Brompton Review - the first 12 months, May 2024 

@zulkhairizulkhairi201 - Many thanks for the comment! Very good to hear the bike is going so well after 7 years. They certainly feel as if they are built to last a long time! 👍

@tjj5337 - thanks for the comment! That certainly sounds like an excellent recommendation for Bromptons! 👍

Thanks Annie! Yes, I really have to sort out a bag - the Brompton branded ones look great, although a bit pricey. I like Cateye too, and have a front one which is super bright, although I haven't used it on the Brompton yet. It recharges via usb. I can see the advantage of two lamps, thats a great idea 👍

Thanks Gerald! Yes, its a great colour... watch this space for the changes!

Thanks very much - glad you agree! Its my favourite Brompton colour 👍Yes, you're right, I didn't mention any lighting... I do use a Cateye on the back, (more useful on road than canal), but will think about more lights when I draw up my shopping list of bits to get.

Hey, thanks John! Sunshine yellow sounds good. Bumblebee is an unusual shade and just leaps out - definitely my favourite for a Brompton. Next week, you'll see more footage from that day of the canal itself - I was lucky to meet the American families on their boats but also a number of other narrowboats and almost unbelievably, a family of swans which seemed happy to come very close to me - so cute 😁

Hi Gus and thanks very much for the comment! Yes I agree with you - Brompton could easily fit a kick stand as standard, and as I've said on my videos, the choice of a 50 tooth chainwheel is bonkers - it might be ok for someone who only ever rides around a city but many of us don't - so a 44 or 39 tooth is a necessity. Glad you like Brilliant Bikes - I think Hannah's videos are very well done - and she's entertaining too! If I lived closer to them, I'd definitely go in their shop to say hello. But meanwhile, if I need anything, they are my online shop of choice. Well done for subscribing too Gus! I am very grateful, and hope you'll enjoy the Brompton-adventures I'll have once I get Gladys the Narrowboat finally out onto the canals! (Not long now... fingers crossed! 🤞)

Thanks Vini - glad you liked it! 👍 And hello Brazil!

Hi MT and thanks as always for the constructive comment! Yes, the bike is essentially black and yellow, which go very well together. I've seen the blue, the green and the orange/brown C17 saddles on bikes (always on Bromptons, oddly enough), and they all look cool. They do come in other variants too I think - certainly a black one. I always used San Marco regal saddles on my road bikes, with copper rivets on the back - C17s also have rivets of some kind, but I dont think they're copper. Hmm... I will have to think long and hard before ordering one but yeah, a coloured one would personalise the bike a bit more. 👍

@@Gladysthenarrowboat I reckon go for the colour one then. It sounds like something you really want to pop with colour. Can’t wait to see it.

Thanks MT - must admit, I am tempted by the orange/brown one. I saw them fitting one to a Brompton on Brilliant Bikes' You tube channel and it looks bang-on 😁

That's very helpful Steve - thanks very much! I just looked on BB's website and the superlight costs £70 which compares well with the Brooks and is 279g, apparently 100g lighter than the standard Brompton saddle - so I'll definitely consider it 👍 They also have a carbon version of it at £120 which weighs 205g - so, even lighter again! Saving a KG is impressive - I can appreciate how much difference that makes carrying it around all day. I have long fancied a titanium road frame as I know they are said to be more comfy - so am not surprised the Ti seat post makes a difference. Thanks once again! 👍

@@Gladysthenarrowboat I've also added a Swytch kit which added another Kg so to offset that I added a Ti fork and rear triangle. It was over a thousand pounds for the lot but the bikes 20 years old so about ready for the upgrades ;-)

Wow - you're really into this! I had similar comments from a viewer in Denmark, on my previous Brompton review video (100 mile review) - like yourself, he's shaved off weight here and there with lighter parts... sounds expensive though Steve! 😊

@@Gladysthenarrowboat I think it cost 100 GBP per year all in including bike, Swytch kit upgrades and maintenance over the last 20 years.

