My new Ti Brompton arrived review inside

[Tazman]

After waiting a few weeks my Titanium Brompton arrived. I bought a P6R-X. It is the 6 speed and has front and rear racks. It also has the SON hub dyno. It has the high pressure Brompton tires with reflex lines. I ordered it with the 12% gearing reduction. It came with a Fizik saddle as well and I am sure I missed a few other bits. If you want to know the specs go to their website.

I have had the chance to put about 10 miles on it so far. I can tell this is going to be a love/hate relationship. Brakes are better for some reason than my last Brompton (M6R-Plus) but still not in the same class on the high-end Merc. These tires roll quite well but gone is the compliant ride of the M6R IF you air them up to max pressure. I am going to have to work to find the best compromise.

I didn’t really want the “P” bars which are sort of like a pretzel. However the S bars limit your bag choices and the Ti version of the M didn’t come with the SON dynamo so I rolled the dice and went with the P model. While the bars look like a German housewife’s model they do work better than I thought. The last time I tried them they felt too narrow but for some reason I like them better. Maybe more time spent on my last Brommie helped me adapt. For whatever reason they feel better now and they are great in city traffic to be more upright and you can drop down when you have a headwind or want to build some speed. Count me as a convert now but damn are the ugly; functional but ugly!

Absolute best part of the entire bike is the lovely SON dynamo. This is a museum class piece of equipment. Drag is imperceptible when off and barely noticeable when on when spinning by hand. It does slow they wheel but far less than a draggy brake. I will do some more testing tonight when it gets dark and see how it is then. Front headlight is not great but not terrible. It will be ditched in favor of an LED model. Rear taillight is nice but I need to figure out how to convert it into a standlight as they wanted a small fortune to upgrade this if you didn’t do it ala carte. It is nice and big though.

I have the folding titanium pedal. God I hate this thing. It can fold too far in and easily scratch the frame if you aren’t careful. The other pedal seems like a cheap piece of plastic off a $50 toy store bicycle. Only good thing I can say is my foot doesn’t want to slip off the metal folding pedal. This part of the bike was a major letdown for sure. I’ll be ditching these pedals and probably buying MKS ones or something else.

Over all fit and finish is pretty good. Decals were even and well applied. The titanium bits look nice and contrast pleasantly with the paint. The Fizik seat feels pretty nice. It doesn’t weigh much either. I’ll see how it is as I put some miles on it. I may swap it out for a suspended Brooks I have just for grins.

For some reason the bike doesn’t like to shift as well under load as either a Merc, Shimano Nexus or my last Brompton. I will see if this gets better with time. For now I REALLY have to let off the pedals to shift. At this point my Nexus equipped bike is FAR better than the SA. If I could find a way to get a Nexus hub on this bike I’d really love it.

Overall the bike is fun to ride. It is fairly fast and climbs well with the lower gearing. I made that mistake of not getting my M6 with the lower gearing. This bike is very nimble as you would expect with 16” wheels. I have spent a lot of time on a recumbent high racer and the Brompton’s steering response actually felt relaxed by comparison. Who would have thought a Brompton’s response is relaxed? I plan to put a cyclometer on it so once I get it setup I’ll have some hard performance data. The bike does run out pretty well though on top end. I could use a little more gear on the top for downhills but then I’d sacrifice too much on the uphills. The bike needs a wider gear range plain and simple.

That’s about all for now. I’ll post more impressions as I get a few more miles on it.

[14R]

Thank you for sharing. Now pictures!!

I honestly think that the TiBro is one of the most good looking folders in the market.

Congratulations

[Tazman]

I just had a chance for an extended evening ride. Darn winds didn't help with average speed for sure. I did get to spend enough time to sort out the aiming of the headlight and check its effectiveness. All I can say about the headlight is you sure don't want to be going fast with it on a road you don't know. It isn’t a whole lot of help.

On the plus side you do start getting light at about a walking pace or less. So even if you are pushing the bike slowly the front light is lit if not well illuminated. Around 3-4 mph it is definitely casting light. By 6-7 you can actually see bumps well at low speed. The taillight on the other hand is truly awesome! Yea baby!!! It also has a standlight too. Its not mentioned any where in the brochure that it has it so I am very happy with this little surprise.

