Bought Myself A Brompton.
Discussion
Now I'm officially at Bloodhound (first day last Friday) I've decided that rather than sit in the traffic for over an hour for the 10mile commute home I'll be letting the train take the strain.
The walk from home to the station is ten mins, the it's 25mins walk from Temple Meads station to the BTC where Bloodhound is based, so I thought cycling was better than walking, but it's a nightmare getting the road bike on the train as it's just too packed in the mornings.
This fact was used to justify, using special man maths, the purchase of a 12 month old, immaculate Brompton M5L from welovebromptons.co.uk. It comes with rear rack, Brompton dynamo, Brompton pump in stealthy black Paint, cost me £550 Inc delivery, a good £350 or so cheaPer than a new one of similar spec.
Should be delivered on Wednesday,
The walk from home to the station is ten mins, the it's 25mins walk from Temple Meads station to the BTC where Bloodhound is based, so I thought cycling was better than walking, but it's a nightmare getting the road bike on the train as it's just too packed in the mornings.
This fact was used to justify, using special man maths, the purchase of a 12 month old, immaculate Brompton M5L from welovebromptons.co.uk. It comes with rear rack, Brompton dynamo, Brompton pump in stealthy black Paint, cost me £550 Inc delivery, a good £350 or so cheaPer than a new one of similar spec.
Should be delivered on Wednesday,
3 comments:
1. Well done. I wish I could cycle to work - even partway.
2. I wonder how long you will remain enthusiastic with the weather getting worse. I'm still cycling at weekends at the moment and I'm trying to get out for 30 mins 2 or 3 evenings a week but I'm finding it harder. The cold is bearable but the rain really puts me off. I take it you've changing facilities at work? And you've winter gear (clothing, lights and mudguards)? It makes it easier for sure - mudguards in particular.
3. I am constantly surprised that the increase in both cycling and train passengers over the past couple of decades hasn't led the train companies to be more cycling-friendly. Are there so few train passengers wanting to take their bikes or are people just put off by the train companies not having enough storage?
Have fun and post pics when you take delivery.
1. Well done. I wish I could cycle to work - even partway.
2. I wonder how long you will remain enthusiastic with the weather getting worse. I'm still cycling at weekends at the moment and I'm trying to get out for 30 mins 2 or 3 evenings a week but I'm finding it harder. The cold is bearable but the rain really puts me off. I take it you've changing facilities at work? And you've winter gear (clothing, lights and mudguards)? It makes it easier for sure - mudguards in particular.
3. I am constantly surprised that the increase in both cycling and train passengers over the past couple of decades hasn't led the train companies to be more cycling-friendly. Are there so few train passengers wanting to take their bikes or are people just put off by the train companies not having enough storage?
Have fun and post pics when you take delivery.
Great fun bikes, I posted pics of mine here when I got it a few months ago:-
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
This could be you in a few weeks!:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62gRmdIBY0
http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f...
This could be you in a few weeks!:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62gRmdIBY0
Watchman said:
3 comments:
2. I wonder how long you will remain enthusiastic with the weather getting worse. I'm still cycling at weekends at the moment and I'm trying to get out for 30 mins 2 or 3 evenings a week but I'm finding it harder. The cold is bearable but the rain really puts me off. I take it you've changing facilities at work? And you've winter gear (clothing, lights and mudguards)? It makes it easier for sure - mudguards in particular.
I'm OK with the cold/wet. Been cycling for many, many years in all weathers, it's not too far from the station anyway.2. I wonder how long you will remain enthusiastic with the weather getting worse. I'm still cycling at weekends at the moment and I'm trying to get out for 30 mins 2 or 3 evenings a week but I'm finding it harder. The cold is bearable but the rain really puts me off. I take it you've changing facilities at work? And you've winter gear (clothing, lights and mudguards)? It makes it easier for sure - mudguards in particular.
Watchman said:
2. I wonder how long you will remain enthusiastic with the weather getting worse.
I'm 0.5 miles off completing my first 300 commuting miles by Brompton - I do just under 100 miles a month. It's getting harder to get out on the bike in the morning when the car is just sitting there, but within a couple of minutes I am warmed up and enjoying the fresh (cold) air. Most of my ride is along the canal, so I have plenty of lighting attached to the bike and on my helmet.I'm only worried about snow and ice - rain, hail, cold can all be dealt with easily enough, but thick snow may be a challenge.
