I have upset many Brompton fans by stating that the Brompton R&D department consists of one guy with a box of paints.
Not really. You've only made clear that you don't know the company and it's marketing strategy, have no respect for other people and it is as useless as impossible to seriously discuss with you about that.
This bike looks like a rip off of the Brompton Explorer. The Brompton Explorer was a big disapointment to those who explore on Bromptons. It was Brompton painted green.
Interesting. The Explorer Special Edition has probably the one that was best perceived (outside of this forum of course), apart from the CHPT3. With it the whole speculation with special editions started. On
ebay there's currently one on offer:
So obviously Brompton has hit the taste of a lot of people. Just not your's.
Possibly Brompton said: "Hmm, the explore edition sold pretty nicely - maybe we should create another one that points in the same direction!" And so they did. And probably it will be a success.
In opposite your advice would have been: "Hmm, the Explore edition sold pretty nicely. We should at all cost avoid creating something similar again. It is unacceptable that our bikes sell so well. Let's make something different, as ugly and as unattractive as possible. It must not sell, that's our main goal." Does not sound like a good business strategy to me...
Almost every "Special" Brompton produce is just a different colour. A different colour is not "Special".
Oh, really? Is this written in a norm somewhere? Or just something that you claim with no other foundation than your opinion? We have had this discussion countless times, with every special edition hitting the market.
Fact is: The first special edition was the Royal Wedding in about 2012. This and the ones of the following couple of years were only a couple of 100 bikes each and did not sell very quickly. At some point around 2016 this changed and since then every special edition sells out very quickly. The special editions are targeted at the Asian market to create awareness for the brand by piggybacking on the name of the partner (if there is one) of each special edition. And vice versa. This is marketing - if you do not get that or cannot accept that: your problem.
The idea of the special edition is not and has never been technical innovation. If you expect that: Again your problem. Sorry that the world does not behave like you demand it does.
But even for you the special editions seem to work: If you don't like them you could simply ignore them. But instead, every time a new one hits the market you shout out how shitty they are - a pretty emotional and childish reaction. So even you talk about Brompton, triggered by the special edition. Marketing goal successfully reached.
Even better: You complain about the special editions only being a paint job - and at the same time hit the shop saying: "I like this paint job! Take all my money and give me one." Only to start complaining again literally minutes later.
What is it about this forum that makes people so angry about Brompton? In every forum worldwide those special editions get well perceived or ignored. People say things like "I like this one" or "Not my taste - I liked the last one better." Done. It's just in this forum that foreseeably a herd of grumpy middle aged men aggressively attack the whole company, repeating the identical tirades, whenever a special edition appears in complete ignorance of what they are, how successful the are and what their purpose is. showing sheer hate towards the company. This is as strange as ridiculous.
