Where are you based? An official Brompton dealer quoting two weeks doesn’t sound right. When I ordered mine it was delivered to store and available the same day. Since the Covid situation Brompton have been delivering to customers home addresses.Ha ha...I see a lot of Brompton shills here, just like on forum board of electronics company with fruit logo, where when you ask about the problem and they say " our fruit products never EVER break. You are delusional". Next thing you know the fruit logo company is hit by class action suit and they are forced to make repairs for free or give compensation because they made a product with a massive design flaw. I do understand that things are not perfect in life, but one thing is to charge the price that covers the making of a product, distribution, etc plus slim profit margin, and another is to charge as much as they can and have most of the price AS A PROFIT and still NOT DELIVER.
Brompton or any mechanical device will break. Nothing last forever. What I got from reading a manual and watching some owners on youtube is that clamps, chain, cogs and some other things wear out quite soon. These are still available as parts, but a lot of other bits are out of stock.
Brexit, lorry drivers have nothing to do with Brompton delivery. If it does, they should adjust the wording on their website- for example assembling the bike will take 3 months, shipping another 2 months and hopefully delivery will take less than a year.
Bike finally shipped to the store, but only after I contacted the brompton about my order. So that was more than 3 weeks. Now the bike is in store waiting to be assembled (?) and that will take another 2 weeks. Does anyone know how bromptons ship to the store? Do you need to put anything more like pedal and seat post as with home delivery or it literally comes in parts?
upgrading brompton b75
- Thread starter yoho oy
- Start date
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I am based in London and ordered bike on September 23'd. I chosen delivery to the store since I was not sure when exactly they will deliver the bike. The store that it is delivered to do sell Brompton bikes and accessories.
Finally got my Brommie!!! It seems that I had some very unusual experience with my order. First of all they lost my order somewhere in the factory, but after contacting the Brompton they sent it right away. Unfortunately the bike arrived to a bike chain store that was very understaffed (basically a sales person and a mechanic), so it took forever to put the bike. Also there was might be some mix up with an order, since after registering my bike on Brompton website it shows up as different color and R version bike? So perhaps the staff in the store accidentally sold my bike to someone else (also the staff told me that they cannot give me a box that it came in, but it was not because it was damaged or anything, I saw it myself- it looked fine)? In any case, I decided that a month for assembly was way enough time and after visit to the store they told me that bike is there, and they are willing to assemble it in 40 minutes. After 40 minutes of waiting I left with a bike!
I have to say after riding it for the first time I have to say that bike is 10 out of 10. It is built very well, much faster than I anticipated for a folding bike and rides very smoothly. As far as steering goes, it is a bit twitchy, but it could be that I haven't been riding a bike for a decade or so.
I have to say after riding it for the first time I have to say that bike is 10 out of 10. It is built very well, much faster than I anticipated for a folding bike and rides very smoothly. As far as steering goes, it is a bit twitchy, but it could be that I haven't been riding a bike for a decade or so.
GeekDadZoid
Über Member
Sounds like quite a quick turnaround in current times.
You will get used to any perceived twitchiness and yes I agree it is surprisingly fast for a little bike, I often get surprised looks from other riders as I saunter past.
Enjoy the brommie
You will get used to any perceived twitchiness and yes I agree it is surprisingly fast for a little bike, I often get surprised looks from other riders as I saunter past.
Enjoy the brommie
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Schwinnsta
Senior Member
- Location
- New Orleans, LA USA
The Brompton bars are the simplist to align. You just tighten the stem with the stem folded and in its catch.
12boy
Guru
- Location
- Casper WY USA
Read a book l found fascinating...Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressman about the Spartans and the battle of Thermopylae. Has a lot of info about their culture and one tidbit was their their word for f**ing being derived from their word for grinding, as with millstones.
My rototiller failed but for $150 l bought a motor at Harbor Freight which actually bolts right in. It has everything but fuel, oil and the 4 bolts which attach it to the rototiller chassis. Also needs a couple of bolts to attach a guard for the pulley mechanism. If this works correctly it will be a lot cheaper than $600 for an equivalent new one. I will try to get this done over the next few days although most of today will be at the oncology clinic for a chat with the Doc and chemo #2 in this series.
