What's with all the Brompton posts lately? Are we being taken over by someone's marketing efforts.

How else can we explain a discussion being started asking us to suggest ways to hang a Brompton on the wall in the living room? It was my impression this Forum was about 'riding' your folder rather than 'folders as art'.

Is someone trying to position Brompton as the 'Swiss Army Knife' of modern life? Am I missing something here?

Lou

No need to be paranoid...
All Your Folds ARE Belong To Us!

It's okay, it's okay, I think we're still safe. When someone starts a thread asking how to mount a folding bike on a bike carrier, then I might start worrying.

I agree, there has been a lot of Brompton talk lately but since I don't have one or interest in them I just skip over them.
They seem to be great bike but are a little too old school for me.
I'd hang a Moulton as art though, different tastes I suppose.

well some bikes look good hangin off walls ......
others look better being used on the roads ....

ouch ....

Was thinking abut it myself the other day, lots of B threads lately. But of course I find it very natural...

Reading the lovely Bicycle blog also. Velouria has a new Brompton and is traveling with it just now.

the only folder you can buy here in town is a Brompton. I'm guessing that's true in a lot of places. Maybe that has something to do with it

If you are much over 6' tall and have a pedal to saddle measurement over 38" Brompton or Bike Friday are your only choices, at least in my case. The Brompton has the smallest fold in the industry that I am aware of. FWIW NO shops around me carry folders other than the occasional Giant Expressway. I have to travel several hundred miles to put my hands on any folders. Brompton has a strong following for a reason. I don't own one...yet.

Aaron

Bromptons are just plain cool! They are a big part of the reason that I got into this business. I admire them greatly.

At 39" 'seat to pedal' understand your comment - not sure how well that small steel frame would hold up under my 205 lbs riding weight bobbing around up there, though.

Guess the BIG marketing effort over the last couple of years is having it's effect. Smallest fold, yes, but big compromise on gearing to enable it, too.

Hey, Thor might be right.

Lou

At the shop where I bought my Brommie, I found these Terns:










Yummie Tern Verge X20 or something.


In comparison, this hot pink Brommie looks distinctly agricultural.


Finally, SWMBO on her way to work on a Moulton fitted with panniers.

My current smallest folder is a 1984 Dahon Classic III I push a bit past the marks on the seat posts to make it fit. I have ridden a Brompton and they are rock solid for my needs. I am 6'-2" with long arms and legs, I used to hit the scales around 230 but am down close to the 200 mark My Dahon barely works and I am gentle with it. My dream team would be a Brompton P6R -12% gearing with the dyno hub, second half of that team would be a fully tricked out Bike Friday NWT with an Alfine 11 hub and a Schlumph mountain drive. FWIW my daily rider for years was a beat up old Raleigh Sports Standard, still have it and it still rides well even after 30,000+ miles of use.

Aaron

It will hold up fine; the limit is 240+ lbs.
I have a Brompton and a Bike Friday, and I don't find the Brompton's gearing to be bad at all, although I do use my Bike Friday for loaded touring.

See, really you need both a Brompton and a Bike Friday.

Resistance is useless. You will be assimilated.

Well honestly, Bromptons probably are the most durable, high quality rides out there that fold into a very small package so it's not surprising that most people 'in the fold' will talk about them. However as much as I appreciate them and other high quality folders like Bike Friday, they're a little too spendy for me. I'm content with my KHS Mocha and Citizen Miami folders.

The Tern Eclipse line has PLENTY of legroom... at least good enough for 6'5" (196mm). And a weight limit of 254 lb. I've ridden one ... zero flex. The Tern Verge line is rated for 6'3" and 243 lb.

BUT they don't get down small enough in the folding department for flying... Also the Verge is showing a maximum pedal to saddle dimension of 37.4" over an inch short of the 38.75" plus that my bikes are set up for. Anyone over 6'-2" is in a small percentage of the population and has a hard time getting ANYTHING to fit properly, shirts, slacks, airplane seats, etc.

Aaron

Hipsters. Beatnicks didn't have folding bikes but they had coffee and bongos. I'm sure Jack Kerouac woulda had a brommie.

I guess business at Brompton must be very good. The combination of a few aesthetic tweaks and a publicity push over the last few years seems to have worked for them, and the retail price has risen correspondingly. I'm somewhat staggered by the amount that people are willing to pay for one. . . I think sales must be heavily skewed by the UK 'cycle to work' scheme which brings the price tag down into almost reasonable realms, though the domestic market is only 30% or so.

Given that there's sod-all industry in the UK every time a politician is involved in something to do stimulating industry etc. they go and visit the Brompton factory. They're probably all hoping to get a free bike.
Actually I saw Peter Mandelson riding his Brompton in regent's park last summer.

Will 2nd that one! (Better now than it was 50-55 yrs ago, though.)

Lou

Typical arrogant politician, cycling in Regents Park is banned for the rest of us.

Was it his, did he pay for it himself, or was it really ours ?

I didn't ask him. I was too busy reaching for my gun, by the time the safety was off he had disappeared round the corner. He probably has a flat overlooking the park, it's effectively his garden.

Prices have been creeping up on everything. I have a 1# can of grease on my work bench that is god only knows how old, price tag was 79 cents. Needed a new can, this one is about gone. Similar can at the local cheap parts emporium was over 2 bucks

Aaron

When I bought my Bike Friday in 2008, I almost bought the folding rack but didn't. It was $80. Since it's something that I almost, but don't quite, need (the regular rack fits in my suitcase, although obviously not as elegantly), I look at it every year and then decide not to buy it. But it's gone up about $10 per year; it now costs $140. Maybe I should buy one as an investment.

I enjoy readin' about folding bikes regardless of their brand. Besides, if it weren't for Brompton posts there wouldn't be much happenning in the Folding Bikes forum.