2021 Brompton C-Line Explore

[EltonFrog]

Since getting the brompton home in the early hours of Saturday morning it's consumed most of my weekend doing little jobs (mainly centring around cleaning / waxing / protecting various bits) and short local shakedown rides; in preparation for use on Monday's commute.

While the setup's not ideal it seemed at least viable. I left the house at 07:20 in my cycling gear, a change of clothes and various other necessaries in my main rucksack and my laptop bag in the bike's front granny bagsket. The car's kept a few hundred yards from the house and the bike was already deployed so I rode there.

Five minutes later the bike was collapsed in the boot with bagsket removed and I was off. The drive to the most southerly point of Yarnton took, as expected, about 20 minutes or so and I parked in a gloriously amenible housing estate. Another five minutes or so were spent removing and assembling the bike.

I did consider alternative folders as a stop-gap, but tbh looking at the diminutive Brompton in the boot I think I'd have struggled with owt larger:

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A short ride brought me out onto the stretch of road that's partially responsible for my morning misery in the car; proving so problematic that the satnav insists it's quicker to take a five mile, or in the case of this (Tuesday) morning significanly larger detour to avoid it.

Since I got there relatively early on this occasion the traffic wasn't terrible; however it was already building and at a more "normal" time I suspect it would have been queued for at least a mile or so from the Peartree roundabout into Yarnton.. and that's on top of whichever horrors the A34 might have in store.

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On this morning I had no such concerns as I wafted down the pockmarked cycle path, before crossing over and joining the tow path a few hundred yards down the road - sweet, sweet escape

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It's hard to overstate how welcome the contrast between the usual futile morning hell of anger, frustration and pointless waste and floating along in this lush, green, peaceful utopia..

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It was already warm and as I progressed along the tow path the sun began to break through the clouds and I encountered more tow path users - mooring their boats, walking their dogs or also on their way into town on their bikes. Unsurprisingly everyone seemed chilled and happy; in stark contrast to those who choose to subject themselves to the misery of the roads.

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After many photos stops I finally made it through Wolvercote and into the north end of the city out the back of Jericho..


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... before heading onward into town. It felt very odd to be in the city on a bike at that time in the morning, having started off at home in the car some time earlier.

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A brief stint on the streets took me to the tow path at Head of the River, then onward to Iffley lock and finally work.

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The journey took longer than I'd expected at around 1:45 door-to-door, however that encompassed lots of stops and faffing.. I reckon I could probably get it down to 1:20 or so.

I spent most of the day pretty knackered thanks to the ride on top of a somewhat fraught and sleep-deprived weekend, but it was such a fantastic day I was still looking forward to the ride home

This really is good news, and sounds like a win to me. I expect given time you'll be able to finesse your folding/unfolding car interface operations and get it down to a very smooth operation.

The bike looks fantastic, and the route looks much nicer than staring at the back of another lorry.

Even when the weather becomes inclement I think riding a bike with the right clothing on is going to better than a car commute.

 

[CaptainWheezy]

- Means of carrying a water bottle

If there's a Decathlon near you, pay them a visit, they do a fabric water bottle holder that attaches to the handlebars and stem with velcro loops. Handy that you don't have to remove it when folding the bike since it just squashes down and also weighs almost nothing.

 

[Nibor]

If there's a Decathlon near you, pay them a visit, they do a fabric water bottle holder that attaches to the handlebars and stem with velcro loops. Handy that you don't have to remove it when folding the bike since it just squashes down and also weighs almost nothing.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/fabric-handlebar-bottle-cage/_/R-p-168751?mc=8487122

 

[shingwell]

I too used to do a daily commute along a canal towpath. I loved the peace and tranquility of cycling by water among the greenery, ducks and occasional swan, knowing out of sight and mostly out of earshot was aggression, fumes, noise and frustration.

Is that a genuine Brompton bag? I thought they all had water bottle pockets on the back (ie near to you when cycling) but I am not familiar with the modern bag range. The "Brompton way" of dealing with your backpack issue is a bigger front bag!

I found the small wheels mostly cope well with the towpath, but they don't like mud or exposed tree roots.

I have a rack. It is useful for carrying a coat when you get hot cycling without filling up the front bag, but an actual rack bag is a pain when you fold as it is not as simple to remove as a front bag.

