Brompton vs Calories 

What kind of stove are you using while touring?

We do like bananas as well, but they are less practical while cycling as they bruise easily. Great before and/or after a long day of cycling.

Still happy with your Continental Urban by the way?

@@2Bikes4Adventure Yes, very pleased with them, I'm tempted by the Continental inner tubes as the valve stem is shorter than my Schwalbe AV4 which can be a bit of a faff inveigling the head of my track pump to fit! I was also looking at the Continental Tan wall version, but they're too dark a brown.

We are not into coffee, although Gilbert does go for an energy drink on occasion. We looked into “paçocas” online. Certainly something to try if we go to Brazil.

Hi Andy. Difficult to beat a cold can of beer on a hot summer day riding in the French countryside 🍺

That was us all right. Wave us down next time for a quick chat.

We assume you have already tried replacing the Brompton saddle with one from your other bikes, to no avail. If so, the geometry difference between the bikes must be the culprit. It could be interesting to measure and compare the stack and reach of the various bikes you own to confirm this hypothesis. The Brompton frame being “one-size-fits-all”, there’s not much you can do except slide the saddle forward/backward or change the handlebar type (this may require a stem and cabling upgrade as well). (Ref this video for stack/reach vs handlebar info: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DeW6FUyZL8E.html ) Alternatively, Pam has good experience with a hornless seat (the SpongyWonder featured in our video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Kt5LyiivTZA.html ), so this may be a solution for you as well.

I suspect it is because you don’t have the same setback as in your other bikes. Measure from bottom bracket.

Find your saddle height by placing your heel on the pedal and extending your leg so that the knee still has a bend (ie: doesn’t lock out). Then try lowering your seatpost a little (say 5mm) and ride a mixed terrain circuit, a few hills over say 10 miles will let your body know if you got the position right or wrong; if wrong, try another 5mm drop and ride, that worked for me and my Brooks B17 Flyer on my Brompton H6R (44T). Also experiment with the saddle angle and separately with the fore and aft travel. I found too far back and/or nose up cut off blood supply in the ‘urals’ on long rides. For me, nose down felt like I was about to slide off, so level works best for me, using the spirit level on my iPhone. I see many riders that have their seatpost too high, this results in their hips rocking from side to side when viewed from behind, it also promotes saddle soreness and excess rubbing. I think some riders believe they need to drive the pedals downwards to extract maximum leverage of pedal stroke and therefore power. Whereas, first and foremost riding should be simple and fun, higher gears will give power.

@@platypushatstand thank you for this, I really appreciate it!

@Platypus Hatstand I tried your method on my other bikes and it worked on those also. Thanks again for the great advice.