Brompton owners

Yeah me. East London based.

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/395359/#comment17394833

Fantastic. I’ll message you, my pal can come and get it.

I imagine this is a really stupid question, but my wife's about to pull the trigger on a Brompton (for obvious commuting reasons), but wanted to know whether they'd be suitable as an only bike? I know nothing about them - I imagine the worst that'd get thrown at it would be the odd ride around Richmond - is the gearing on the six speed suitable for a comfortable ride around there?

It’s certainly different to a normal bike, and as with everything there are compromises (you’re unlikely going to be doing your Richmond or Regent’s Park group rides on a bromton) but I have happily spent 2 years in London with just a Brompton for all my riding, and it’s still my most used bike (apart from maybe the cargo bike) at the moment despite having other choices.

Only time I wouldn’t consider it is if I had to lock it up and leave it somewhere for a prolonged period of time but if that’s a rare occurrence then I think it can take the place of any hybrid/city/round town bike and all that they normally do.

Just make sure you also get a decent front bag for it, and it’s amazing how versatile it can be as a grocery getter or just to nip out and get something

It's definitely not a stupid question.

I think it depends very much on what type of cycling your wife does, but if it's main use will be for commuting, as a run around for errands, and for leisure rides, then it'll be fine. I wouldn't want to ride a long way on mine, i.e. more than an hour or so, but for the above it's been great.

Question is what do you mean when you say “only bike” Is your wife wanting to do distance? Go fast? Commute? Touring?

I denied brompton’s for a long time, then got one when my missus got pregnant and the thought of an hour long commute back from work wasn’t as appealing. Since then it’s been a game changer, probably my most used bike after dad bike. It’s so versatile. And if someone is getting a bike I usually recommend a Brompton over a full size thing. Just because being able to fold it and dump it in a taxi/bus/train, being able to not worry about locking it up as you just fold it and bring it inside with you, takes away a lot of the stress of bike ownership, especially in london.
You can do a bit of everything on it (though I wouldn’t advise gravel or off roading) and you just have to suck up the initial expense of it, and the cost of tweaking to make it lighter/more adapted to your needs, but when you get past that, if you click with it (ie it’s your decision no ones pressuring you into it, you get used to the weight of lifting it, the benefits of having it become clear) it’s the bike which will stay with you for a good long while.
And as @C4r1s says having a bag which is large enough to do impromptu shops is a blessing..

100% all of this.

I really want to go on a multi modal brompton tour in france some day.

yeah, did a semi off road/bridleway/camping tour for a stag do recently on the brompton, was slightly nerve wracking with the small tyres, but would do again.
Thinking of doing london to paris for the tour de france on a brompton, staying at some chi chi bnb's along the way, and then using the brompton to potter around the arrondisment for the long weekend, and then eurostar it back, though the eurostar bit might get a bit annoying, but could see myself doing more city break touring on one.

As mentioned above, no need to worry about locking the bike up outside. This is also, arguably, the biggest problem with a Brompton: if you take it out, you’re stuck with it. If your Brompton is dripping wet and you don’t have a bag for it, many places won’t let it in. If you lock it outside, high chances are that it won’t be there when you return.

Horses for courses.

Hard disagree, how is bringing a wet Brompton into a place any different from bringing in a wet suitcase?
Why would you carry around a bag to put your Brompton in?
You ask them to put it somewhere out of the way and crack on, or you carry it around with you.

Also I occasionally carry a lock around with me and lock up Brompton, as I would any of my other bikes, yeah the fear of it being stolen is real, but it’s the same fear I get whenever I lock up any of my bikes.

Bikes are transportation, if the fear of locking up a bike and the faff around not wanting to lock it up, always being around it/close to it, outweighs the convenience of using it to get from point a to point b, then there’s not much point in having one.

If you want some inspiration and examples for versatility here we have my Brompton light touring, off-road gravel, round town commuting, and in the Lakes for a car free summer holiday

Yes I am aware it’s not fully standard and disk brakes help a bit but I’d also do most of this on a standard spec Brompton too (maybe less of the gravel though)

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Glad your mileage varies. Several museums and restaurants I’ve visited won’t allow the folded bike passed the entrance, and it makes zero sense to leave an unlocked Brompton unattended and out of sight in public. I’ve managed to find workarounds, but it’s happened.

Thieves aren’t lurking under every rock, but in certain parts of London they might as well be. I know of 6 Brompton owners who ‘quickly’ locked their bike outside while they went shopping/dining/etc., and had it stolen.

I know of 6 Brompton owners who ‘quickly’ locked their bike outside while they went shopping/dining/etc

I’m one of those people. New Brompton, less than 24hrs old. Locked it outside and popped into the shops for a couple of mins in Putney. Was gone when I came back. Passers by said somebody just walked up to it, cut the cable lock and rode off in a minute. Fuckers.

I've seen that bike in Greenwich Waitrose.

Unless it has a twin unlikely, as it’s been a good 4 years since I’ve needed to go to that bit of London on the bike. And if it does have a twin wonderful, I thought this was the only one in the UK!

It was deffo more than 4 years ago. More like 5 or 6.

Thanks all for the answers! Really valuable.

It'll be for commuting / shopping / pottering, but we live quite close to Richmond park and go there occasionally for a lesiurely ride. I wanted to check that it would literally be geared to get up the hills there, I'd hazard that if you can ride the Lakes on one it'll be able to manage it (great pictures @C4r1s). It's probably not a deal breaker as the commuting alone is enough of a use case to justify getting one.

By only bike, I meant that it could be a replacement for the touring bike that she currently rides, which it sounds like it can be.

Thanks again!

Mate of mine has a T line, is going on an EU tour and has put some aero bars on it lol.

Then very probably, good memory!

Bear in mind in those pictures it has an 8 speed alfine hub gear on the back, but the gear range isn’t far off a 6 speed wide range with reduced gearing at the low end but yes imagine it’d be more than fine (legs on the other hand…)

I have a 6 speed and on my way home from town there is a n 18% hill. Sometimes I ride up it, sometimes I push. It depends how much crap I have in the bag vs how hard a day I’ve had. There is never any shame attached to pushing a bike up a hill ever.
As for locking it up or taking it in to shops? The nice people in John Lewis Norwich have popped it under the till point (locked folded) for me before and I’ve spent a few hours around the city and come back later to pick it up.

That’s fair enough, you know people who’ve lost their Brompton’s locking them up for a “little bit”, I know people who’ve owned and locked for years and their bikes always been there when they return, but the major point I’m trying to make stands, if your fear of losing your bike stops you from using it as much or as often, or as widely as you’d like, you lose the majority of the benefits of riding a bike/brompton.

We all know people who’ve lost bikes, bikes they’ve loved and slaved over, but often the voices saying you can’t lock your bike here, or there, or anywhere because it’ll get nicked are the loudest and skew massively the perception of how, where and when you can use a bike.
Yes losing a bike is shit! But the possibility of having your bike stolen is part and parcel of riding one, I wish it wasn’t, but whether for a Brompton or any other bike, the risk vs reward ratio shouldn’t be so tilted as to make the possibility that it will be stolen one of the first things that you need to tell people when they’re making a decision about purchasing one or using one.

That’s that bag in the first photo?

On the front? The large reflective ortlieb O bag. On the rear is a vintage Carradice longflap on SQR mount.

It would've been not long after I got mine - so that would've been 2014/2015.
Yours is a very distinctive bike.