Will Self on Bromptons

[Chris N]

Article from the Independent last weekend.

[andygates]

Bike-on-bike action! That's what we foldaway perverts really go for.

Quality stuff.

[clarion]

Gadget-boy!

Funnily enough, the only time I've ever seen Will Self in person, I was actually looking at his Brompton, and hadn't clocked who the tall owner was

[Ian H]

I've forwarded it to my Brompton-owning other half.

I don't know exactly what his eureka moment consisted of, but it must've hinged on the double-jointed fold of the bicycle.

Proof that bicycles and wit do co-exist.

[Wowbagger]

Very amusing and well-written.

I'm almost tempted to go out and spend a grand or more on a Ti-infested Brommie.

[rogerzilla]

Did anyone else wince at "braised", though?  Probably the result of an over-zealous and ill-informed spell checker.

[Wowbagger]

Did anyone else wince at "braised", though?  Probably the result of an over-zealous and ill-informed spell checker.

Yes, I saw that and thought "I'm sure that's wrong, must check it", but by the time I got to the end of the article I had forgotten. Shome mishteak, shurely?

[Thor]

Did anyone else wince at "braised", though?  Probably the result of an over-zealous and ill-informed spell checker.

Did anyone else wince at "Robin Reliant"?  Twice!

[Ian H]

Did anyone else wince at "braised", though?  Probably the result of an over-zealous and ill-informed spell checker.

Writers are not always renowned spellers. Amis Snr, for example needed much correcting.

[Wowbagger]

Did anyone else wince at "braised", though?  Probably the result of an over-zealous and ill-informed spell checker.

Did anyone else wince at "Robin Reliant"?  Twice!

I thought that was rather endearing - something he had heard of but with which he was not so familiar that he got the expression right, surely to be encouraged where motor cars are concerned? There's an expression I habitually get wrong - I've forgotten for the moment what it is, but a similar misplacement of words - but my family find it incredibly irritating.

[LEE]

OK, I love Will Self even more than I did before.

This article, combined with riding Rogerzilla's Brommy, has not done anything to curb my urge to own a Brommy.

Edit.  I think we should stop concentrating on his lack of engineering skills and car-brand knowledge and enjoy an article about someone really enjoying cycling instead _{(or we risk identifying ourselves as sort of men who drove Robin Reliants and carried Thermos flasks and Tupperware boxes of cheese sandwiches cleave to).}

[rogerzilla]

Even if it had a flat rear tyre the first time you took it round the block 

[LEE]

Even if it had a flat rear tyre the first time you took it round the block 

I'd heard they had quirky handling and assumed that rear end slides  on every corner may be part of it.

[Sigurd Mudtracker]

Real connoisseurs drove Reliant Kittens 

My father kept suggesting I should get one as my first car as it would "last forever".  But where are they now?

I ended up getting a Fiat 126.  Now that was fun.

Before I go totally OT, I do have a Brompton... it's lasted a lot longer than the Fiat (and probably done more miles too).

[Sergeant Pluck]

Great article, ta for the link 

a kind of lusty covetousness

So that's what I've been feeling downstairs in Condor... 

Going to say that again: "Lusty covetousness". 

[andygates]

Spot on phrasing from the man him Self.