Hi Folks,
I’ve been looking for a folding bicycle for some time now to serve the following purposes:
#1 To be able to ride around my own city (presently Taichung, Taiwan) and to be able to quickly and easily go into shops, cafes and 7-11’s without having to lock up my bike. To be able to carry my folded-bike, quickly and easily and stealthily into the shop, with no difficulty carrying and no hassle from the staff that it might be too big.
#2 To be able to travel with my bike easily and use it in places that I travel to (Bangkok, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Vancouver, Toronto etc….) and put it on buses, trains and planes where possible.
#3 To be able to maintain the bike easily and with parts that I can buy locally and to be able to carry a minimum of replacement parts and tools when I travel.
#4 To feel like I am enjoying urban riding again. I own a Merida XC series mountain bike for mountain riding in Taiwan but I want to have a bike that will help me (excuse the corny-ness) to fall in love with bike riding again.
I currently live in Taichung, Taiwan where a good majority of bike manufacturers are located. (The Giant and Merida factories are just outside of the city)
For the past few months, I’ve seen that almost all of the bikes that might fill my requirements and that I have been considering are built and available in Taiwan. These include:
Birdy, Strida, Ori, Dahon (some are built here), KHS, Flamingo Bikes, Giant (Half-Way) ect……
While I have not yet tested out Ori and Birdy, I’ve checked out lots of Dahon’s, Strida’s KHS F-20 models and other bikes available here.
Nothing has really made me want to make a folding bike purchase.
That is, until I went into the Brompton dealer in Taipei.
Last weekend, I went up to Taipei to check out the one Brompton dealer there and, as it turned out, came on a pretty good day.
Will Butler-Adams (who is now the managing director of Brompton) was actually visiting the shop together with the a Taiwanese fellow named Allan who is connected with Sturmey Archer.
Will gave me a 15 minute treatise on the Brompton and showed me his own bike, which he brought all the way from London (having just been to Singapore). He spoke extremely passionately about the bike and talked about how he uses it in his daily life.
He rides an S-Type and gave me and my wife a chance to ride it.
The truth is, until you actually see a Brompton folded up, its hard to understand how small the package really is. Its small. Really small. Very much smaller and more compact than any other folded bike I had seen up to that point. Also, the ease of folding was like watching a magic show. Quick and practical.
My experience with riding the S-Type was a good one. The bike could turn on a dime and I was struck about how stretched-out the cockpit was.
The longest time I had ridden a folding bike for was a KHS F20 T2 (
http://www.khsbicycles.com.tw/html/product/f20-t2.htm )that I had ridden around a Taiwan university for a couple of hours. The cockpit on that bike was way too small for me (despite the fact that I’m only about 5, 7 feet tall)
The brompton seemed to have a longer cockpit and therefore was more comfortable.
After I tried the S-Type I checked out Allan’s M-Type. This bike seemed like a bit of a different animal. Much more upright and it felt like my old late 60’s Shwinn Suburban that I used to ride around when I was in university. I very much enjoyed the upright feeling but found the experience to be slightly more ‘twitchy’ than on the S-Type. Maybe takes some getting used to.
Anyway, my experience at the Brompton shop and talking with Will (it wasn’t until later that I actually realized who he was) and the rest of the staff in Taipei has all but convinced me to score myself a Brompton.
With this in mind, I have some questions about Brompton bikes that I’m hoping some good folks can answer.
#1 M-Type, S-Type, P-Type. I’m not totally sure which handle-bar configuration to get. What is the most popular configuration? What are the drawbacks / benefits of each? What would people consider the best all around model? Is the geometry of the M type and S type and P type bikes exactly the same? Are the stem lengths on each the same? If so, do people swap out different handle-bars as the need arises. If not, are you sort of locked in?
#2 Gears:
(Part A) This is a major question. I would like to have a bike that provides lots of options, however, after riding the S-Type 2 speed, I realized simplicity can be good too. Are the 2 and 3 speed Bromptons significantly lighter than the 6 speed? Do people generally wish they bought a 6 speed after initially getting a 2 or 3 speed? Is the 6 speed much better on hills.
(Part B) I have heard that Brompton is now making its own 6 speed hub that will be different from the previous models. These bikes should be available in February. Are they worth waiting for? Is this a major upgrade? How will it be different than the previous 6 speed?
#3 Titanium parts: They say you save a kilo. In total, its about 500 USD more. Realistically, will these titanium parts be worth it in the long run or should I (as they say in the movie: 13th Warrior) just grow stronger? Is this a big deal for people who carry their bike around a lot?
#4 Options:
Tires: What is the best all-around tire option? Is it common for people to swap out Brompton tires for some better 16 inch aftermarket variety?
Lights: I don’t understand the need for light dynamos and such? Why, in the age of LED lights, would I need to spend money on a Dynamo driven light. Am I missing something? It seems to me that these Dynamo lights just add a lot more weight.
Rear-Rack: I want the bike for traveling and I can imagine that I’ll use the bike for carrying some degree of baggage. However, after seeing the rear-rack on the bikes, it seems like it does add a fair amount of bulk to the over-all fold-factor. Seems like the rear-rack does provide some stability when folded. Also, it rolls easier. Do people feel that the rear-rack is an important option?
Easy Wheels. Seems like it’s a good idea to score a set of easy wheels to replace the casters on the bike. They are, however, about 50 bucks! Do people order these or create a different (off the shelf) option for themselves.
Saddle: It seems like the Brooks B-17 is considered a god-send my most cyclists. Should I believe the hype?
#5 Maintenance. I recently watched a video on YouTube that describes how to take off the rear hub-assembly to fix a blown tire. Holy Smokes! Very involved! Are Brompton’s built with user-maintenance in mind? Are they fairly maintenance-free? Is it easy to figure out how to do all the work myself? What is the size of the tool kit that most people have to carry around with them? I imagine that the tools need to be in imperial?
#6 Other options: Besides the bike cover, are there any other Brompton options that people regard as a good idea? Pump? Certain luggage bags?
Thanks in advance for any and all responses. I know that many, if not all of these issues have been covered somewhere and at some point before but I’m hoping for lots of fresh ideas.
Cheers.