Did you try out the schwalbe marathon plus's we spoke about in the 100 mile comments? I've since swapped to continental contact urbans

Thanks Iain! Yes, very easy - you may need to loosen the brake levers and move them in a tiny bit like I had to, but it was an easy job. The version without bar ends (GP1) would fit the same way - a little cheaper maybe, but the palm grip is the same. So much more comfy than the original grips 👍

Hi Steve. I have just looked up the yuzu lime colour and it looks great. Sounds like you had some bad luck with the tubes and tyres - I've been ok so far, but have heard that the Continentals are a good replacement tyre. I bought some frame protection helicopter tape for where the cables rub. 👍 50% discount at SJS sounds very handy - I'll have to remember that! Cheers!

@@Gladysthenarrowboat they do tires for as low as £12 they are marathon racers but all black no side white tape

thanks for the extra info Steve - the white lining is a nice feature... needs to be kept clean to be effective though 🙂

Hi Dave, thanks for the great comment - as always! Very glad to hear you have got the bike sorted and been out on it. Keep getting out and you'll soon have your cycling legs back again! Yes the Mon and Brec is lovely but I really like the canals you have around Birmingham / Worcestershire too. The stretch of canal on this video is actually near Brecon itself but the nearest station to it would be Abergavenny, which is about 20 miles away by road or canal. You'd need the hourly WMR train to Hereford, then a TFW train down to Abergavenny. A very nice train ride! The same canal does pass very close to Abergavenny though, at Llanfoist - a mile or so outside town, and cycling to Goytre Wharf (which I've featured before) would be ok from there if you didn't fancy riding all the way up to Brecon. Nice idea to service the mountain bike and yes, I do recommend the GP2s. As for saddles, I think you're right - give the supplied one a chance first - if anything, there are too many replacements to choose from these days! This coming Saturday's video is also footage from last Wednesday but will feature the canal itself rather than the Brompton - you'll get to see it looking really beautiful - and also some American boaters, a family of swans (cute) and lots more. Weather permitting, I will be taking a WMR train somewhere later this week - destination unknown for now! Cheers Dave 👍

Looking forward to it Jeff

thanks Dave👍

Hi DC - thanks for commenting, as always! Yeah, when I was into time trialing / club cycling, I don't think we ever considered Brooks, because they were leather, didn't look cool, or racy, and, as you say, needed a lot of maintenance. I think the leather ones they do now, will still need treatment - the B17 for instance. But if I get a new saddle, it would be a C17 and I think they're made of rubber, supposedly maintenance-free. I don't know if Ortlieb makes any kit that attaches to the Brompton's front-block fitting, but its worth my looking into. The Brompton range of bags looks just the job, but then again, I expect I could get something in Halfords/Evans Cycles, that would be ok. I need to get my act together and start looking into it properly!

There were two ortlieb bags for the brompton. The O-Bag and a mini version. Unfortunately discontinued, but show up used every so often

Thanks for this information Holger! I haven't bought a bag yet and prefer to buy a new one, but might see if any nice used ones are available 🙂

Thanks Rob! I use a road bike if Im just going for a ride from home. But I often make videos along canals and I get there by car and trains. So the Brompton is perfect for that. And it'll fit easily inside my boat when that's finished. Its not a bad saddle that is supplied with the Brompton - so by no means an essential upgrade, although a lot of Brompton owners do seem to change them. I haven't decided yet.

I have a C17 - just for looks on an electrified brompton. I think the brompton is more comfy. On my touring brompton I have a carved Selle SMP medium well gel saddle. Now that I can ride for hours

Thanks for the info! That's very interesting - I actually saw a B17 on a Brompton last week, when I was at the train station and it did look very smart - much nicer than the Brompton one. But maybe looks are less important than comfort - so I'll have a think, and will also check out the other saddle you have mentioned!

