the super brompton
 

Dear All,

i though that this information might be worth sharing regarding len rubins (fantastic IMO) folding bike development. i would be intrested to here your thoughts.

below is an email from len busines partner sent to me.

also attached is the history of its development.

Thank you for your interest in the Ultimate Folding Bicycle. We are gearing up to launch our new website at http://www.ufbusa.com (also http://www.ultimatefoldingbicycle.com and http://www.ultimatefoldingbike.com). In the coming weeks the new site will have products to upgrade and lighten your Brompton as well as some of our other top picks for living a car-free/"car-light" lifestyle. When the UFB (our latest all titanium model) finally gets in to production (possibly within the next 3 to 6 months) it will also be available there for purchase. In the meantime the site will offer you the option to reserve a place on our waiting list and/or put a deposit down on your future UFB.... all this is coming very, very soon! We expect the UFB will be available at a price in the $10,000-$12,000 range, depending on final components/ manufacturing costs - and we'll be producing a limited run of 100 completely hand-built bicycles to start.

In the meantime we wanted you to know that we are selling one bike that includes many of the original early components of Len's first SuperBrompton prototype. (It is a 7-day auction that will start tomorrow (Saturday, May 16th) and the starting bid is just $1500!) When Len originally sold these (steel) bikes they were in the $6,000 range for a complete bike (he also offered limited upgrade packages to existing Bromptons, starting at $3500).

A full description of this bike and the project's colorful evolution (as well as some information about the yet-to-launch UFB) can be found in the attached PDF.

If you are interested in buying this last available SuperBrompton for sale - this piece of history can be found in my eBay store at: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/tamararubin

This is a link to the auction & history text, and if you know anyone else who might be interested in the history (or the auction) pass it along...

Thanks for your inquiries, your support and your interest in the UFB.

it is much to far out of my price range but i bike is for life not just xmas

If I was to sell my car I would get not even get 1/10th of that ticket price.
With the 6 speed S6E-X titanium Brompton at around £1100 / $1650 and 21.8lbs vs 20lbs that's a cost of something in the order of £2600 / $4000 per pound saved :eek:

>EDIT: okay I see the target of the production bikes is 16.5lbs - sounds like just the job to win the BWC on.

Wait. A Brompton wannabe that costs more than a Brompton? :eek:

I'd say less 'Brompton wannabe', more 'what Brompton should be'. Have a look at the current version of the site and you'll see what I mean....http://www.ultimatefoldingbike.com . Yes, it's mega-expensive, but it does pretty much live up to the name, and after everything the Rubin family have been through, I can only wish them success, they deserve it.

Yes, I checked out the very scarce website. If I decide to get a Brompton, I'll go for the real thing. Thanks.

What do you mean by that?

Kam

Read the PDF and you'll see for yourself...it's no wonder they've taken so long to get this far.

I too checked the website and I decided that I like the original better.

Please, help me understand here something. Twelve thousand USD for a Brompton want to be? And people believe this non-sense? Wait a minute, wait a minute, this is a oax, right? These are for sure a bunch of guys joking with us, right ?

While I don't know all the detailed history of this UFB, it is not a brommie wannabe... it is meant to be quite a big improvement. Check out the reduced weight, the widened rear dropouts to accept a road cassette, a derailer hanger, cable guides & stops, a front derailer, v-brakes etc etc. Not a brommie wannabe, but what the brommie should have been all along.

So what we are seeing here, is a very very good folding bike in-the-making, with the brommie as the starting point, instead of the destination.

