Just surfing and I came across a Brompton lookalike for sale on Lazada in Thailand..costing about £300 ..Made or sold by the LA Bike company which is a nationwide franchise of Bike dealers..bit like Halfords..It is a great deal cheaper than the MIT V8 Brompton Clone which sells for about double that price in Thailand..

https://www.lazada.co.th/la-neo-stage...s-6746645.html

Looks like the Neobike, which was a joint venture with Brompton. All kinds of patent theft issues with Neo which resulted in convictions and multiple lawsuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neobike

I've seen the Neo at bike shows. It folds much wider than a Brompton and leaves the chain on the outside. I guess for the money it's awesome, but I would just save up for a used B.
https://www.thaimtb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=1435462

https://wholesaler.alibaba.com/produ...535550231.html

Here is one.

For the price it looks remarkable value..about £300 in Thailand..would have been about £240 before the fall of the pound against Thai Baht after Brexit..!!!

Big Difference is In QC, Precision, drops with Price ..


Some one posted here, a couple years ago, Hated their B clone.

That would be accuracy you should be referring to. A single forum post does not qualify as a statistic.
There are many factors that influence price such as materials, labor, shipping, use of off the shelf components etc...

Is the clone using the same materials?

Brompton doesn't use some exotic tubing ( Columbus / Deda / Reynolds / True Temper) like many boutique bike makes. Its just commercially available in bulk 4130 steel tubes as far as available nomenclature goes.

There is this lecture by James Randi discussing proving that reindeer cannot fly

Interesting. I thought Brompton frames were hi-ten steel.

Wait,... Brompton frames are 4130 cromo steel?

The more I think about it, the more I think maxxevv is wrong. But I haven't searched for a definitive answer.

the precision, adequate to have all the parts interchangeable was a difference between the Duzenberg and the Model T ford

Duzis had to be hand made and pieces each modified to fit, where the ford all parts fit all cars..


with the large amount of materials used A steel tube mill can get the cost per bike for 4130 down pretty low.

undoubtedly they buy articulated lorry loads of steel tube..

They were said to be hi-ten steel, with chro-moly forks when I had mine. But a lot of reviewers quote '4130 chromoly frame.'

This might be an old spec though:
EN10305-3 Grade form 370C Steel

On the other hand: "Every Brompton hand-brazed hi-tensile steel main frame is essentially identical:"

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/info/brompton/

Ready to fly to HK OR Singapore? shop and travel combined.

alibaba.com [as said in post4 ] is like the Asian.. Amazon, as I understand..

In the Wikipedia link in my first post in this thread, it states that Brompton frames are made of steel, but the frame material changed to aluminum for the Taiwanese copies.

Now you might not think this is a bad thing - after all, alu is lighter, right? What this doesn't take into account is the incredible precision that Bromptons are made with - they now have a computer-controlled brazing jig that all but reduces brazing errors to zero. Doubtful the Neobike has the same level of frame QC.

Everything else being equal, aluminum is not a bad material for a folder, but a folder being subjected to fairly harsh use - both riding and folding/unfolding - could induce fatigue stress in the Neobike frame quite easily. Think of a paper clip being bent back and forth a few times until it snaps. Want that to happen while you're riding your Neobike? I sure wouldn't. Doubtful it would give any advance warning.

We've already seen this happen to various other alu folders, typically on the frame welds around the main hinge. I'll stick with my steel M3L, thank you.

If you buy the bike, kindly write/post a review here. However, I hope it is not as per the brit saying "Penny wise, pound foolish." Good luck.

The generic definition of high-tensile steel:

high-tensile steel | Definition, meaning & more | Collins Dictionary

The generic material properties of 4130 steel: (note the ultimate tensile strength in PSI units)

ASM Material Data Sheet

If you don't want to spend truck loads of hard earned cash on a an over priced bike, then just consider this lighter weight alternative , mfrg from the latest in high tech materials with industry standard components. The world center of bicycle mfg, materials, design, and, is now in Asia (as with many other tech products). It would be my FIRST choice. Don't be blind to the phenomenon created by the promotion of democracy, free markets, standards and quality control.

The Euro centric view of this sub-forum is almost irrelevant considering the volume and quality of folding bikes from Asia. I love Britain (my mother still lives there), I want a B-bike, they are great. BUT I have an open mind.

It is... with the prices about 50% or less that of Amazon. And I wouldn't be surprised many of Amazon's products are sourced from there...

Bangkok, i think, has the best combination of bike selection and prices. Great food, friendly folk and Soi Cowboy are frosting on the cake.

Isn't Chedech Korean ?? Why get it from Singapore if you could get from Korea instead ?

https://chedech.com/?ckattempt=1

Latches instead of twiddly-knobs, adjustable handle post, almost horizontal rack. No front luggage mount, though.

That suggests that high-tensile steel is not necessarily 4130 but that 4130 qualifies as high-tensile steel with regards to that metric.

Getting back to the Brompton, my read is that it's high tensile steel and not 4130.