Today is an exciting day because we might be purchasing a Brompton. it would be great for
us to have the flexibility of just pulling the bike up putting it in the car and then off we go
to make some more bike tour videos just for you but before we make the purchase we want to know
the pros and cons of owning a Brompton why should I buy this Brompton? well, you're not going to buy
this Demo one, but the reason to buy a Brompton is that it's a great riding bike that folds up
really small and is super easy to transport by any other form of transport that you want to
transport it bus train plane you name it it's easy to take a Brompton with you. Do they last?
Are they well made? you know that Bromptons are really sturdy bikes if you register with Brompton
you have a warranty that lasts for seven years which is a really good long time it shows they
stand behind their product I mean they have a really long life and a lot of durabilities.
good to know some excellent information I like that what are the CONS of the Brompton?
The cons if you're looking to go for a 100-mile ride it's probably not your first choice of a bike
to do that with you can do it but there are other bikes that are better suited for really long,
long rides and it's also not something that you're going to be loading up and carrying like six
weeks of camping gear on it's just not designed for that kind of thing what about rough roads
it's not great on like really rough like dirt trails and rutted things like that
but anything that's paved or good packed dirt as long as it hasn't been raining a lot it's
perfectly fine. What about speed is that a con? you're gonna go roughly the same speed that you
will on a regular bike if you're on a long steady ride where you're not stopping a lot
you're probably gonna be slightly slower than you would be on a conventional bike
if you're going somewhere where you're starting and stopping a lot like you're riding in traffic
in the city you're actually going to be a little faster because the small wheels accelerate quicker
again. Are there parts in the bike that are more susceptible to breaking,
that we should be more concerned about on a Brompton? Not really there are a few things that
we've noticed over time that will possibly cause some issues this part here will get loose that's
part of what holds the bike together when it's folded that over time will develop some play and
might need to be adjusted or replaced. So should I buy the Brompton? I think the Brompton is really
an engineering marble Andrew Ritchie, the man who designed it I think was a genius. He looked
at existing folding bikes and saw what worked and what didn't work and came up with a really
brilliant design you have the m-type handlebar the s-type and the h-type. oh basically it's medium
height low and high the m and the h look alike because they use the same handlebar but this port
is different this is shorter on this bike than it is on that bike if you look you can see yeah so
that's the big difference between those and that is the most important thing to figure out which
works for you yeah is which handlebar because you can't easily change them after the fact itself so
you really want to get this right the first time does it come down to how tall you are or what
does it come from a combination of your height and your personal preference? In terms of what kind of
position you want to ride in taller riders tend to gravitate towards the higher handlebars but
riders that like to ride more aggressively they're used to road bikes whatever might lean towards the
lower bar so it's just a little bit of both a little bit of rider preference and height and
the best thing is just try and see which works best for you. Oh boy so this is big we have to
decide what kind of handlebars we want m style s style h style you got to make a decision yeah
which one are you going to go i favor that one all right do you want to give it a shot sure there's
a feeling riding on it since it's your first time riding a brompton good it was stable it was good
hmm we have some decisions to make how much do you care about having a rear rack on the bike
let me explain the rear rack a little bit all right so this bike has a rear rack it gives you
a place to carry some stuff however when you go to fold the bike whatever's on there has to come off
i don't use my rack a lot for carrying stuff but it does make the bike a little
more stable when it's folded and when you fold it up the rest of the way it's going to roll
really well on those four rollers yes it rolls so well in fact i have to put a little plastic
stopper at the bottom of the seat post to act as a parking brake so it doesn't roll away when you're
watching the one without the rack you'll see it's just a rear fender back here and for that when
you fold it like i said it's a little tippier and also when you go to roll it there's only
the one roller on the fender and these two rollers here it doesn't roll as well on that fender wheel
what i always recommend is that you tip it up like that and just roll it on the two main wheels right
like that yeah it works perfectly fine yeah it's just a question of how much you know you think
you're going to want to roll it versus enough. Do we want a rear rack on the back of the bike?
so what's the damage? the handlebar doesn't affect the price. What affects the price is
whether or not you get one that's got some titanium in the frame how many gears it has
whether or not it has a rear rack on it and color sometimes there are certain colors that
are premium charge colors oh my gosh and the most important decision what color do we want? the
expensive colors are about 250 dollars more than the regular color blue or red? Nope no the reason
they're more expensive is that they're basically a clear coat that's got a color tint to it and
you can see the joinery of the frame more clearly and they've only got certain people at the factory
that are certified to build those frames, yeah, of course, that's what I want! I want that one,
of course, that's what you want Should we buy the Brompton? well, it's a good question
there are several decisions that we have to make before we purchase the Brompton. I want it now
here it is here's our new Brompton! so we paid about two thousand dollars for this bike
we chose the h-style handlebars we did rule out the back rack and opted for a front bag right here
and then changed out the seat for something softer and cushier for the butt
and the most important decision we chose was the color red. we are good to go
so subscribe and see our Brompton bike tour adventures hope to see you riding!