What do you think of Brompton today

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I just nearly put my '98 Brompton up for sale.  Then after cleaning it I went for a spin and decided I just couldn't do it.  It's in concours condition as I had another which I used most and sold a while back.  Hopefully I will be finding it useful when the virus is less of an issue.

I wouldn't attempt to buy one though.

[JBunyon]

Distant connections  recall me to follow the Brompton dealership and fellows in Melbounre,Victoria. My wife and I follow their cycling down there. My understanding is that they have had no Bromptons to purchase for some 7 months. Most recently they were advertising some raffle where you could compete to get into a queue that waits to purchase a Brompton there! Meanwhile,they promote Brompton bags,tyres and wotnot. Cant recall if it was them,but some Brompton sellers were refusing to sell Bromptons to Indonesians who wanted to buy x6 at a time to resell them in Indonesia at a very marked up price.
Interesting.

[mzjo]

There are sellers in France (including here in Limoges!) who claim to have them in stock - not that I am going to go along to test the truth of the statement, I am not interested in buying one after having ridden my daughter's. But cheap Decathlon folders can't be had for love or money, not on line, not in the shops!

[cumaiseng]

I have similar thought about Brompton. First I bought a B75, and then bought and sold M3L, M6L, Raw Lacquer, and Black Lacquer. I think there's no significant difference between the models other than the paint job. In the end I kept the B75 and sold the others because it's cheaper and can do the job of every other higher-priced Brompton.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Saw three Bromptons on the floor of what is now the Trek store in Bristol last w/e. IIRC one pink, one bare metal lacquer, one black,

[rogerzilla]

I have similar thought about Brompton. First I bought a B75, and then bought and sold M3L, M6L, Raw Lacquer, and Black Lacquer. I think there's no significant difference between the models other than the paint job. In the end I kept the B75 and sold the others because it's cheaper and can do the job of every other higher-priced Brompton.

An S-type gives a much better riding experience if you like to go faster than pootle speeds.  If you're of average male height, there is a sensible drop to the bars.

[Goldcrank]

I have similar thought about Brompton. First I bought a B75, and then bought and sold M3L, M6L, Raw Lacquer, and Black Lacquer. I think there's no significant difference between the models other than the paint job. In the end I kept the B75 and sold the others because it's cheaper and can do the job of every other higher-priced Brompton.

An S-type gives a much better riding experience if you like to go faster than pootle speeds.  If you're of average male height, there is a sensible drop to the bars.

The S-type bar is half way between the tops and the drops of my road bike. Keep flexible and it's not too bad a position. Certainly better than the M for my style of riding.

[cumaiseng]

I have similar thought about Brompton. First I bought a B75, and then bought and sold M3L, M6L, Raw Lacquer, and Black Lacquer. I think there's no significant difference between the models other than the paint job. In the end I kept the B75 and sold the others because it's cheaper and can do the job of every other higher-priced Brompton.

An S-type gives a much better riding experience if you like to go faster than pootle speeds.  If you're of average male height, there is a sensible drop to the bars.

I installed drop bar on my B75 but my lower back hurts. Now I'm thinking of converting it back to M-handlebar.

[rogerzilla]

Drop bar?  How does it fold?

[Kim]

I have similar thought about Brompton. First I bought a B75, and then bought and sold M3L, M6L, Raw Lacquer, and Black Lacquer. I think there's no significant difference between the models other than the paint job. In the end I kept the B75 and sold the others because it's cheaper and can do the job of every other higher-priced Brompton.

An S-type gives a much better riding experience if you like to go faster than pootle speeds.  If you're of average male height, there is a sensible drop to the bars.

When I was going to buy my Brompton, this was the one thing I was completely unsure about.  I'd ridden an M-type before, but not the others.  LBS was obliging and let me test ride an M, S and for completeness P back to back for comparison.  I concluded that the M handled like a Brompton, the S handled like a bike, and the P handlebars were stupid unless you had small hands and short enough legs to keep your knees out of the way.

I bought the S.  And have since fitted a riser to bring the bars up by about 4cm, which makes it slightly easier on the wrists while preserving the handling.

[cumaiseng]

Drop bar?  How does it fold?

It folds nicely: https://www.reddit.com/r/Brompton/comments/jb3rxu/drop_bar_brompton/

[Kim]

Drop bar?  How does it fold?

It folds nicely: https://www.reddit.com/r/Brompton/comments/jb3rxu/drop_bar_brompton/

Clever   

[rogerzilla]

Dang...I need to do that!

[PaulM]

I'm no fan of Bromptons, not liking the handling, but it seems to me that they have beome more price competitive in recent years when you look at how much Terns and Birdys have gone up in price. It's odd that the bike industry big boys have not tried to muscle in on the folding market.

[Jurek]

I'm no fan of Bromptons, not liking the handling, but it seems to me that they have beome more price competitive in recent years when you look at how much Terns and Birdys have gone up in price. It's odd that the bike industry big boys have not tried to muscle in on the folding market.

That's a well reasoned comment.
Tooling costs putting them off when they know that they can churn out stuff which they know will sell -as opposed to competing in folding stuff

?

[TPMB12]

Birdys start at over £2000 for the original design but the current monocoque design.

Terns are not as compact but could be better. Not if you're tall though. Above 6'3" and despite tern claiming they're good to 6'5" tall they're not, that's from one of the biggest folding bike retailers and tern main stockists in the UK. I asked them and under their 30 day no quibble refund scheme they know they will get tern bikes back if the purchaser is tall. They only sell brompton bikes if your close to 6'3" or above. I'm in that taller bracket.

Airnimal you need to take the wheel off and it's got a larger fold size.

Bike Friday make good range of folders and their world traveller is a reasonable fold size and effectively custom built for the rider not making one size fit all. Costs £2500++. Great bikes though.

IIRC is the 3sixty bike out of Singapore I think that is a direct copy of Brompton fold. I think aluminium alloy frame but I might be mistaken in that. Cheaper than bromptons if you can get that 3sixty bike sent here of course.

Brompton comes up for sale  their site every week now for a few months. Not many and they sell quickly. Mostly electric and superlights but there's been plenty of m6r or M6L with battery or dynamo lighting. Mostly in black only but you get the odd reds too.

Near me there's one shop with a nice red in the window and more in stock apparently. A further away retailer, smaller shop with only one outlet,  had one a few weeks back too. They've been told by their  brompton rep they'd be able to place orders for only a few brompton bikes then nothing for some time. She was angry with the way brompton was dealing with small retailers even  though they actually sold quite a few annually for years.

For my multi modal commute I have very little choice. I can just about afford the £1300 or so but not £2700 for a Birdy or £3600 or so for a hummingbird. BTW if you would rather buy a hummingbird for commuting then I wonder how much weight if you were able to add in guards, means to carry luggage, lighting options, etc. Bromptons come with most of those in one model or another so I suspect it's not completely a fair comparison. However even stripped down Brompton sounds be a lot heavier than the hummingbird but probably more durable for commuting use. Is the hummingbird even meant as a commuter?

I really don't want to buy a brompton for it's many flaws but I suspect my impending move will mean I need a solution which it seems brompton is unfortunately the only option left to me.

BTW you can't say the s bar is the perfect option for everyone because it depends on your height. There's a good graph I've seen on a YouTube channel for touring with folders that plots a line for each bar type in a graph with inseam in the X axis and height above or below the level of the seat. You need to check that out if you're thinking of buying a brompton. For my size the s bar would be between 10 and 15cm below the seat. The m bar is 5cm below, which would be my preference. H bar is over 5cm higher.

The whole bike sector is a mess right now for many reasons. Some EU based retailers and bike brands don't even ship here after brexit. Shops are all low in stock. I think you just have to buy the bike you can get that will do what n you want not your ideal bike. That means different specs and colours you might not actually like. Bromptons you have to get what you can not what you want.

[SA_SA_SA_SA]

They should make a simpler lighter rear rack like the triangular-ish Q racks but extended to take a rear lamp unit...

(I was  disappointed when  Brompton updated the rear rack and yet left it largely unchanged...)

As the upthread link to a 406mm rim Brompton shows its fold as too big IMO, perhaps Brompton could just  increase frame clearances to allow a 50-349 tyre, for less effect on folded size.... and then commission one or allow one to appear... .

A lower cost steel SA 3 speed humming bird, with mudguards, front luggage block (and optional simple rear rack, for pathlesspedaled rucsac as camping luggage?) hub dynamo, might be a useful alternative to the Brompton for some?

[rogerzilla]

Brompton do seem to be (very slowly) improving the quality of some components.  The price is still going up out of all proportion to the improvements. 

Still crazy in this age of Di2 etc, that the 6-speed has one type of shift that likes you to stop pedalling when changing gear, while the other type of shift needs you to pedal.  You'd think they were rich enough now to commission Shimano to build a 115mm hub with more speeds.  I sense they avoid Shimano, though, and Sunrace SA would build something that didn't quite work.

[SA_SA_SA_SA]

Are they worried about Shimano dropping the hub from their range I wonder?

Can you not just ease off pedal pressure on Nig 3 speeds cf old nonNig AWs where you can? Plus I thought the derailleur was double sprung so that you could change gear and it would happen when you started pedalling?

I don't see why they can't fit V brakes albeit with shorter pads and the front with reversed arms, but if not why not dual pivots with symetrical pivots on each arm for even brake wear or just the TT brakes that look like  a cross between a V brake (noodle) and a side pull..?

NB I don't like the new front brakes modern allen key fitting: a nut and bolt is better for attaching useful stuff behind fork plus is backwards compatible...

[rogerzilla]

It's weird that some parts of the design are so brilliant (the hinges and the mudguards) but others are Heath Robinson (the derailleur spring arrangement, not exactly easy-clean) while some components are just horrible.  I think they may still be using plastic BBs that get stuck.

[rogerzilla]

Just found out that the extended seat post is now the default (don't call it the "standard", as the shortest one has that name).  About time - the standard post is too short for most UK men, and I bet many bought a new bike and had to immediately order another post!  I am very average height and I have the extended post pulled up to the stop, with the Pentaclip about halfway up the narrow section (lower for a Brooks, which has more overall height).

[grams]

Just found out that the extended seat post is now the default (don't call it the "standard", as the shortest one has that name).  About time - the standard post is too short for most UK men

It doesn’t fold as small with the extended post, so this is a downgrade.

But quite right that everything needs to be designed around median adult males.

[rogerzilla]

But quite right that everything needs to be designed around median adult males.

I suspect the original bike was designed around the median Andrew Ritchie.

[ian]

Finally, a bike designed for the ladies. Though they were out of pink ones when I bought mine. They should make them all pink.

I mostly ride it all the time I ride a bike now. Parts of it feel a bit Halfords and the brakes put the under in underachievers (more so for those of us who live up a 25% hill). I always wondered about the weird gears and why they didn't just put all six in one hub, I mean, it's not exactly a cheap bike, and it's the got the same hub as Raleigh Grifter from 1982.

They're also bloody heavy (also about the same as a Raleigh Grifter) for a bike main selling point is of which is portability. They do fold up small though and there seem to have been a few improvements since I bought mine. They might have even fixed the perpetually rattlesome rear mudguard.