# How cool is that folding bike?



## Yellow Fang (13 Apr 2010)

Coming out of Oxford railway station this afternoon, carrying my folded up Brompton, I heard a teenage girl say to her friends, "How cool is that bike?" I'm pretty sure it was a rhetorical question; she wasn't really asking their opinion. How about that then? Teenage girls think Bromptons are cool


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## yorkshiregoth (13 Apr 2010)

Sarcasm perhaps?


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## Yellow Fang (13 Apr 2010)

No hint of sarcasm in the voice, just admiration


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## Arch (13 Apr 2010)

packing the van after a long and tiring tryout roadshow, at the end of a very long and tiring week on tour, I was just undoing the frame clamp on a Pashley Micro (standard fold in half type folder) when a kid on a BSO stopped and said "That's a crap bike".

"Oh", said I, "well, yours isn't up to much, but I'm too polite to say so", and I folded the Pashley.

"ohhh", he said, "that's one of them cool bikes!"

"So why did you say it was crap?"

"I didn't!"

"Yes you did". Whereupon I walk away, and he's left, mouth open, trying to compute whether to be impressed or not.


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## Yellow Fang (13 Apr 2010)

I used to like the Pashley Micro. It was a nice looking bike. Originally it was made by someone else though IIRC.


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## Fab Foodie (13 Apr 2010)

Yellow Fang said:


> *Teenage girls think Bromptons are cool *



Mine don't...


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## Arch (14 Apr 2010)

Yellow Fang said:


> I used to like the Pashley Micro. It was a nice looking bike. Originally it was made by someone else though IIRC.



Yes, it was the Cresswell Fold-it. (I remembered the Fold-It bit, had to look up Cresswell)

I was riding one in York once, and a small child tugged his father's hand and said, very loudly "look at that man on his tiny bike!" The father looked a bit embarrassed.

I'm a woman....


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## shouldbeinbed (14 Apr 2010)

its the younger ones that tend to make nicer comments about my Birdy.


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## mr Mag00 (14 Apr 2010)

they dont do much for me either


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## John the Monkey (14 Apr 2010)

My Brompton is referred to as "that clown bike".

Sadly not everyone recognises it as the multimodal stroke of genius that it is.


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## TheBoyBilly (14 Apr 2010)

I was just folding my Brommie outside the shops today when a Chav rode past (with his mate) on a Halfords Special shouting 'cor, I want one ov dose' and then laughing.....I shouted back 'I wouldn't want one of those'. He looked a bit miffed, dunno why.......


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## CharlieB (12 May 2010)

My Brompton's had the cool comment from teenagers (particularly my 15yo female neighbour) loads of times. It's always surprised me that the youngsters would find something a lot of +40yo's ride cool.


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## Jugular (19 May 2010)

I've had a few comments of admiration. Certianly "that's one of those wicked bikes" but I've had just open laughter and pointing a few times too. I've seen a couple of Brompton's about in Manchester but it's still an unusual sight apparently.


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## kit-small-wheels (25 May 2010)

My recently purchased APB Land-Rover is referred to as 'The Meccano Bike' by my wife and her friends! 

I'm not sure if that's demeaning or appreciative, but I don't care that much. It certainly stops people walking by when it's parked up, and I've had numerous conversations about it as a result.


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## buddha (27 May 2010)

I had a teenage girl say my rack was cool, outside Sainsburys.
Though I think she meant how the Topeak panniers slide and click/lock in place


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## CharlieB (4 Jun 2010)

When I toured mine round Scotland a couple of months back, I got a remark almost every day, and started to note them down in the travel journal I keep, under the footnote 'Brompton comment of the day'. Usual stuff.

But the best remark I've ever had was on my commute a couple of days ago:
'F##k me! What did you do? Put it in the washing machine?'


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## Bokonon (4 Jun 2010)

John the Monkey said:


> My Brompton is referred to as "that clown bike".



He he. I refer to my own Brompton as a clown bike B)! Some people laugh at it, others are genuinely intrigued by it - it always seems to draw comment whenever I use it.


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## ufkacbln (4 Jun 2010)

My favourite was on the cycle path in Gosport, small boy on new bike, looked Brompton up and down, turned to mother and said...



> "Look mum his wheels are even smaller than mine"


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## ufkacbln (4 Jun 2010)

The other deflation....

On the Catrike in Bath Lane, group of teenage girls, who watched me go by...

I loved:


> "That Guy has the coolest bikes I have ever seen"



Unfortunately it was proceeded by :



> "He may be old, but....


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## Bodger (5 Jun 2010)

On the Birdy I've had:

chav walk up to me, while I'm stopped at a give-way waiting to turn right, and point at the bike and shout : "cool bike" then walk off.

Kids at railway station shout "nice - that must ov cost over £100"

At a vintage bike show - exhibitors leave their stands and came over to make me demonstrate the folding and unfolding repeatedly - I had to leave after a while because no one was looking at the vintage bikes any more.

Shout from passing car: "where's yer other roller-skate, mate?"


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