@@Gladysthenarrowboat the b17 is a completely different story. This is full leather and once you got it broken in, it works really for your backside. So I have heard - I have b17 narrow carved on a classic roadbike, whch I unfortunately use once a year. I like the saddle, but don’t believe I break it in enough

Thanks again Holger. I'm sorry, I realise that I made a mistake in my previous reply - it was actually a C17 that I saw on a Brompton - the type you have, and it did look very good, very sleek. I have heard of the B17 as its been around for many years. When I was a road cyclist, my favourite was always the San Marco Regal, with copper rivets at the back. Although it was slightly heavy, it was very comfortable. 😊

Thanks Rudy 👍 I have already looked up the light weight / removable Brompton pedals, but they do seem expensive, so my next purchase is more likely to be a bag / or bags anyway! Cheers 😊

@@Gladysthenarrowboat well, umfortunaltely, the bags are even more expensive 🤡. You should go for some chinese replica.

Yes I know! - Nothing with the Brompton logo on it is cheap! I have seen that Decathlon has a range of bags, so will definitely be shopping around. 👍

​@@Gladysthenarrowboat get a big one, you will thank me later. I used a huge one to carry my laptops, jeans, towels etc just to commute to work daily. Keep it light on the body and let the brompton carry the weight. Keep it stock, Brompton originals suffices, thats what i did, all originals. 3rd party parts ain't worth spending. Btw i'm on 6speed Fire Coral. Cheers and happy Riding.

Thanks Rudy - sounds like good advice. Fire Coral looks like a nice colour - I've not seen one for real but have seen it on websites etc 😊 Yeah, at present I use a rucksack to carry bits and pieces but when it comes to shopping (when I'm away on my boat), I'll definitely need an on-board bag. Thanks again! 👍

Thanks for the comment! I agree Bromptons aren't greatly comfortable, and the Tern sounds interesting. The Brompton scores on compactness I think, and will be ideal for carrying on my boat.

I'll keep my eye out for a Tern, I've never seen one yet. Thanks again! 👍

Keep the Brompton as backup. The long time reliability of Tern products is not anywhere near as a Brompton, apparently.

Thanks for the info @trolleyob - actually I still haven't seen a Tern anywhere. But many people have commented on the Brompton's long term reliability - and I'm in no hurry to replace it! 👍

Well, if you're looking for a bike which folds up very quickly, and you can easily carry - taking on a train, or in the boot of your car for instance, then a conventional bike / road bike / MTB can't compete. I have other bikes and started out on road bikes, so am relatively new to Bromptons - but my reason for buying one was that I'm in the process of having a narrowboat built and once its finished, I want a bike I can keep inside the boat - a conventional bike would be difficult getting in and out. Many people like Bromptons for commuting to work - in London say. Easy to get on the tube with one, and they can take it into the office with them / keep under their desk. Much more 'acceptable' to an office environment than a normal bike. I'd say they are certainly expensive - compared to a good quality road bike / MTB, but they have a very good reputation and are widely recognised as being good quality. Other makes are available of course!

@@Gladysthenarrowboat makes sense. Definitely looks lighter than a folding Ebike I had , got rid of that one and waiting on an E with 26" wheels. The only thing I probably won't like is the cruiser handle bars but enough bike to get me out and about. What size tire is Brompton..looks like 20' ? I wonder also if it's pretty expensive for U.S.

Thanks for the comment! They do make an electric Brompton and also a lighter, titanium framed one. But yeah, more costly. A C-Line 6 speed like mine is around £1400 - but I don't know what they go for in US. I think the wheels are 16 inch and they usually come with Schwalbe Marathon or Racer tyres. 😊

@@Gladysthenarrowboat smaller tires do make it convenient I just didn't like the Squirlly handling and not very shock absorbing lol. Thanks for your info 🐱

Yes, they handle quite differently - although the upright position is nice for an old guy like me, (compared to bending forward on my road bike). Definitely not very shock absorbing, you're right! But much better with the Ergon handlebar grips. No probs 👍