New Bike: Brompton, and the Folding Bike Continuum

Round about four years ago, I stopped on the way home from Detroit to buy a Bike Friday I'd found on Craiglist. I was riding a Dahon, my first folder, and I was hoping the Silk I bought that day from Roger would be a nice upgrade. I didn't care for the Silk, and ended up driving to Indianapolis to meet a guy from Chicago and trade it for a Crusoe, which I still have and enjoy.

Which is a long intro to leading up to another CL search, another meeting with Roger on the way back from another trip to Detroit, and another new folding bike. This time, a Brompton:

I've never ridden a Brompton, and I was curious to compare it to my other folders. Roger is shorter than me, so I ended up making my own telescoping seat post out of some cheap Amazon parts:

The lower post (31.8mm? I need to check) is a regular seat post with the head cut off, a 27.2 seat post with a clamp inserted above that, and a beer can shim to make it work. It's not super slick, but it works well enough. I also had to add taller handlebars:

Which gave me a reasonably comfortable riding position for my 6'3" self:

I also added some folding pedals:

The Brompton fold is very, very refined. For instance, the frame clamps have a small indent on the fatter end. This is a place to insert your finger and allow you to spin the clamps more easily. Smart!

The result is a super compact fold that is stable and easy to carry as a package:

My taller bars do slightly impact the fold: the lower grip hits the ground, causing the folded bike to sit not-quite-squarely. I think Brompton offers a taller stem mast, but the taller bar was a cheaper option for me, and like my telescoping post, it works well enough.

The Brompton has a few other neat features: a wide range three speed rear hub, and front and rear dyno lights. The front light had a short in it, but luckily I had a Herrmans light sitting on the shelf that plugged right in, and has a lovely beam pattern.

So, a super slick fold, simple gears, always available lights... it's easy to see the appeal of the Brompton as a multi modal commuter machine. What doesn't quite work so well for me is the actual ride itself. It's not a bad riding bike--almost every bike is fun to ride in some respect--but compared to my Crusoe, it feels slow yet with twitchy handling. There's only one hand position, and not much flexibility here due to the constraints of the fold. It's not a bike that's my first pick when I go out to the garage and look over my little fleet of seven bikes. 

I'm not saying the Brompton is a bad bike. It's just not a great bike for how I use a folding bike. If I flew with a bike, or took a train to work, a Brompton would be ideal. For a ride leaving right from my garage, not so much.

So in my folder experience, I started with a Dahon Speed. It's a typical 20" wheeled bi folder. Not a super compact fold, but also not painful to ride:

(I'm not sure why I didn't drop the seat post in the picture of my folded Dahon, but it's the only folded picture I had handy)

Then my BF Crusoe, which rides like a good bike but has a messy fold:

In the defense of the BF, it's sold as a "packable" bike, not a folder. The concept is a bike you would carefully pack in a plastic Samsonite case that is airline checkable, then unpack when you arrive at your vacation destination and ride from your new base.

The three bikes plot a pretty linear curve between ride quality and folded size. This is my Folding Bike Continuum:

The Brompton has the best fold, but is the least fun to ride for me. If I were to fold the bike as part of every ride, it would be the clear choice.

The Bike Friday has the best ride, but the biggest and messiest fold. The less I fold it, the more I like it. For quite a while, it was my #1 choice of bikes to grab from the garage and roll out into Dublin.

The Dahon is somewhere in between: a reasonable fold, and OK to ride.

For my use, the Dahon style is probably the best folding bike. This would allow me to throw it in my car's trunk for the occasional use during a business trip or local trip, while still being a fun alternate bike to ride around the neighborhood.

There's a reasonable chance I'll sell both my Brompton and my BF to go full circle and return to a Dahon style. The churn is relentless.