Bought a C-Line electric in February 2025 for £2,600. Here's how the past 15 months have actually gone, and why I'm posting about it everywhere I can.
First problem, May 2025. A roller fell off. I went on Brompton's site to buy a replacement, the page confirmed it fit my C-Line, so I ordered. Then, only after I clicked buy, a longer description loaded telling me the C-Line actually has multiple variants and this part doesn't fit mine. Fine, mistake, I'll cancel. Except you can't cancel online. So I emailed. Couldn't cancel that way either. Long back-and-forth with customer service, all of it pointless. Money and time gone, because the Brompton online store is genuinely badly designed.
Meanwhile, the battery has had a charging fault from day one. It would just refuse to charge. I'd sometimes have to wait a couple of hours before it would accept a charge again. On a £2,600 bike. Ridiculous. Never resolved.
August 2025: persuaded into the £260 "premium service" by the guy at Covent Garden. Battery fault: still there afterwards. £260 well spent, clearly.
January 2026, the actual highlight. Six months of normal riding, three months after my so-called premium service, and the main frame snapped in half while I was on the road. Snapped in half. I was limping for two weeks. So before you believe any of the glowing internet write-ups about Brompton, I am telling you: this is not a bike I would call safe.
I took it back to Covent Garden two days later. The technicians were visibly shocked. They told me the joint that broke should normally take two people to undo the bolt and shouldn't have failed like that. They actually asked if I'd bought the bike legitimately. Yes mate, label, receipt, warranty, the lot. They replaced the whole bike. Genuinely the one and only thing in this whole saga Brompton has handled properly, so credit where it's due.
March 2026, front wheel rim dented thanks to London's potholes. Fair enough, that one's on the roads. £140 to repair.
And then April 2026 is what really did it. Three months into the brand new replacement bike, the battery starts cutting out randomly with a 2-and-5 error code. Here's how that's gone:
14 April: dropped the bike at Covent Garden.
15 April: collected it. Told no fault had been found and the controller firmware had been updated. I explained twice that the symptoms looked electrical, not software, and showed them a video of the fault happening. Both my explanation and the video were waved off as if I didn't understand my own bike.
17 April: minutes later, while the technician was literally handing the bike back to me, the 2-and-5 error appeared right there in the workshop. Exactly the fault I'd just described and shown on video. Battery swapped on the spot. Funny that.
27 April: the replacement battery has now developed the same fault. Same random cut-outs, same error code.
Today is 9 May. The bike has been off the road for four weeks and counting. The workshop told me yesterday they're out of controllers and have no idea when they'll have stock. I asked, fine, can I at least have my £2,600 bike back in its original form and come back when the parts arrive? Apparently not, because riding it without the controller "isn't advisable". So it just sits there in the workshop. LOL
So that's the tally: £2,600 bike, £260 premium service, £140 wheel repair, one snapped frame, two faulty batteries, a charging fault that's never been fixed in 15 months, an online shop that traps you with non-cancellable orders for the wrong parts, and a workshop happy to dismiss your video evidence right up until the fault repeats itself in front of them.
I'm posting this everywhere I can. If it shifts even 0.001% of Brompton's business, worth it. For the price and the reputation, this thing has had more problems than a bike pulled out of a canal.
And a word for Stephen in Brompton Customer Service: if you're going to fob me off with an obviously AI-generated reply that doesn't address what I actually asked, save us both the time. I can talk to an AI myself.
The Brompton Electric has more problems than a bike pulled out of canal
byu/WileyCC inBrompton
by WileyCC
9 Comments
Here in Germany you have 2 years of a common warranty against the seller (not the producer). I would have returned such a faulty bike a long time ago.
Ask for a refund given the faults 🙁
OK, this is something where I’d consider that they simply can’t make it right for you anymore. For me, it would have been the end of the line a long time ago, so seriously, you have a lot of patience!
In my book, they should completely refund all your costs. I’d also expect a personal letter of apology.
I even had to look up the English term: *vicarious shame* for Brompton.
I had a C line for 3 years, it became much easier to use when I disconnected the battery and used it as a normal bike.
Year 1 was okay with the odd battery glitch (lights 1 & 3 flashing).
Year 2 I spent months going backwards and fore wards to my closest Brompton dealer and a few emails going backwards and forwards every week. My closest Brompton dealer is 40 minutes away and closes at 5:30, so going there to drop and pick up the bike was a pain in the ass. In between warranty repairs I was basically using the bike without a battery 90% of the time.
Year 3 disconnected the battery and removed the motor. Bike worked fine, to some degree I regret getting electric at all.
Now I use a regular G line.
Wait so what happened?
Good write up. Sounds like hassle after hassle.
To draw maximum focus, best title might be “My Brompton Snapped in Half”, cos that’s likely the biggie for most readers. Though maybe the canal line works good too cos here I am!
I wonder if it was the hinge pin somehow failing, or the aluminium clasp bit, or if it was a weld snapping like the alu Dahons used to years ago?
Bought a p line electric a couple years ago and had the same issue with the battery, I also had the same issue with the repair guys taking a while to figure out what was wrong and eventually the problem was resolved when they changed both the battery and motor. I didn’t have to pay anything.
It’s been 3 years without any issues since.
Couple of points, for you.
You can claim compensation for a pothole-damaged bike rim in the UK from the local council or highway authority if they were negligent in maintaining the road. Gather evidence immediately (photos, measurements, location), report the defect on FixMyStreet, and submit a claim with repair quotes to the council responsible.
How did you buy the bike, don’t worry I don’t actually need to know, but you can use consumer rights act, so you can push them to a Section 75 Claim: If you bought the bike on a credit card and it cost over £100 (but less than £30,000), you can make a claim against your credit card company.
You need to cut your losses and get a refund.
It shouldn’t even be losses, because it’d be a full refund.
They’ve attempted multiple repairs. At this point, it’s either replacement or a refund, as per the consumer rights act