Gear range still seems great for a city commuter and not too serious hills. I found myself at a pretty good clip tonight, to the point I had to switch on my auxiliary battery operated light to get enough light on the road. It is a 1 watt LED light and combining it with the factory light allowed me to cruise along in the high teens with enough light on the road to safely ride. I did get some wild stared from pedestrians though. The factory light is mounted just above the fender and it would be a great “fog light” due to its low position. I am going to have to sort out the lighting better though. A 2.4 watt halogen front light doesn’t give you much beam on the road. I do have some better plans in the works.

I’ll post pics when I have a chance to take them.

[folder fanatic]

I have the folding titanium pedal. God I hate this thing. It can fold too far in and easily scratch the frame if you aren’t careful. -Tazman

To protect both of my folders (Brompton and Dahon) from scratching it's own frame, other people's bikes, poking passengers on buses and trains, etc. I slip an clean old sock (hopefully without many holes) over the pedal, lever, latch, or any other protuding part even though I might be too lazy to slip my bag over the bike. Do this until you settle on another pedal to protect your investment.

[Tazman]

Thanks FF. Good idea. How can such an expensive pedal have such a crappy design? A Brompton if full of contradictions! Why didn't they limit the pedal travel?

[Tazman]

Continuing adventures with my Brompton make me realize this is going to be more of a love/hate relationship than I thought. I was riding today on my way to work I heard a strange grinding sound. I was about 7 miles from work and 7 from home so of course Murphy’s law decided to rear its ugly head or so I thought.

I pulled off to the side of the road to try and figure out for sure where it was coming from. I spun the front wheel hoping that there would be no issues with the SON dynamo (still love that baby) and thankfully no issues there. I pedaled the rear wheel and I heard like a grinding or rubbing sound. I thought maybe the SA rear hub grenaded or committed hari-kari on the last hill.

I shifted gears and it didn’t go away but it was apparently louder with speed. I looked at my tire closely and saw a grove in it. Something was wearing a grove in it from somewhere on the bike. I looked at the fender and saw the little mud flap’s screw was somehow rubbing inside the fender on the tire. As I was reaching in to see if it was secure the little nut promptly vanished into the weeds. I removed the flap since now it was sure to fall off without its fastener.

I spun the wheel again and the tire appears to be slightly out of round in a vertical plane. The rim seems to be ok but the tire definitely has an issue. Its vertical run-out has to be at least 5-10mm. I’ll have to see about getting a replacement tire and see if that is it. Sadly changing a rear time on a Brompton is neither fun nor quick. If you don’t already have a tube setup on the back rear chain stay you really should do it now. It will save a lot of time if you get a flat on the road.

While I was inspecting the rear tire I found another issue to my dismay. While looking at the rear of the fenders I noticed that one of my taillight wires was totally bare and exposed coming out of the light. To say I am highly disappointed would be an understatement! For the money this thing cost it should have much more attention to detail. Darn few things have changed on it so why can’t they get these little details right. My local Brompton dealer isn’t that local anyway.

Shifting still isn’t as good as a Nexus or even the Merc I rode. Rear brake is a total piece of crap. I am going to try a pad upgrade first to see if that helps but again at the price I paid for this thing I’d think it should be better. So far the best part on the British bike is the German SON hub dynamo!
Anyway I am trying to be patient and hope the gears will break-in and perform better. My Nexus hubs are so much better in feel that it isn’t even a fair comparison. Maybe it’s the crappy shifter that Brompton loves to use on their bikes. On the P bars I have fewer choices of mounting alternative options.

If this had been my first Brompton I’d have been really PO’d about some of these issues. To some extent I sort of expected it but the rear brake on this is really no better than the C models which are abysmal. I think waveshredder had the right idea with swapping everything out. For some silly reason I thought that just maybe they might have upgraded them to something better. At least the levers are better than the C’s but not as good as even low-end Shimano or Tektro. If they didn’t integrate everything I’d probably be more inclined to swap them out.

My riding impressions are still general positive. I definitely need to air the tires down a bit. The ride at max pressure can best be described as punishing at times on the roads here. It makes the rear shock feel almost non-existent. The tires are definitely fast today. Even with the lower gearing I can still clock over 20 mph on it with my hands in the dropped position on the bars.

As for the bars themselves I still like their functionality and hate their looks. Dang they are ugly and scream “old lady” to every passerby but they are faster than the sport bars. One drawback is there are no break lever near your hands and that almost was a major issue today when I car decided to whip out of a parking place right into my path. He got a nice dent in is door from my foot and fortunately I didn’t crash. I didn’t purposely kick his door it just happened that way.

