Brompton owners

How do you use your main bike? Hard to say whether it would work for you without knowing that.

Great as a shopping bike for small to medium loads, handy if you're heading for a pub/restaurant as you can bring them in with you and just not worry about locking them up. Useful as a commuter if the bike storage options at your workplace are shit.

They're fun to ride. They really are fun. This thread alone is full of joyful (and surprised) posts from people trying them for the first time. Also, they're forgiving when you're at less than full health or recovering from injury.

Personally, I wouldn't use them for a regular commute of more than three miles or so. Not because you can't ride them further but because I have other bikes I would like to use for that. So not my main bike as long as I'm well. But your options are limited, actually quite a good choice.

I like mine, use it just as much as the main bike as it’s just so convenient. Would I load it up with a weeks worth of shopping? No, I’d take a proper bike with a rack. Would I go on a club ride? No, but it’s fine for general riding around on. I had two years in London where I used a Brompton for everything and it was perfect as it was just so portable and I could keep it on a 1 bed flat really easily. I did cycle 5 days a week across London from Putney to Liverpool Street and it was perfect for that, plus Richmond park and general cycling about.

The one thing I did do is change out the handlebars to something a bit wider and that made a huge difference. Think it was 660mm Joseph kousac flat bars from SJS. Found the wider bars made it feel much more like a “proper” bike than the narrower standard ones but YMMV.

Here’s some inspiration for what you can do (but not always what you should!)

The front luggage point is a must for carrying things, then choose a bag that suits you

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My main bike is a Brompton, works for me!
Hire one see what you think.

Been reorganising storage in the flat and got around to the Bromptons. Ikea Kallax seems to be one of the most commonly used options but I think Kallax is a bit ugly and wastes space for this job (they have more internal space than the bike needs and the walls are thick). So I tried the Eket storage instead.

Snapped together well and are surprisingly sturdy. The Kallax stuff is more robust and gives more flexibility - if you want to store multiple bikes in one solid structure or store more than bikes in the configuration, say - but this is all we need.

Were he still alive, you would incur the displeasure of Phil the Greek for placing your Brompton where it is in your third attachment.

Well then let’s be glad that his displeasure won’t be felt on earth then. It was only a step beyond the “no bikes” sign…

Class.

hope the bike is still awesome?

I got mine to top and tail a train commute and then one day the train was buggered so I rode all the way home (13 miles over Highgate) and it was great, started doing it more often. I've since taken it on the kind of trips only a Brompton can do (eg Eurostar to meetings in Belgium).

I really like the look of this!

absolutely do able, take some test rides and work out the handlebar type and gearing that suits you, then check out the aftermarket options for disc brakes and things like alfines / rohloffs.

you can just tweak the bike to suit you, @C4r1s is a lovely example.

I just got a couple of the basic 4-compartment version and didn't install the cross-pieces. Looking at the space left around the bikes, the 2-door-1-shelf version would work just fine (as long as you have foldable or removable left pedal - and, ofc, if you don't install the shelf). Of the various options, needs to be 35cm deep not 25cm and simply stacking or wall-mounting the basic solution is more likely to work than anything more complicated.

I have no problem doing 100 milers on mine. Lots of people use them for cycle touring. I have some friends doing the North Coast 500 on theirs right now.

You’ll (maybe) go a little bit slower. You may or may not find them as comfortable as other bikes. But they’re fine for longer journeys.

Thanks! Still a great bike @sbbohr, and getting more use now it’s not going across London each day for the moment I think!

Should have tried to have the no bikes in the picture...for the ultimate.

Just to be devils advocate, I took mine on about 25 miles and by about 20 miles I was pretty sore and ready to get off. For me it's the perfect bike for cycling to work / friends house but not really more

hows it set up? post a photo...

I got a Brompton for mixed train/riding trips, but it's really fun so I use it a lot more than that. I do a once-a-week commute across London (20mi round-trip) with 10-15kg of gear - usually on a steel road bike with panniers, but I sometimes do it on the bromp with front bag/rucksack/saddlebag - it's definitely more tiring on the legs, but it's perfectly comfortable & isn't massively slower. Getting on a train at rush-hour (or long-distance without a bike reservation) still feels like an awesome super-power...

M handle bars, telescopic seat post, 6 speed

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Firstly, holy fuck Batman, how long are your legs?!

First an outsiders view; get a h type stem, Joseph Kuosac mid rise bar, ergonomic grips.

Roll your bars forward 5 degrees.

Rear tyre 95psi, front 85psi

Then sell me the frame?

That frame... Please do elaborate.

Looks great, really like the black / red / raw combo..

My B75 with JK mid rise bars (600mm) is very twitchy compared to my S3L, any pointers how to fix this?

That would move the handlebars forward?

I'm 6'7" with long legs.