 

[wafter]

The bike looks fantastic @wafter the colour scheme is lovely

Lots of memories in lockdown riding my old Brommie along the towpaths in Oxford

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Cheers - I do love the finish and despite its faults / a few disappointments I've already come to love the bike

That was your old one I take it? Looks nice, and I think I'll never tire of the tow path. Feels like a real privilege to be able to do 95% of the commute on it tbh!

This really is good news, and sounds like a win to me. I expect given time you'll be able to finesse your folding/unfolding car interface operations and get it down to a very smooth operation.

The bike looks fantastic, and the route looks much nicer than staring at the back of another lorry.

Even when the weather becomes inclement I think riding a bike with the right clothing on is going to better than a car commute.

Thanks - I'd cautiously agree about it being a win

It's day two today and there's certainly improvement (see painfully protracted summary below).

I'll certainly try to push on as far into the year as I can, but am very much a fair-weather cyclist and can appreciate how unappealing this ride will be in the freezing cold and pitch black of winter.

Decent cycling clothing has always been a problem for me as I'm never sure what to buy and being a bit specialist there's rarely anywhere I can actually try it on. Yes, I could order a load mail order but find the whole returns process a huge ballache and tbh consider it a pretty poor use of resources.

I currently make do with what I have (swimming shorts, walking trousers, base layer, fleece) but really could do with buying a load of stuff to cater for every eventuality.. some decent shorts would be a good start!

If there's a Decathlon near you, pay them a visit, they do a fabric water bottle holder that attaches to the handlebars and stem with velcro loops. Handy that you don't have to remove it when folding the bike since it just squashes down and also weighs almost nothing.

Thanks - that's a nice idea that I'd not considered and will look into



Today was the second commute on the Brompton; the plan being to treat it more like a "normal" occurance without any novelty stops, to better gauge how long it was likely to take.

I left the house at 07:30, rode to the car again and was on my way by 07:33. Upon departing the satnav had suggested a journey time to the office of around 47 minutes (which often increases the closer to the city I get) and as I deviated from its chosen route in the direction of Yarnton it was increasingly, desperately urging me to turn around as it could evidently sense we were getting closer to the centre of commute hell..

The traffic on the route to Yarnton was largely fine with one or two short queues, allowing me to be parked by 07:55 and on my way by 07:59 after fumbling some of the necessary tasks. Just ten minutes later than yesterday was enough for significant queues to be forming on the road from Yarnton to Peartree, eliciting a huge, smug grin as I passed all the static traffic on the bike

Down onto the tow path again; maintaining a comfortable speed and steady cadence mostly in the 2nd/high gear combination which saw me passing about as many cyclists as were passing me. Again, everyone was happy, friendly, polite and couteous.. such a refreshing change from the soul-corroding war on the roads.

Unfortunately I don't yet have a means of mounting the Polar head unit on the bike so it sat on top of my change of clothes in the front bagsket.. since my laptop remained at the office last night. Other than a few stops to dig it out from the bottom (and appease my anxiety that it might have jumped out over some of the bumps) the first part of the ride was continuous.

Upon reaching Bridge Street in town I elected to keep trying to follow the canal by cutting across to Park End St, however this proved counter-productive due to it's short paved sections with steps so required lots of dismounting - will just go through town next time. Then it was onto the Abingdon Rd snf up to tow path to Iffley again - arriving at work at 08:40; for a total journey time of 1:10.

This feels like a real win as it's about what I'd expected from Google maps, faster than I'd expected after Monday's sedate / interrupted effort and comparable to / probably slightly faster than yesterday's ridiculous car-only commute which saw me taken all the way out to the A40 services outside Wheatley to avoid the worst of the traffic.

I'm keen to see how fast (or not) the Brompton performs compared to my other bikes, and today's figures came in at 7.95 miles and 82ft at an average speed of 12.0mph and mean HR of 62% for 340kcal burned. Not terrible but I suspect not very comparable either since the route's very flat with only a little kicker of a climb once in Cowley.


Points of note from todays ride:

Meant to mention this last time, but the steering feels very sensitive compared to a full-size bike; probably due to the narrow bars and lesser gyroscopic damping of the smaller wheels. I'd stop short of calling it skittish and it does allow the bike to change direction very quickly, but doesn't feel as stable when riding with one hand for example. Probably just something to get used to; and I think minimised to an extent with the front end loaded up.