Front brake is a little better than before now that is seating in. It would rate about a 5.5 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being great. It may get a pad upgrade too. I may upgrade cables too when I have a chance but for now I can live with it.
I think I can sum up the Brompton in one sentence. It is a practical but not a fun bike. It is more of an appliance to me. Not something I enjoy riding like a Swift or my recumbent. It is an appliance as much as a refrigerator or stove is. It is almost necessary for me every day and it works in situations that almost no other bike will except a Merc.

In all I don’t regret my purchase…yet. However based on this experience it will be a long time before I consider another one or would highly recommend it to anyone else. The quality control is less than overwhelming. If you can’t see exposed wires coming out of a taillight and then still mount it you have major issues! If you pay a premium for a product then you should get a premium product! At least my dealer is great to work with and I know they’ll get me taken care of but they really shouldn’t have to worry about this kind of stuff. It didn’t break, it was broken from the factory!!!!

[folder fanatic]

I was a bit cautious about purchasing a bike no one here has in my region. Plus my finances were somewhat limited when I decided to go ahead and try one out. When I test rode one-I had to travel 90 miles from my residence to do that-I could see alot of potential in these little bikes. I chose the C model since it is very basic and the upgrades/custom accessories I wanted were not offered by Brompton. I have had it now for 6 months and completed my first round of upgrades. Here's what I did in a nutshell:

Koolstop Brakepads
Brake levers tilted up at about 35 degree angle for easier reach and better stopping power
New traditional metal Sturmey-Archer handlebar mounted shifter
New sprung saddle little wider were needed
Small Catseye battery powered removeable front light and rear red blinking light
tune up performed by trusted bike shop

I did not decide to do a complete overhaul as Wavshrdr did right away due to financial concerns and I am not as handy as he is with mechanical things. The next round of improvements will not happen until the brake cables and tires need to be replaced. Then I will go for the following:

Complete replacement of the whole brake system (everything goes)
switch to Marathon puncture resistant tires
purchase luggage system-block, bare frame, and one bag
fenders/mudguards if needed

I myself will consider a "P" or a "M" type three speed when I decide to do another purchase. Because of my experience with the "C" and other's warnings such as yours, I know what to order and what to expect. Just remember to try not to overwhelm yourself with improvements. Let time and increase knowledge, plus using non Brompton parts whenever I can (some Brompton accessories are good like the luggage system and some are not and way overpriced-you could get something better elsewhere) and accessories as needed when you can will save you money and headaches with your bike.

[Tazman]

I had a few Bromptons before. I started with a C type and then bought an M. I thought they would have improved some of these things. Koolstops are definitely going on there ASAP. I called around and nobody has them in the size I need. They have the "street" but not the MTB ones. The shifter is as bad as they were before. My C had a Torpedo hub and its shifter was better and more positive. I have ordered a Sturmey Archer twistgrip like the Merc has and will try to find a way to mount it so as to be useful. I will take off the stock one, move the brake lever over and the hopefully be able to have the twistgrip next to the foam without any cutting or other mods. I'll post pics if I can get it to work out.

[spambait11]

Wav? Is that you? Or is this review déjà vu?

[Fear&Trembling]

Wav? Is that you? Or is this review déjà vu?

I too was thinking Wav had a bike forums doppelganger...Not necessarily a bad thing!

[spambait11]

Not a bad thing, no. Just eerie in a coincidental, parallel universe kind of way.

(Or maybe the Brompton does that to people?)

[Tazman]

I'll take that as a compliment. :)

I do think that you are correct in that Bromptons have an effect on you. I think the longer you spend time with anything or anybody the more you realistically assess them and their strengths and weaknesses. My eyes are not clouded by the newness of the purchasing experience. Sure it is new to me but I have had others like it so this is in many ways an incremental upgrade.

I guess you could consider it Brompton 2.1 instead of Brompton 3.0. It was a lot like my M model. Honestly I should have just stopped at the C model and as something broke replaced it with better parts. It is 85% as good as mine but definitely cheaper. Lack of fenders was a drag and never did get around to putting any on.

The Ti bits are lovely and I need to put in on a scale. I have the Ti seatpost too so that helps out a bit. Then I add a few ounces due to the SON dyno but the benefit is never having to worry about having charged batteries when riding it at night.

