Originally Posted by avole

So - let us begin. I was on the first day of the tour, using the clone. Done all the right things, checked route, booked hotels, gone over the route many times, bought the water and so on. Anyway the Not my fault, it was a google error, fancy sending me up an unmade load, not to mention the - well, I anticipate.

The lorry had passed me earlier, careering along with an almost French elan. Around a corner, left turn, sea one side, nicely made road curling along the hills of the National Park, idyllic. But then, the unexpected. A nice sign , and another below written in English, explaining the road was blocked by a land fall 30 m further on. You could qubble, pāergaps about the distance - see later, but within 100cm os so it was probably correct. Whipped out the phone, fired up Google Maps, saw a road a little further on which seemed a good alternative, although it did seem to climb a little. Here I must point out that Google Maps are good, but that some indications of contours particularly in areas without many roads tend to be either missing or problematic. So, I continued. Then the road turned into a earth track. It began to climb and, as anticipated became more rutted as it did. That is often the case in areas like these, what with the runoff and rains themselves, and it was the *** end of the monsoon season. The road continued climbing, and so did I, after dismounting and strapping the baggage to my back, continued. Small wheels and dirt, rutted tracks do not go together,and I'd already had my fill of Bromptonesque punctures on the trip to to Angkor Wat. By the way, anyone who does not do that trip is as silly as those not visiting the war remnants museum in HCM, stunnng.

Anyway I turned a corner and saw the lorry which had evidently had tried to make a steep 45° bend and failed. Difficult choice since on one side there was a 2-300m drop, and on the other a sheer cliff face of he same proportions. n Thailand at midday. The lorry began to move upwards, so I followed it, then had to slip back so did I, clutching the bike to me. I'd chosen the drop side, and in a ghastly 3D slow motion Indiana Jones parody those rear wheels were closing in on me. I stepped back as far as possible, then the lorry went forward, wheels biting on some rocks on the road. I had room to pass now,so I did, tight, but that's what the lorry had been intending, He smiled and waved as I went past the cab. Never saw him or the lorry again, but vowed to find the first person I could, or network signal, as priority one. Didn't have to, as, a kilometre on, a white van appeared, I tried to stop it to indicate there was a stuck lorry stuck but he nodded, and pointed to the words on the driver door. In Thai, so no idea of what it meant, but I guessed this was the local rescue van.

As it was, the only tricky part was the 10 - 20m part when I was carrying bike and luggage So, here's the point of the comparison - the Brompton plus luggage weighs in at 23 kg, while the clone weighs in at 21 kg, a difference of 2 kg. That difference might have pulled a lesser person over the edge. As my friends on the touring thread would point out, this was just the thing that could have provoked a catastrophe. Well, it didn't, bearing in mind the my original route was some 30km shorter, and a lot quicker since it was mostly flat. Do I have proof of the incident? No. I thought about taking a picture several times, but decided against it.

Score 1 to the clone.

Weight
Brompton, 6 speed 13,2 kg
Neo, 3 speed. 11,1kg