I'm still getting heel-interferance with the wheel on the RHS; very disconcertingly causing it to lodge in the top of my shoe on a couple of occasions

I'm not loving the ride in 1st gear on the hub - it's very loud and I'm getting vibration through the pedal. It sounds like a knobbly tyre rubbing on a mudguard or similar - is this normal? If feels bloody horrible tbh. I know they probably have their differences, however I don't recally the three-speed Shimano Nexus on my old OFO being as utterly unrefined as this Sturmey Archer effort. I'm pretty certain the hub selector is correctly adjusted with the 1mm of its cylindrical section showing beyond the end of the axle in 2nd, as advised by those who know on the internet and confirmed by the very helpful chap in Warlands..

The saddle has thankfully stayed put after winding up the retaining bolt to 15Nm last night as advised in the manual. This was tighter than I'd have been comfortable with otherwise and probably more than I could have managed with a normal Allen key, but seems to have done the job so I'm very happy with that - will maybe give the Fizik saddle another go when I get the chance.

My back was unsurprisingly sweaty upon arrival at work; need to sort an alternative rucksack with better ventilation but don't really want to end up with one for each of a million different applications and as usual am paralised by the overwhelming choice of what's available..


Anyway, that's all for now - apologies for the wall of text; it's as much for my benefit as anyone else's as I try to stay on top of all the variables and refine the process

 

[wafter]

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/fabric-handlebar-bottle-cage/_/R-p-168751?mc=8487122

Thanks - certainly looks like the best (only!) solution so far

I too used to do a daily commute along a canal towpath. I loved the peace and tranquility of cycling by water among the greenery, ducks and occasional swan, knowing out of sight and mostly out of earshot was aggression, fumes, noise and frustration.

Is that a genuine Brompton bag? I thought they all had water bottle pockets on the back (ie near to you when cycling) but I am not familiar with the modern bag range. The "Brompton way" of dealing with your backpack issue is a bigger front bag!

I found the small wheels mostly cope well with the towpath, but they don't like mud or exposed tree roots.

I have a rack. It is useful for carrying a coat when you get hot cycling without filling up the front bag, but an actual rack bag is a pain when you fold as it is not as simple to remove as a front bag.

Absolutely - such a welcome contrast to the hateful grind of doing the whole journey in the car. Tbh I'm really spoiled with this route given the surroundings and quality of the tow path surface - it gets good literally at the point I join and having ridden further out in the past I'd not fancy pressing any further north on the Bromptons little, lightly-treaded tyres.

Yes, the bag is genuine; I think a fairly recent addition and sadly has no provision for a bottle on the back. It's probably not something I'd have been keen to try had it not come with the bike; however it's very practical and great for carrying the laptop. I suspect tit's not ideal from a drag perspective however!

Thanks for your thoughts on the rack - the idea still appeals but tbh I think it's probably too compromised to justify the additional mass and considerable cost.

 

[berlinonaut]

Is that a genuine Brompton bag? I thought they all had water bottle pockets on the back (ie near to you when cycling) but I am not familiar with the modern bag range.

The bag in the pics is the actual version of the shopping basket. It is the oldest Brompton bag that has survived until today. Available since the late eighties, so for 35 years, and currently in it's third or forth design revision.

The "Brompton way" of dealing with your backpack issue is a bigger front bag!

Worth mentioning that over the last years a bunch of backpacks for the carrier block have shown up: https://bromptonauten.cc/threads/rucksaecke-fuer-den-traegerblock-ueberblick.169/

 

[CaptainWheezy]

1st gear noise is normal, you'll probably find it quietens up a bit with more use. Personally I dripped a few drops of motor oil into the gear hub via the hole the gear selector chain screws into which I think helped. On my own bikes I also replaced the crappy plastic chain tensioner with an aftermarket CNC alloy one where the wheels run on bearings to reduce friction a bit. I found the whole setup to have a fair bit of drag beforehand but now its much better.

 

[EltonFrog]

I can confirm that the decathlon bag is very useful addition to the Brompton.

 

[wafter]

The bag in the pics is the actual version of the shopping basket. It is the oldest Brompton bag that has survived until today. Available since the late eighties, so for 35 years, and currently in it's third or forth design revision.

Worth mentioning that over the last years a bunch of backpacks for the carrier block have shown up: https://bromptonauten.cc/threads/rucksaecke-fuer-den-traegerblock-ueberblick.169/

Thanks for the additional info

In principle I like the idea of the rucksack that fits the front block; however in practice for work I need more luggage space than this alone would provide, since I need to carry the laptop.

