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Piling on with the Brompton love here. Apartment friendly. Car trunk friendly. Motorcycle sidecar friendly. Their hardcase makes it airplane friendly. Theft-resistant, since it's carried and stored next to you more often than most bikes.

The Brompton luggage system (its mount and low, forward position) is amazing. Bags can be massive and carry a lot of weight and the bike still feels great to ride.

For pedals, I use MKS EZY Superior Lambda pedals with street shoes. Long but not wide metal platform. And they're quick release. The stock Brompton pedals are clever, but not awesome for long distance or hammering. I've spun SPD clipless pedals on for spirited riding and those are, of course, a joy.

The Brompton design is genius but if I could improve one thing, it would be to allow slightly wider tires into the frame.

I'm 15 years into owning a Brompton and I know I'll never get rid of it. and I'm still finding useful and/or hilarious new places to take that might otherwise not allow for a bike. e.g. I had to ride a cargo bike across town for service last week and taking the Brommy in the box so I could ride something home was just so nice

3 comments

"Theft-resistant"

I have two Bromptons (a 3 and a 6 speed). Unfortunately, I've also had TWO stolen .. painful. This was years ago now and both were locked up in central London. The second time, locked via a "Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit", a good U-lock. An angle-grinder gets through these easily and they're battery powered. I don't believe ANY bike lock is safe now and never lock the Brompton up outside. Great bikes!

Someone else in these comments: angle-grinder-resistant locks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909705

Ouch. I also live in a city where bike thefts are … fuck, just part of life. Which is a horrible norm to have to accept.

You’re right that a grinder-proof lock does not exist. Having read reviews and listening to bike shop owner experiences (they hear everything) … I have Kryptonites, motorcycle chains, Abus folding locks, but my personal favourite that I’m “trusting” (ha, delusions) is the Hiplok DX1000. Check it out. As good or better grinder results than nearly all others, it seems. But nothing is grind/pry/jack-proof.

> "For pedals, I use MKS EZY Superior Lambda"

Off-topic, but bike vlogger Probably Riding toured the MKS pedal factory in west Tokyo, Japan last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6P8CeNtkKU

Can you explain what makes the Brompton design genius?

Edit: the top comment (at this time) has a youtube link that shows it fold/unfold in like 8 secs. I can see the genius in it now

Most of the parts are proprietary, so if you bork a derailleur you get to wait 6-8 weeks for a replacement from the UK

Yes. Now if you live in a metro centre and are considering a Brompton purchase, this may be less of an issue if you have a handful of dealers … in-stock common parts availability is a good pre-purchase question to ask. It’s a big ticket item.

I cracked the housing on my proprietary Brompton shifter (made it nearly non functional) and the part was actually available in local stock … but I chose to JB Weld epoxy the crack instead and it’s probably stronger than stock now.

Not sure if it was my comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47907337 which does have a video like that. But, the Brompton folding design:

- folds in 3 pieces (tri-fold) instead of folding in half (bi-fold). It was innovative at the time, is more common now. That makes it fold smaller than bi-fold bikes.

- keeps the oily chain and chainrings in between the wheels. Some other bikes which only fold in half have the oily bits on the outside[1], and/or the chainring sticking quite far out[2]

- When folded, the mucky main wheels are lifted off the ground by the little roller wheels[3].

- Brompton folds into almost a square which can stand up on its own, or pack reasonably neatly into a box, bag, or trunk. Other bikes can be more pointy, less convenient shapes when folded. e.g. [1] the bar grips stick out, the pedal sticks out the other side, the front chain ring sticks out.

- Brompton is useful partially-folded. With just the rear wheel tucked under it will stand up on its own. With just the seat or just the handlebars unfolded it can be wheeled around on the little roller wheels like a suitcase. It can be folded while leaving the front bag on without the bag going upside down, and with the bag accessible to wheel around using it like a shopping trolley.

- When folded, the top-tube of the bike is along the top of the fold, so is the seat, giving decent balanced places to lift and carry it like a suitcase.[4]

- One side has a folding pedal to tuck it away. The other side doesn't. I just think it's neat.

- Maybe goes without saying, but it can be folded without tools instead of being disassembled. Full size bikes can have joints in the frame so they come apart for packing for travel, but you just get a pile of separate pieces. Some medium size folding bikes need a wheel removed and only really fold for packing into a car, rather than something you'd do on the fly for a train trip. "Folding bikes" is not unique to Brompton, but in the market of "all bikes which can be made smaller", folding was a thing Brompton made mainstream, partly by inventing a fold that was so convenient.

[1] https://photo.velo101.com/wordpress/2022/09/DSC_6300-scaled....

[2] https://bikepacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Bike-Frid...

[3] https://www.cyclox.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Brompton-f...

[4] https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kA2bWNiWVEEKVTYBQgqbw9-102...