What is getting me through right now is a combination of sheer bloddy mindedness, a pathological desire not to use the bus, and £8 / day parking at the station.
aclivity said:
I'm 0.5 miles off completing my first 300 commuting miles by Brompton - I do just under 100 miles a month. It's getting harder to get out on the bike in the morning when the car is just sitting there, but within a couple of minutes I am warmed up and enjoying the fresh (cold) air. Most of my ride is along the canal, so I have plenty of lighting attached to the bike and on my helmet.
I'm only worried about snow and ice - rain, hail, cold can all be dealt with easily enough, but thick snow may be a challenge.
What is getting me through right now is a combination of sheer bloddy mindedness, a pathological desire not to use the bus, and £8 / day parking at the station.
Yep, 1 1/2 hrs to get home in the car, 25mins combination of train/Brompton. Time is too valuable.I'm only worried about snow and ice - rain, hail, cold can all be dealt with easily enough, but thick snow may be a challenge.
What is getting me through right now is a combination of sheer bloddy mindedness, a pathological desire not to use the bus, and £8 / day parking at the station.
aclivity said:
... but within a couple of minutes I am warmed up and enjoying the fresh (cold) air. Most of my ride is along the canal, so I have plenty of lighting attached to the bike and on my helmet.
I am seriously jealous. This sounds perfectly ideal to me although I wouldn't enjoy rain. I just don't like it and as a speccy-wearer, I find I can't see very quickly in the rain.However, DRY cold/fresh wintery mornings must be quite a joyful experience. Getting out on my bike on those days would really bring me back to my childhood of cycling to school.
It turned up, turned Out to be a little Older than advertised, so I took them to task on it and got a couple of hundred knocked off the price, which I am happy with.
The bIke is brilliant, got the fold down to about 30secs, amazed by how nippy it is. Never ridden Sturmey Archer hub gears before, but once used to them it's second nature.
It really has changed my commute for the better. Still think I look like a peado on it though!!!!
The bIke is brilliant, got the fold down to about 30secs, amazed by how nippy it is. Never ridden Sturmey Archer hub gears before, but once used to them it's second nature.
It really has changed my commute for the better. Still think I look like a peado on it though!!!!
aclivity said:
It's getting harder to get out on the bike in the morning when the car is just sitting there, but within a couple of minutes I am warmed up and enjoying the fresh (cold) air.
I get that in the mornings too - walk outside to see it's still nearly dark and the rain is coming down sideways - the car sits there with heated seats etc....but off I ride and - like you - within a few minutes, I'm warming up and it's fine. I ride the long way home most evenings - about 20 miles on quiet country lanes for most of the way and absolutely love it. I used to enjoy training in the dark as a racing cyclist back in my teens (early 80's) but had forgotten just how much - even if it is wet!aclivity said:
I'm only worried about snow and ice - rain, hail, cold can all be dealt with easily enough, but thick snow may be a challenge.
Agreed. Not sure there's too much you can do about snow, but ice can be dealt with by fitting studded tyres. I'll be putting a pair on my bike when it gets bad enough. If you're careful, then at least you can still accelerate, steer and stop on ice and compacted snow.Until having to be off the bike for 3 weeks just recently due to a chest infection, I'd used the car only 4 days this year. The 3 weeks off has meant I'll now miss my 6,000 mile target for the year, but I guess there's always next year!
paranoid airbag said:
f
kity-fk fk you all, I want one now :P
(I never realised how expensive the PH forum is)
Do it......... http://www.welovebromptons.co.uk/?p=75kity-fk fk you all, I want one now :P(I never realised how expensive the PH forum is)
My Brompton is used the most out of all my bikes.. Eg yesterday afternoon I had to pop to local town for emergency Christmas lights purchase!. Rather than spend ages queueing at carpark I biked the 3 miles on the Brompton, folded & carried around the store & was back home within 45mins. Would have taken 2 hours in the car!
aclivity said:
Been looking at one of those, £250 though is quite steep.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff