The Brompton debate.
Discussion
MajorProblem said:
Or just measure your seat post height and get a band laser etched on to the post.
I just lift the seat post up the height of my hip. No time to look for marks on the seat post. If you stay still too long at Euston Station, people will start to shout at you!
Off for a meeting at Covent Garden today, so I shall be visiting Brompton Junction whilst I'm there
Accelebrate said:
I like the idea of that. I'm assuming it fits on the very bottom of the seat post...
bakerstreet said:
Just sent HR department an e-mail about my voucher. Hoping to get it in a couple of weeks. Don't want them to take too long as the custio order could take 12 weeks and summer will have finished by then 
I was quoted 5 weeks delivery - and told it had been at that level for many months. And my bike arrived exactly on 5 weeks - the day before I went on holiday with the bike in the boot. Good job as I would have been a bit pi@@ed having spent £1200 and the Tango cycle not been with me.So my plan - after much debate, is to order an H6L. While this is the most upright of all the options, the plan is to fit MTB style riser bars to it so it ends up with a bar height somewhere in between the M and S.
This seems like a better way of doing it than starting with an S and trying to raise the bars as I'll have less issues with cable length - figuring it's easier to shorten the cables than it will be to lengthen them.
My missus still thinks I'll look like a spod on one, but so far, my hire bike has proven to work where I need it to, be almost as fast as a full size one and makes getting on and off a packed train a lot easier.
The only issue I have is the colour of the hire one - one of my colleagues said it looked like Dora the explorer's bike - and the gear levers.
I'll be looking to change the levers as soon as possible and will be investigating options to see if I can get them sorted in time for the arrival of the bike so I can do a bar and gear lever swap at the same time.
As for the colour issue, this is what I'm thinking now.
This seems like a better way of doing it than starting with an S and trying to raise the bars as I'll have less issues with cable length - figuring it's easier to shorten the cables than it will be to lengthen them.
My missus still thinks I'll look like a spod on one, but so far, my hire bike has proven to work where I need it to, be almost as fast as a full size one and makes getting on and off a packed train a lot easier.
The only issue I have is the colour of the hire one - one of my colleagues said it looked like Dora the explorer's bike - and the gear levers.
I'll be looking to change the levers as soon as possible and will be investigating options to see if I can get them sorted in time for the arrival of the bike so I can do a bar and gear lever swap at the same time.
As for the colour issue, this is what I'm thinking now.
Jimboka said:
I'm pretty sure that the Brompton bars are a non-standard diameter . That combined with the fold makes it a bit tricky..
Correct. I've forgotten the exact dimension, but its certainly not the standard 31.8mm There are people out there who have put older MTB bars with a slight rise on an S, but apparently hunting down these bars can be tricky.
I've now been to the Bromton shop and I was pleased to hear that its 4 to 5 weeks for a custom build (also confirmed above)
Having sat on an S and an M, I shall probably go with an M3L in black and white (No cost option) with solid suspension block marathon tyres, easy wheels and an S-Bag. Some of the colours are great, but I'm all ready payiong out an extra £113 for pedals and a pump over the voucher and the paint would push that to £173 and I don't want to go too mad.
Can't wait for voucher to turn up. I didn't bother with a test ride from the store. Chap in the shop was really friendly and helpful
bakerstreet said:
Jimboka said:
I'm pretty sure that the Brompton bars are a non-standard diameter . That combined with the fold makes it a bit tricky..
Correct. I've forgotten the exact dimension, but its certainly not the standard 31.8mm There are people out there who have put older MTB bars with a slight rise on an S, but apparently hunting down these bars can be tricky.
I've now been to the Bromton shop and I was pleased to hear that its 4 to 5 weeks for a custom build (also confirmed above)
Having sat on an S and an M, I shall probably go with an M3L in black and white (No cost option) with solid suspension block marathon tyres, easy wheels and an S-Bag. Some of the colours are great, but I'm all ready payiong out an extra £113 for pedals and a pump over the voucher and the paint would push that to £173 and I don't want to go too mad.
Can't wait for voucher to turn up. I didn't bother with a test ride from the store. Chap in the shop was really friendly and helpful
ETA - it's 25.4.
There are a few bars out there, and I've read numerous threads on other forums to say that it's easily doable.
For example:
That's part of the reason I wanted the H type as the stem has the fold a little higher - this would not only allow for me to get wider bars, it would allow the fitting of decent length bar ends.
Edited by Kell on Thursday 18th June 09:53
Well, I collect mine tomorrow morning. Original plan was to go for a special order and wait 5-8 weeks, but I went to the new Evans store in Kings Cross and they had a Brompton section there with a load of Bromptons that were made exclusively for Evans and apparently the new store. I ended up choosing an off the shelf bike. I've looked at the Evans web site and my bike isn't on there, so maybe there is some truth in what they are saying.
I've gone for an orange and blue bike that all ready had marathons fitted along with a luggage block and a pump. Thanks to free £50 voucher from Evans, I only ended up spending another £30 on top of what I was going to spend with the custom order bike and I don't have to wait 5 weeks
Also went for the S-Bag, firm suspension block and some Shimano SPD pedals. Shop manager was excellent and I got the firm block thrown in FOC
Can't wait to pick it up tomorrow morning and give it a go. Its a lot of money for a bike that will only do 8 miles a day, but the fact that I won't have to strap it to a pole on the train every morning will make my commute much easier Also, the Brompton will fit in my porch, so I won't have to walk it in and out of the front room every day.
Poor photo, but you get the idea.
The staff called it the Terry bike, as it reminded them of a Terrys Chocolate Orange
I've gone for an orange and blue bike that all ready had marathons fitted along with a luggage block and a pump. Thanks to free £50 voucher from Evans, I only ended up spending another £30 on top of what I was going to spend with the custom order bike and I don't have to wait 5 weeks
Also went for the S-Bag, firm suspension block and some Shimano SPD pedals. Shop manager was excellent and I got the firm block thrown in FOC
Can't wait to pick it up tomorrow morning and give it a go. Its a lot of money for a bike that will only do 8 miles a day, but the fact that I won't have to strap it to a pole on the train every morning will make my commute much easier
Also, the Brompton will fit in my porch, so I won't have to walk it in and out of the front room every day. Poor photo, but you get the idea.
The staff called it the Terry bike, as it reminded them of a Terrys Chocolate Orange
Awesome, you won't regret it 
Mine had a bit of an adventure on Monday:
I had a 4 hour meeting in Paris that afternoon, so Brompton to Oxford Station, train to Paddington, Brompton to St Pancras, Eurostar to Paris and then 4 miles across Paris to my destination on the Brompton and then back. I wouldn't have made my connections if I used buses/taxis/tubes/metros. The French seemed quite taken with it as well.
I've rewarded it by ordering a 2 to 6 speed conversion kit, hopefully the extra range of gears will make up for the weight increase from adding the hub gear.
Mine had a bit of an adventure on Monday:
I had a 4 hour meeting in Paris that afternoon, so Brompton to Oxford Station, train to Paddington, Brompton to St Pancras, Eurostar to Paris and then 4 miles across Paris to my destination on the Brompton and then back. I wouldn't have made my connections if I used buses/taxis/tubes/metros. The French seemed quite taken with it as well.
I've rewarded it by ordering a 2 to 6 speed conversion kit, hopefully the extra range of gears will make up for the weight increase from adding the hub gear.
Accelebrate said:
Awesome, you won't regret it
Mine had a bit of an adventure on Monday:
I had a 4 hour meeting in Paris that afternoon, so Brompton to Oxford Station, train to Paddington, Brompton to St Pancras, Eurostar to Paris and then 4 miles across Paris to my destination on the Brompton and then back. I wouldn't have made my connections if I used buses/taxis/tubes/metros. The French seemed quite taken with it as well.
I've rewarded it by ordering a 2 to 6 speed conversion kit, hopefully the extra range of gears will make up for the weight increase from adding the hub gear.
Didn't you see many Bromptons in Paris then? From what I have read on the internet, they are becoming very fashionable in the far east and they are popular in the US too. I just kinda assumed that there were popular n Europe too.Mine had a bit of an adventure on Monday:
I had a 4 hour meeting in Paris that afternoon, so Brompton to Oxford Station, train to Paddington, Brompton to St Pancras, Eurostar to Paris and then 4 miles across Paris to my destination on the Brompton and then back. I wouldn't have made my connections if I used buses/taxis/tubes/metros. The French seemed quite taken with it as well.
I've rewarded it by ordering a 2 to 6 speed conversion kit, hopefully the extra range of gears will make up for the weight increase from adding the hub gear.
I've gone for three speed. My original plan was to go for 6 speed, but having looked at my gear changing on my Tern, I spend most of my commute using two gears, maybe three. The Tern has a 8 speed cassette, but all the cogs beyond the first three look unused. Its got a 11-32 on the back, which is a bit extreme really!
Accelebrate said:
I've rewarded it by ordering a 2 to 6 speed conversion kit, hopefully the extra range of gears will make up for the weight increase from adding the hub gear.
Are you able to cancel that?I've been considering the 8 speed SA hub from Kinetics Online:
http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/folding-bikes/bro...
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff