was good, a more upmarket bike would be even better. In fact I only kept it for a short time, as although the Dahon's fold was marginally better, the Safari was nicer to ride.
Once I bought the Brompton, I found I could take it on the train without pre booking, as well as the things I could use the Safari for. No doubt the Safari could have gone on the train in a similar manner, but it was more awkward to carry, and angular to boot.The Brompton began to be used instead of the Safari. The Safari had the edge on comfort, but for convenience the Brompton has the edge, for my purposes. In the end, like everyone else, I had too many bikes and the Safari had to go. But, I like folders, and if I see one when I'm out and about, I can't help having a nose, and talking to the owner.
