Originally Posted by
srunbust
I can't argue about half-baked since mine is VERY early, serial number 136. I've only had it 2 years, and have not seriously checked out their new bikes, so I don't know how well they've evolved. Not even sure where a dealer is. My neighbors have two Tikits and are thrilled with them. They take them all over the place, including Europe.
My NWT was made to my measurements too. Its serial No is around 1800 so by then the model had to be well established. By now I have traveled with and ridden both NWT and Brompton extensively. Brompton is one size fits all.
Originally Posted by
srunbust
The Brompton is the only other serious folder I've ridden and I can not imagine putting mucho miles on it. I bought a $20 Dahon at a swap meet and it had the same feeling. It was an early one and barely rideable. Very unstable. The Brompton was, of course, much better than the Dahon, but they both felt too upright and cramped.
So are you saying you like the ride (not the design) of the Brompton better than the NWT? If so, I should try one that fits me.
My NWT didn't feel right with the drop bars, but when I put on a straight bar everything aligned perfectly for me. And I mean like it was made to my measurements. Probably fits me better than anything I own (a dozen or so). And this fit plus the 20" wheels makes it a gas to ride. Plus it's lighter than anything in my collection of vintage bikes.
I have flat bars on NWT. As far as riding is concerned, I don't like the squirrely steering in NWT - Brompton is much more stable with that respect. On steep hills riding NWT up or down can be scary, either because you think that you might flip back or the steering could get out of control. In other situations the riding of NWT can be fine. On Brompton, I think that the bouncing rhythm of suspension fits me well and this could be personal. NWT has far more gears but they don't work as they should in my memory. I utterly hate the folding and unfolding of NWT and even more so disassembling and reassembling in travel. There are other NWT quirks like stem not really fitting the headset, need to deflate front wheel to take it off, kickstand plate that detached itself from the frame due to rust that developed as a result of thoughtless design (if there was a design), lack of any foresight in deciding how a folded bike should be handled, etc. Brompton employs cheap materials at places, but then you realize that at those places there is actually no strong need to use better materials. It is a joy as far as folding, unfolding, packing and unpacking are concerned. My Dahons are clumsy (think water soaked wood) in riding, but they beat BF in folding.