Originally Posted by
RVD72
looks like nobody has chimed in who actually owns both bikes so it's just speculation.
so my speculation is that the real brompton is probably better (better QC resulting in less loose ends). for a major price savings, it might be worth the gamble but i'd rather pay around 50% more than a flamingo and find a used real brompton. as for paying double for a real one? if you can afford it, i'd go for the real one. if you can't afford it, i'd try out the flamingo since bike is better than no bike. but don't expect the quality of a real brompton. you might be pleasantly surprised but at least you won't have unrealistic expectations.
Obviously if money were no object I would just buy a brompton and then put a fancy expensive hub gear with some insane amount of gears but that's not the case. I'm sure the brompton is better in the long run. But the question is, is it $1000 better? And I do already own a folding bike so I wouldn't be getting the flamingo just for the sake of getting a folding bike. Maybe I'll just spend a little bit of money making my curve a "brompton slayer"
and just save up and buy a brompton when I can.