Break a spoke…
Well anyone who rides will know how awesome the roads are at the minute. Oh wait, two broken spokes and a flat spot say otherwise. Continue reading this entry »
Uh oh…Dahon! Yeah I did…
Well the time came when my commute increased well it tripled..plus a bit. I now do 20 miles instead of the 6 I was doing before. I find anything over 10 miles and things that don’t work or inhibit progress really become noticeable. Be it drag from soft tyres, lack of aerodynamics from an overfull bag etc really impact on duration as far as ride times go. So I bit the bullet. I bought a Dahon. Continue reading this entry »
Brompton World Championship
Well this is a massively late post, poor show. My bad.
I went to the pre-race ride on the Saturday, very good ride, slow pace, good weather (until we arrived at the factory!), nice chatting! Good bit of grub and some Hen!
Race day was wet and muddy, but I was prepared. Continue reading this entry »
Brompton Page
Recently found this Brompton page. Not 100% up-to-date but very useful nonetheless.
http://www.foldingbikes.biz/html/brompton_bicycles.html
Particularly handy for colours and for good sized zoomed images of parts.
Brompton Cycle Computer
I spent some time investigating options for cycle computers before I went out and bought mine. There seems to be a lack of information on the web so I thought a write up of my experience should help other stat addicted Brompton owners. Continue reading this entry »
A Brompton, what? At the vets?!
Brompton in situe
This is exactly why I love my Brompton, it makes life easier.
Brompton Hard Suspension
Brompton have offered an alternative to the standard suspension block, in the form of the ‘hard’ block for sometime now. It’s available for ‘heavier’ riders or for riders who prefer a firmer ride. Now I’m not by any means heavy so I imagine that puts me in the second camp. I do prefer a stiffer back end, all of my previous bikes have either been hard tail XC bikes or rigid trials bikes. I thought for the price I could get it for, it would be worth a try just to see how I get on with it. Continue reading this entry »
Arkon PDA Holder…(cont.)
I was on the hunt for something earlier when I came across my destroyed Dopod 818 Pro which, if you’ve read the earlier post on the topic of the Arkon holder came a cropper. I’ve no idea why I kept it, perhaps as a warning… Continue reading this entry »
New tyres please…
I’ve finally taken the plunge and purchased some new tyres. I’ve had the yellow labelled brompton tyres on since I purchased my bike what must be a year and a half ago and I’ve been nothing but impressed with them. But I had a puncture last Thursday (only my second puncture in over 1500 miles) which really brought home how much I need my bike to be on the road and how much I rely on it! It was only a slow puncture so I could get where I needed to be using a series of ‘pump stops’. Bit of a nightmare, but at least I could remain mobile! Continue reading this entry »
Snowy January Ride!
With nothing much of interest happening recently I’ve been quite quiet! This morning however, I awoke to a blanket of snow on London…Excellent you might think, another snow day. I however needed to be somewhere, which meant cycling to get a train from Clapham Junction. I left a little earlier as I was sure there would be some epic driving going on, and sure enough I wasn’t disappointed. Here are my personal highlights: Continue reading this entry »
Wet November Ride
I don’t think November 23rd 2009 will go down as one of the best days for a cycle, but commuting is an all weather sport! The only good thing about the wet weather is that the fair weather cyclists are gone; crawling back to the sweaty warmth and “dryness” afforded by the buses and tube; leaving only the serious cyclists the run of the cycle lanes. My morning commute is usually a fairly aggressive affair Continue reading this entry »
Touring Pannier Update…
I’ve been living with the touring pannier for over a month now, so I thought it about time to share my findings!
The touring pannier has been an invaluable addition to my Brompton, in fact it has been so good I’m thinking of buying even more luggage; in the form of the C-Bag. The pannier has allowed me to do my shopping, carry ridiculous amounts of lunch, Continue reading this entry »
The Mayor of London’s Skyride…
I and 64,999 other people decided to go for a bit of a cycle around London on Saturday! Going by numbers alone, the Skyride seemed to be a success. The roads were indeed carless, priority was given to cyclists and the weather was good; all important factors when enjoying a ride. The only downside that I encountered was the amount of cyclists! There are a lot of people that should not cycle on the roads unless there are no cars and it is heavily marshalled; maybe these people would be good road racers?! There were some seriously unroadworthy offerings. Continue reading this entry »
Brompton Related Luggage!
I’ve never been one to like panniers and baskets and alike, but the time finally came for me to bite the bullet and let the bike do the heavy lifting. I usually use a Crumpler Weenie to carry all of my belongings and I must say it has worked excellently for over a year; but it’s just not big enough. With the wetter weather due any day now I like to be able to carry the waterproofs just in case. Continue reading this entry »
Improved breaking (sic)?
For a while now my standard brommie brake levers have been accruing a type of unsettling wobble. Today I decided enough was enough and it’s time for a change; so after some severe rummaging in my box of cycling spares, I found a pair of Avid SD5 levers. Incidentally the Avid SD5’s are used on the unfathomly expensive (but in a way, very good looking) Birdy Hybrid Folding Electric Bike Continue reading this entry »
Standard Brompton Tyres…
There are mixed views in the world of the Bromptonaut about how useful the standard Brompton tyres (“yellows
” – due to the yellow label) actually are. Now I’ve had these on my Brompton for the duration of its life; which is well over a year now and I have only had one puncture in the rear tyre (frantically touching wood…). I ride through the mean streets of London on a regular basis, I do however do my best to dodge the glass and other Continue reading this entry »
Light the way, hassle free…
Topeak Combolites
Soon, it’ll be the time of year when lights will be needed again. Sorry to be the bringer of doom, but it’s best to be prepared! I think I have the best lights for a Brompton, bar the official Brompton ones (though I would still tandem these with some auxiliary lights), the Topeak ComboLite lights. Now these don’t seem much to look at but I can assure they do the trick. First off, they are cheap, Continue reading this entry »
Upgrade those transit wheels!
Shortly after I got my Brompton one of my transit wheels (read: wobbly little black cone) decided to split. I’m not entirely sure how this happened, but it did, so I decided to get some new ones! I did some research from others who updgraded theirs with various things from rollerblade wheels to the official Brompton “Eazy Wheels”. I was tempted by the “Eazy Wheels” initially as they seemed to
Continue reading this entry »
Brooks B17 Champion Special Men’s Saddle…Comfort or Calluses?
Brooks B17 Special
Right, let’s not beat about the bush here; these are expensive saddles. I used a standard Brompton saddle for about 6 months (the original foam saddle on pre 2009 models, not the new saddle with the hand grip on the nose). I thought this was a relatively comfortable affair, I did tend to “bottom out” (pardon the pun) onto the plastic pan over the larger bumps, but nothing too bad. There was some peeling on the nose of the saddle though, where I was carrying the bike around; so I thought it time for change.
Current Brompton Setup
The photo below shows the current setup of my Brompton M3L, there are modifications from standard, Brooks saddle, Arkon bike PDA holder, Topeak white lite/red lite combo set and solid polyurethane transit wheels.
I will shortly be reviewing these modifications.
Current Brompton Setup
The beautiful beginning…
Well this is going to be my Brompton blog. I’m not going to pretend to be an authority on the topic but I use my Brompton a lot and I intend on trying and testing some bits and pieces and see how they do. I will also throw some thoughts and general happenings in for good measure.
Let’s see how this goes.
Brompton Ranger's Blog 