+1. definitely the brompton is the starting point and this UFB is the end result of that. i read the email len wrote and this guy is quite amazing. in spite of what they had gone thru he still has his folding bike passion. he's a true folder guy. if i have the money i would definitely buy his bike instead of forking out and sending my money to england. that cost is really right on and the bike itself justify it's cost. if you're in awe with the brompton, you'll be speechless when you see his bike (i didn't - i just read the specs).

thanks,
vic

Thanks jur and vmanqui. I know in this day and age people are sceptical, but the Rubins and their bikes are a far cry from umpteen knock-offs and frauds. To compare a UFB with those is ridiculous. I can appreciate many aspects of the Brompton design, but the UFB is the bike they should be building in many respects. They do have a good relationship with Brompton going back many years- talked about the UFB with Brompton MD Will Butler-Adams at the Smithfield Nocturne last year, he had nothing but praise and respect for it and Len.
And yes, it's a tiny operation- so was Andrew Ritchie's when he started....

I saw Len's Ti Rohloff UFB in England a few years ago. A thing of beauty and an object of desire but out of my price range for a while yet.

i posted this a three days later 350 view, wow

" +1. definitely the brompton is the starting point and this UFB is the end result of that."

+1

only problem is if the bikes perfect, no more modification. dam!! :)

Cost wise folding bikes is a niche market and thus small market thus supply and demand dictates high costs.

but friends, am i the only one who thinks I could make one just as good as that if not better?

people are willing to spend such an amount on a bike are truly looking for perfection but remember there is no such thing, and only something which suits YOU

i agree with you thatsut 100%. this will be a bigger problem for me as i love tinkering and upgrading stuff. if this is really perfect then it will be quite hard for us.....what will we do then if we can't upgrade or fix things (hmmmm quite a dilemna for us - he, he, he)...

thanks,
vic

I'm sure the UFB is a fabulous bike and I'm in awe of the effort that must have gone into creating it, but i justI doubt there is any real market for a $14k bike that looks to the casual eye the same as the $1k bike it is derrived from . If you have that kind of money to spend you want people to know you have that kind of money to spend, which may sound crass but it is experience that holds true in the automotive world. Now if I had $14K to spend on a bike it would have to go on a top end Moulton, instantly recognisable, unique looks and world class performance.

Just remember, the UFB is not the modded Brompton of the ebay sale. The UFB also has a on-the-fly adjustable stem (and ti frame?). So it's only superficially similar.

Not that I have the dough to drop on such a bike.

Yep, the UFB uses the Brompton fold, but other than that it's not the same bike at all. That said, it's way, way, way out of my price range. Hell, I had a hard time convincing myself to buy a used Tikit.

--sam

You have said it all and you couldn't be more right. :thumb:

Yes, but why not have world class performance AND the smallest fold available on any bike. I think that's the goal here.

--sam

Does anyone know if Len is actually producing these Ultimate Bromptons? He's been at it for years and from reading the history I can see why.

To quote the PDF: "I even made a few titanium carrier frames to replace the obscenely heavy steel ones that Brompton produced for their nifty quick-release cargo bag system. These were a big hit among the Brompton dealers and several riders I met with on one trip to England". I have one of these in case anyone is interested in a trade (I'm moving to an S-type Brompton with smaller luggage).

Shame these bikes are so expensive....
Wonder how the prices would be, and how they'd fair in the market if the frames were aluminum, and not Ti.
droooool...

Because the end product costs almost as much as a Toyota Yaris.

And as far as I can tell, you only wind up whacking 5-6 pounds off of a Brompton S2L-X, which is 1/10 the cost of this bike.

Good luck getting a loan for your "UFB." ;)

I never said I was buying one... just pointing out the design goal.

You're right, it costs an arm, a leg and a left nut, but you are paying for the Ultimate Folding Bike... You're not paying for the 5 to 6 pound heavier Kinda Cool Folding Bike. I mean... this is the zenith, the ultimate.

Excelsior!
--sam

I think that this is the right idea. Aluminum frame with forks and rear triangles made from something other than hi-ten steel would be relatively light -- see the modified Merc by LP -- and not nearly as daunting as a $10K tab for the titanium version.

Regardless, if someone is looking for the Ultimate in portability, ride, and the ergonomics are right, then who am I to say what is worthwhile?