Quiet honestly I love bombing around on a Brompton at night in a city like Paris or Miami or any other city that has decent nightlife. It is fun to see all the people out and about. The Brompton is just an ideal mount for inside a city. It is small, nimble and geared almost perfectly. It is truly in its element and it shows. I would actually consider it fun.

I don’t think the bike is a great value unless you need the fold. Then again I can’t ever see myself being without one either. Living with one the last few years has shown me they are indispensable to me. I haven’t found a situation yet where I couldn’t take it with me. I have the Brompton B bag and the little bike cover and a inconspicuous duffle bag to transport it. They don’t change much so it is easy to find parts for them.

[folder fanatic]

I guess you could consider it Brompton 2.1 instead of Brompton 3.0. It was a lot like my M model. Honestly I should have just stopped at the C model and as something broke replaced it with better parts. It is 85% as good as mine but definitely cheaper. Lack of fenders was a drag and never did get around to putting any on.

When I originally purchased my "C" model, I felt "naked" without my fenders/mudguards. Both my other bikes have them. I decided to put off purchasing them since I knew I would be stuffing the bike into a bag most of the time for storage at home and travel to the destination. My other folder has 99% of it's dings on the fenders. I found that here in arid Southern California, I rarely needed them since I do not ride in the rain. If I went for the fenders, I would have went for the rear rack to better protect the fenders from damage in the parked or complete folded position. This would add alot of weight on a bike that I tote alot more than my other bikes without adding nothing of value or need to my riding experience. The savings was getting along without it.

Quiet honestly I love bombing around on a Brompton at night in a city like Paris or Miami or any other city that has decent nightlife. It is fun to see all the people out and about. The Brompton is just an ideal mount for inside a city. It is small, nimble and geared almost perfectly. It is truly in its element and it shows. I would actually consider it fun.

I don’t think the bike is a great value unless you need the fold. Then again I can’t ever see myself being without one either. Living with one the last few years has shown me they are indispensable to me. I haven’t found a situation yet where I couldn’t take it with me. I have the Brompton B bag and the little bike cover and a inconspicuous duffle bag to transport it. They don’t change much so it is easy to find parts for them. -Tazman


You summed up perfectly the true appeal and feature of all the Brompton models.

[cluelessgoon]

I bought the P6L-X and am delighted with it, having ridden about 500 miles on it now. The P bars do look a bit strange but you really come to appreciate them and miss them when you ride an M type (I have one of them too). I find the low position is really comfy on a long ride or uphill and feel justified now in deciding on them depsite agonising over their extra weight!

I bought the Titanium version through a bike-to-work scheme here, so the Ti was kind of 'free' due to the discount. My feeling was that I wanted the absolute best Brompton I could get, becuase as FF noted, once you get used to having a Brompton it is impossible to imagine life without one. Making that easier for me was an easy decision. It also meant that I wouldn't be tempted to upgrade later, whick I knew I would...

As a speed demon I opted for the 8% gear upgrade, which has been erroded a little by my fitting of the Stelvios I usually run. I also find that the bike is a terrible climber and am thinking of fitting a small chainring which I can manually shift down if I need to. I also have the problem of running out of gears at the top end of the range (Dual Drive needed...:rolleyes:), so I was contemplating fitting one Stelvio on the front and one Marathon on the rear, just for the extra few percent!

As a Brompton owner I find myself looking around at things like the segway and just shaking my head. The future of short trip personal transport as far I can see is already here.:)

[buffaloboro]

I enjoyed reading your review . Disappointed to read that they haven't improved the brakes since I last owned one. I really want this company to suceed as they are one of the last that actually make their frames in Europe/USA & therefore provide jobs.

[Avatar]

Would a Brompton be any cheaper if let's say I went on a vacation to the UK and picked one up back to the US?

[ObinrinDidun]

I am a new owner of a Brommie M6R Plus, and I am glad to see your review.

I like the way my bike rides. No silly sounds, and stuff. But I hate the way the gears work. I don't have much problems with the brakes, as I try to break early. But if I needed to break really fast and hard, I may be in trouble.

Where are all the Brompton owners from? I'm from NYC, and I have yet to see one in my commute.

[Avatar]

ObinrinDidun: They're out there. You'll see one eventually, maybe one with me on it soon. :)