Cool fact: it's in a motoring section! Guardian is very green and pc.

https://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...ng-bike-review

(it's mostly about the Dahon/Tern rift. The meat of the review? "I hope so, because I had a grand old time riding around on it, up hill, over cobbles and even in the snow.")

The comments below the article are just as interesting. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for posting.

But that wasn't much of a review...

The comments were much more interesting.

That's the bike I want to get. I tested the C7 out at REI a few days ago and really liked it. I went back to check it out again the other day and someone had already bought it.

I read the comments too. Can't believe the guy that said he'd had 3 bromptons stolen in 10 yrs. I wouldn't have bought the 2nd after having the 1st stolen considering how much they cost. And the guy that said the brompton is the only folder worth considering...Well, not all of us are rich. If I were rich then of course I'd get a brompton or a mezzo. Tern and Dahons might not be the best folders but they are the best that I can afford right now. As it is, it would take me 2 months to pay off the Tern D8. I've no desire to spend 6 months to a year paying off something more expensive.

I would not worry about more expensive bikes I cannot afford. A less expensive bike can make you just as happy and even more. The only thing that counts is wether you you use it or is it just stowed away somewhere. My wife loves her Nova and would not swap it for any Brompton.

REI has great customer service and if you will not be happy with the bike, will take it back for full refund (check with them though, just to be sure).

Joanie, you must stop reading the Guardian, dear, you'll get spots.

I've got a Mezzo, had a Brompton and while they are good, the bottom of the range Dahons & Oyamas I owned were as much fun, rolled slightly better, were half the price and didn't shake my eyeballs out. Price does not always equal pleasure, as the one-legged archbishop said to the folding bike dealer.

"I left it in my back yard and it went rusty."

Oh God, NO!!!!! Not RUST! Noooo!

Trubble with Guardian writers is that they think the laws of physics don't apply to them. :-) I was astonished to see both 'stainless' steel brake cables on my MTB rust into the 'stainless' brake noodles at the weekend, depriving me of brakes and instead, substituting an unwanted tree/Snafu interface.

Noodles aren't cheap, y'know. I remember when you could get.....

Edit:
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Also from the Guardrain: 'Great British Design Favourites'

Includes the toenail clipper, the Spork, and Venereal Disease: Oh, and the Brompton. Post-rationalise this:

"The Brompton bike perfectly balances beauty and functionality. It's breathtaking to fold and it has a handsome line. I love it. It's immensely stable and flexible and robust and simple – there are no extra little design tweaks. It works. I use it every day.
You have to have a philosophy when you design. The enemy is a lack of consistency. Britain has a particular engineering style, and when I post-rationalise my work I place it in this industrial tradition. My design process begins in a team: you need to talk, to meet, to exchange ideas. All creativity comes from cities, and London, today, is an especially creative place. In my youth, Britain was blind to art and design. Now there's been a revolution, aided by Nicholas Serota and Charles Saatchi, and London has become the art centre of the world.
What is great design? Well, you can see a clear path from 6,000 year-old-Syrian tablets or stone tools to Apple's iPad: though the stone axe may have been made to kill an animal, and the iPad is consciously beautiful, both are tools for living. As is a building. Buildings have social, political and functional elements; elements that you see continued over thousands of years. The worst designs are pretentious: ones that are decorative and ornate but don't fit the performance. When a lack of functionality and lack of content come together, that's when you get something you really don't want."

The rust comment was silly, You leave any folding bike out there to the elements, be it a brompton bike friday or birdy and certain parts will start rusting on you also. I read the thing..... so where was the review for the bike? Even my strida has tiny bits of rust around the bolt holes (stainless steel parts I think, on a alumnium frame) cause I work on my bike from time to time with steel tools and I like hosing down the drive train and wheels to keep it clean.

The comments are funny too, seems like they are just fanboy's from one extreme to the other.

Well, I'm not worried about rust since I plan on storing my bike inside in a closet rather than leaving it out to the elements like a dolt. Thought that was the whole pt. of a folder...to fold it up and take it in with you.

Quite right. A Brompton is the only worth while folder for a person who feels the only worth while folder to get is a Brompton!!

simple.

I am very glad that Tern is coming on the market with full line up of bikes, even though I may never own one. Competition will drive innovation further. And lets face it the Brompton designs need to be driven further, they are not incorporating the latest technology in gearing or styling etc.. its a stagnant design. Bike Friday, Dahon and now Tern have models that cost less than a Brompton that are are lighter, faster, quicker to fold, and are constantly releasing innovative new designs and products (how exciting for us). Their top of the range models match Bromptons claim of "superior" quality.

The Brompton design may be changing very little but it can't be called stagnant when they are probably the only folding bike manufacturer with a 2 month waiting list. You might call it dead on target. For example at the main Melbourne folding bike shop, you can currently get any Birdy for almost a 50% discount compared to the prices when they were first released; but for any Brompton, sorry sir, get in the 2 month queue.