I could probably strip out the contents of the laptop bag and cram them into the rucksack, however I like to keep things separate for convenience.. so the best solution still looks to be a decent-sized rucksack for my personal stuff (change of clothes, lunch, stuff that's usually in my pockets, water bottle) along with a separate way of carrying the laptop - the obvious one being the front bag.

1st gear noise is normal, you'll probably find it quietens up a bit with more use. Personally I dripped a few drops of motor oil into the gear hub via the hole the gear selector chain screws into which I think helped. On my own bikes I also replaced the crappy plastic chain tensioner with an aftermarket CNC alloy one where the wheels run on bearings to reduce friction a bit. I found the whole setup to have a fair bit of drag beforehand but now its much better.

Thanks - that's both reassuring (that there's evidently nothing "wrong") and not (it sounds and feels rough as a badger's arse). Surprised that such a high-end product incorporates a component that's so horribly unrefined tbh.

Ta for the thought about the oil; might give that a try although I don't really want to encourage grit to accumulate in this area. I hear you on the the tensioner; probably loses a bit of efficiency with the placcy rollers running on the plain steel bushes; although I can live with this idea for more than the horrible experience of using 1st gear.. no wonder that loses some efficiency too as it's all escaping through noise and vibration.. could / can you feel roughness through the pedals on yours too? It sounds and feels distinctly different to the clicking experienced in 3rd..

I can confirm that the decathlon bag is very useful addition to the Brompton.

Cheers - seems to be the only game in town for fitting a water bottle; might pop down there after work and take a look at one

 

[Pale Rider]

but it has no benefit to spread rumors that lack foundation.

Give over, my mistake was rectified within a couple of posts.

All you've done is draw more attention to it.

Cannot tell if there's foundation to what you claim.

I find it unlikely there's anything about Bromptons you don't know.

No claim from me, I speak regularly to a couple of friendly Brommie dealers who tell me what's happening in UK retail, and their various tribulations with the company.

Not the nicest people to deal with if you are a retailer, but they've been like that for years, and I'm told things have improved a little recently.

 

[CaptainWheezy]

Thanks - that's both reassuring (that there's evidently nothing "wrong") and not (it sounds and feels rough as a badger's arse). Surprised that such a high-end product incorporates a component that's so horribly unrefined tbh.

Ta for the thought about the oil; might give that a try although I don't really want to encourage grit to accumulate in this area.

To add a bit of oil what I did was unscrew the gear selector chain just like you'd have to do if you were removing the rear wheel, then with the wheel on its side, just drip a few drops of oil down the hole, the idea being it will mix with the grease in the gearhub and thin it down just a little. Seemed to help with mine anyway, but i must stress, i only added a few drops!

I do seem to remember feeling the vibration through the pedals when new. I recently took one of the Bromptons on a cycling holiday in Mallorca where 1st gear got a LOT of use and despite it still being noisier than the other gears, it is now much more quieter. Could just be that it has bedded in. I also suspect the crappy plastic chain tensioner amplifies the noise a bit so removing it may have contributed to it being quieter now.

 

[wafter]

To add a bit of oil what I did was unscrew the gear selector chain just like you'd have to do if you were removing the rear wheel, then with the wheel on its side, just drip a few drops of oil down the hole, the idea being it will mix with the grease in the gearhub and thin it down just a little. Seemed to help with mine anyway, but i must stress, i only added a few drops!

I do seem to remember feeling the vibration through the pedals when new. I recently took one of the Bromptons on a cycling holiday in Mallorca where 1st gear got a LOT of use and despite it still being noisier than the other gears, it is now much more quieter. Could just be that it has bedded in. I also suspect the crappy plastic chain tensioner amplifies the noise a bit so removing it may have contributed to it being quieter now.

Thanks - obviously less of an issue if it's going to bed in with use... won't be impressed if it continues as it is however as it's bloody shocking!

 

[Gunk]

Thanks - obviously less of an issue if it's going to bed in with use... won't be impressed if it continues as it is however as it's bloody shocking!

You have to accept what they are, and that is a very convenient folding bike with a 40 year old relatively unchanged design, the drivetrain is akin to a 1970’s Raleigh Chopper. If I get back on to my Van Nicholas with its silky smooth mixture of Dura Ace and Ultegra it’s like jumping from a 2CV to modern day VW Golf. However I just love the Brompton warts and all.

 

[EltonFrog]

Is it the plastic derailleur that makes it noisy in 1st gear or the SA 1st gear or combination of the two? Can’t say I’ve noticed it myself.