Be well and safe....
My rototiller failed but for $150 l bought a motor at Harbor Freight which actually bolts right in. It has everything but fuel, oil and the 4 bolts which attach it to the rototiller chassis. Also needs a couple of bolts to attach a guard for the pulley mechanism. If this works correctly it will be a lot cheaper than $600 for an equivalent new one. I will try to get this done over the next few days although most of today will be at the oncology clinic for a chat with the Doc and chemo #2 in this series.
Be well and safe....
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
I know that and you know that, but would you trust J. Random Ebayer to do it without leaving feedback on how you sold him a lethal bike?
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brompton...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
I wonder what's special about a CHPT3 box? Extralight cardboard? Personally sellotaped by David Millar? Printed with ink made from the tears of unicorns?
I wonder what's special about a CHPT3 box? Extralight cardboard? Personally sellotaped by David Millar? Printed with ink made from the tears of unicorns?
Schwinnsta
Senior Member
- Location
- New Orleans, LA USA
I know that and you know that, but would you trust J. Random Ebayer to do it without leaving feedback on how you sold him a lethal bike?
Point taken. I would probably buy a box before using a bike box to ship a B. It would save on shipping.
I don't know about you all being in UK, but here in Turkey situation with supply chain is awful. Dealers say they no longer can order bikes to their requirements but just receive whatever Brompton sends their way and most of what they need is not sent at all.
Same goes for spare parts, at leat some of them. I asked for H stem quotation, it wasn't available anywhere in Turkey and two dealers in Istanbul were not able to quote me any timing on ordering new or even final price. One of them told me that I'll need to pay whatever it will cost upon arrival, agree? Nope, thanks.
I was thinking, if there is a Brompton in Turkey with broken H stem which requires replacement, what owner is supposed to do? Handlebar stems are not sold on the internet at all. I suppose there is a reason for all this and I would expect it from no name Chinese brand with majority of aftermarket parts on the bike, not from Brompton with majority custom made parts, specifically considering Brompton is famous for supporting all of it's models and constant availability of all spare parts. At least that's the impression I had from Brompton reviews which influenced me partly into decision to buy one.
Same goes for spare parts, at leat some of them. I asked for H stem quotation, it wasn't available anywhere in Turkey and two dealers in Istanbul were not able to quote me any timing on ordering new or even final price. One of them told me that I'll need to pay whatever it will cost upon arrival, agree? Nope, thanks.
I was thinking, if there is a Brompton in Turkey with broken H stem which requires replacement, what owner is supposed to do? Handlebar stems are not sold on the internet at all. I suppose there is a reason for all this and I would expect it from no name Chinese brand with majority of aftermarket parts on the bike, not from Brompton with majority custom made parts, specifically considering Brompton is famous for supporting all of it's models and constant availability of all spare parts. At least that's the impression I had from Brompton reviews which influenced me partly into decision to buy one.
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rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Brilliant Bikes list one and unhelpfully say it's not available (as with much of their Brompton stock!). They also say they are only available for crash replacement purposes. It's not a very customer-friendly approach.
berlinonaut
Veteran
- Location
- Berlin Germany
There's a lot of aspects coming together at the moment.
1. Since a couple of years Brompton transforms to a more modern company. They announced a massive growth plan back in about 2016 when moving to the new factory and even a couple of years before they started to change their image bit by bit to more of an emotional fashion item and less of the rational engineer's product that they used to be. Necessary for the planned growth to reach a broader audience but with consequences for the attitude and the priorities of the company.
2. During this process they also focussed more on efficiency and profits. One visible consequence is the delisting of spare parts specific for older bikes like the 15t sprocket for the Sachs/SRAM hubs. A shame, if you ask me - it renders a perfectly working bike (or at least it's rear wheel) useless only a bit more than 10 years after production because a 3€ part is no longer available. There are way more examples of specific pars no longer avail, however, due to the backwards compatibility you can typically upgrade an older bike with newer components though this is often more expensive than necessary. The other visible bit of that strategy is the elimination of variability: Just one rear damper for all instead of a hard and a soft one. Identical brakes front and rear instead of different ones. Again, there are more examples. This limit the necessary inventory, rises efficiency and profits but has in itself typically no negative impact on the users.
