I recently started a search for a device that helps me get places that is faster than walking, is allowed to get into grocery stores and restaurants and is easy to get in and out of my building. I considered many devices like the onewheel or just a skateboard but eventually discovered Brompton which seem to have the advantage of not risking wrist injury.
I purchased mine today so thought of making a list of things that factored into my decision of which Brompton to buy and how to buy it while it is fresh in my mind to help others who are new to Brompton and looking to buy.
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**Gear**
One way to group Bromptons is by gear options. However, in my opinion for a commuter gear range matters more. A 3 gear option with a wide range is a viable way to do most kinds of commuting while narrow one isn’t. Brompton with 3 or 4 speed have a narrow gear range while the 6 has a wide range which is all you need.
This video has a good explanation: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uVwMx9OZ94](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uVwMx9OZ94)
You can upgrade your Brompton to shift or widen the gear range. The latter is relevant if you are considering waiting for the 12 speed Brompton that is rumored to be released. One difference here is the rumored Brompton seem to have a front derailleur which makes it easier to switch gears but adds another point of failure.
Good explanation: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q9wd8Ewlec](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q9wd8Ewlec)
I did read that some people added more gear options to their P line but didn’t investigate this further.
**Maintenance**
Electric Bromptons do seem to require much more maintenance than regular ones. It is partly due to the inherit complexity in the mechanism and partly because Brompton didn’t yet master the engineering and manufacturing of electric bikes. This seem to be reflected in their warranty as electronic parts are only covered for 4 years. Not too sure what you are supposed to do after.
There are many options for electrifying your Brompton like arcc and swytch. However, the former seem to only operate in the U.K. while the latter have a long waiting list. Electrifying Bromptons might break your forward wheel fork and will void your 7 year warranty. I am not sure how they would know since you can just remove the kit before filing a complaint.
Consider what you will do when your battery die. Some of the upgrades use off the shelf and easily accessible components while Brompton’s electric bike doesn’t
**Strength**
I am not a materials expert but I read that steel is stronger than Titanium.
**Color**
This is largely subjective but I have found a couple of practical considerations:
1. How likely are you to be bored of the color. I personally went with the all black Brompton because I thought that while the other colors are gorgeous I will get bored of seeing racing green everyday for 10 years.
2. Where you can take the color in terms of decorations/vibes. For example, you can turn a black Brompton into something that look like a racing bike by adding yellow and red accessories or something that looks classy by adding light brown accessories. This will matter in the long term to avoid being bored of your bike.
3. How attention grabbing the color you choose is. e.g. I think an all black or all white color is less attention grabbing than bumblebee yellow. So you can go in either direction depending on your preferences.
4. How easy it will be to paint over some scratches in the frame. It is probably much easier to find black or racing green paint than some exotic color.
**Weight**
The P line is light. You can make your C line about as light as the P line but the cost of those upgrades might exceed a P line cost. You might still want to go with the upgrade route if you like the C line’s gear options.
this is an interesting video on the topic: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz24HOdUctA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz24HOdUctA)
One thing to consider is that you don’t really need to lift your Brompton that much given that it rolls even when folded.
**Robbery**
Add your bike to your house insurance and if it doesn’t cover bike robbery while you are riding it, there are insurance companies for that too.
I do think that a less flashy color might make you less noticeable to robbers but I don’t have any data to back this up.
**Handlebar and seatpost**
A couple of things to consider,
1. the seat post is easy to change so making the wrong decision here might cost you some money but it is not that big of a deal
2. Changing the handlebar is much harder since the handlebar stem is longer on high handlebars than on the small ones. There might also be differences in the length of the wires that go to the handlebar but I didn’t check that.
3. Changing from a high handle bar to a lower one might be easy since you can just use a flat handle bar. But I did not test that and I could be missing something
This video help me figure out which handlebar and seatpost configuration to get: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeW6FUyZL8E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeW6FUyZL8E)
**Authorized dealer vs** [**brompton.com**](https://brompton.com)
If you know which bike and configuration you want it might be easier to get it directly from [brompton.com](https://brompton.com) as they have good financing options, a better website than most dealers and a more up to date availability information. I personally tried ordering the bike from an authorized dealer and turns out that they just forward the request to Brompton and in my case it turns out that Brompton didn’t have the specific model in stock so I ended up being refunded and wasting a day.
All Brompton bicycles come with a warranty against manufacturing and material defect regardless of where the bike is purchased. For warranty issues, authorized dealers can submit a warranty claim on your behalf even if you purchased the bike from another channel.
Routine maintenance or any issue not caused by manufacturing and material defect are not covered under warranty and expenses would be at your cost. This would be the case regardless of the channel where the bike was purchased. However, some authorized dealers might provide free service for bikes purchased at their store. So you might want to talk to them to see if they provide anything.
**Accessories cost**
The accessories that you see people add to their Bromptons are actually expensive. So you might want to add that cost to the cost of the Brompton you want to buy and see if it is still within your budget
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I will continue updating this post with things I remember. Please feel free to correct me if I said something wrong as I am not a Brompton or a bike expert. In fact I didn’t know that Bromptons were a thing 3 weeks ago.
by tekeral