3. Already a couple of years ago Brompton stopped the free sale of frame parts in the UK - they were only available to be fitted at a dealer's workshop, not for fitting yourself. This seems still to be limited mainly to the UK but with Brompton taking over the distribution from local distributers in the various countries and regions more and more it is possible that it will become the standard.
4. Brexit brought challenges in terms of getting sufficient amounts of parts from the suppliers all over the world. To cover this foreseable risk Brompton built up extra stock as a Buffer.
5. Covid brought a massive rise in demand, so Brompton used this extra stock to serve the additional demand in the first hand instead of keeping it as a buffer. Consequence: Brexit and Covid based issues in the supply chain aggregated and Brompton is low on parts stock. This is i.e. probably the reason why the bikes in their online shop are fitted with Brooks C17 saddles instead of the usual Brompton saddles.
6. To make things worse, Brompton implemented a new ERP-system, a project running already for a while. Foreseeable (and no surprise for anyone that has ever been affected by such a project) this led to a lot of hickups including a lot of dealers not being able to order bikes or parts due to not being experienced with the new system plus the system not working properly anyway. A bit of a chaotic situation.
7. In several parts of the world Brompton took over distribution themselves from the local importers, i.e. in the DACH region in December 2020 from the importer for 30 years. As a consequence they needed to build up new trust to the dealers, new processes and new structures from stratch. Which probably will have fired back to the factory partly as well.
8. Due to the masssive rise in demand plus the Covid caused chaotic lockdowns all over the world Brompton needed to reinvent distribution and sales: There was way more demand than they could cover and at the same time shops were forced to close more or less randomly. So they fast forwarded their online sales and things like pick and collect. Again, this will have had effects in the factory. Also they would have to make tough decisions which demand to fulfill and which to deny in terms of dealers or countries.
9. The massive short-term scale-up in production to more than 100.000 bikes a year needed more people, more materials and gave load on all processes. Probably did not run totally smoothly and produced quality issues, unrealiability and unhappyness.
This all aggregated is a bit of a mess. Partly home-grown, partly externally caused, partly bad luck. All put together a tough job to fix and clearly not a stituation where customers can be happy with ease. We'll have to see what the situation looks like in a year or two.
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
Berlinonaut, I have it on good authority that any 3-lug sprocket will work on the Sachs 6-speed. The cutaway teeth aren't vital and only serve to speed up shifting slightly. Or you could modify a sprocket with a grinder or file, if you want to. It's not Hyperglide-level tooth shaping.
All valid points @berlinonaut
I hope they can put things back in order soon. Even though I admire and recognize the engineering they put into their products it's by no means a high tech one. Which means can be easily reproduced with equal or close to equal quality by Chinese manufacturers. And based on what we've seen in smartphone market, they can take over the market pretty quick as they know what they are doing. I have nothing against Chinese products but would also want to see old brands like Brompton to compete as well.
While all what you mentioned is understandable, though unfortunate, Brompton isn't Rolex after all.
I don't think people will put up with long delays and lack of parts for very long. Again, I hope they will recover soon as I love mine and hope they will keep supporting their products for decades to come.
I hope they can put things back in order soon. Even though I admire and recognize the engineering they put into their products it's by no means a high tech one. Which means can be easily reproduced with equal or close to equal quality by Chinese manufacturers. And based on what we've seen in smartphone market, they can take over the market pretty quick as they know what they are doing. I have nothing against Chinese products but would also want to see old brands like Brompton to compete as well.
While all what you mentioned is understandable, though unfortunate, Brompton isn't Rolex after all.
I don't think people will put up with long delays and lack of parts for very long. Again, I hope they will recover soon as I love mine and hope they will keep supporting their products for decades to come.
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